THE topic of conversation between Jessica Ennis-Hill and Greg Rutherford once centred on training tips and recollections of a shared Saturday night out during the summer of 2012 when both wrote themselves into legend by capturing Olympic gold.
Three years on, and how times have changed.
"Now," Rutherford revealed, "it's like 'oh what's your baby doing? Mine's doing this'."
Added his fellow new parent: "It's a nice distraction instead of it being athletics and injuries and what's going right and what's going wrong."
Yet some things haven't changed and the competitive urges remain undiminished in both, 15 months out from the opportunity to defend their titles in Rio. And for Ennis-Hill, third place in the 100 metres hurdles at yesterday's Great CityGames in Manchester represented the first steps in a comeback that, she hopes, will see her reclaim her place as the planet's foremost heptathlete.
At 29, and 10 months after the arrival of son Reggie, opting to return on a street course planted in the middle of Saturday shoppers left no place to hide. A time of 13.14 seconds was respectable. Losing to European champion Tiffany Porter, who broke Ennis- Hill's UK record during her hiatus, was no disgrace. "I just felt I needed to race and get back out here," she said. "Now I can go away, get race sharp and put some more training together and see what I can do in a few weeks."
Of greater import is heptathlon's unofficial world championship in Götzis this month where a true assessment of where she now stands in the firmament of multi-eventing can be made. Katarina Johnson-Thompson, the European indoor champion and presumed favourite, will be there. So too young pretender Morgan Lake. It is possible that the past maestro could return from Austria ranked only third domestically. No allowances will be asked for, or made.
An Achilles issue might yet force Ennis-Hill to postpone the trial. You sense, however, any decision to withdraw will cause less of a trauma than in the past. Priorities have changed. Racing here was a boon but she had already secured one prize.
"I slept really well because Reggie was at home with [husband] Andy so I had a full night's sleep which was really good. I'm always nervous when I compete but I need those nerves and that adrenalin. But I just really enjoyed it."
By contrast, Johnson-Thompson already looks in prime condition to take what most expect to be her rightful place at the top of the podium come August's world championships in Beijing. The 22-year-old Liverpudlian came a close second to Meghan Beesley in the 200m hurdles despite the trauma of venturing into the unknown on the narrow four-line circuit. "I'm just glad I didn't come to a grinding halt and didn't hit the hurdles," she grinned. "That was my biggest fear."
Trailing in fourth and last, several strides and almost a second behind, was Eilidh Child. It was a first competitive outing over the hurdles in several months for the European champion. Sharpness remains at a premium but these are early days for the Scot who will hope to accelerate her progress at next weekend's Loughborough International meeting.
"I knew it was going to be in between Meghan and Kat," she said. "So I thought: 'Right, damage limitation. Let's not look so bad.' But it was a bit of fun. I'm just not a very fast hurdler but I am trying to get a bit snappier over them. I always seem to get a bit quicker as the race goes on as I get into a rhythm. But it's still early in the season."
Others were line perfect on opening night. Dinah Asher- Smith, perhaps relishing a distraction from her university exams, scampered away from European 100 and 200m champion Dafne Schippers to win the 150 metres in 16.82 seconds.
Rutherford, amid his paternal exuberance, confirmed a quiet confidence that he will complete his set of major medals by adding the world long jump crown to his Olympic, European and Commonwealth golds after commencing his campaign with his opening leap of 8.01m in strong winds and rain.
"It's probably one of the best jumps of my life to be honest," said Rutherford, who is in discussions to regain his sponsorship with Nike after being controversially dropped in the wake of his London 2012 triumph. "Nobody jumped particularly well but it's always good to win. I feel really confident and I felt great after the first jump. I couldn't believe it was only an eight-metre jump. I thought after that I might push on and do something but I don't think today was the day for big jumps. It was just about doing what I needed to do to win."
Today, in-form Scot Andy Butchart takes on Ethiopian great Haile Gebrselassie over 10km in today's Morrison's Great Manchester Run.
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