Britain hoping for Ennis and Southerton as the spearhead

Jessica Ennis and Kelly Sotherton may be just two throws of the javelin away from proving this weekend that the heptathlon is the strongest event in British athletics.

Efforts of around 40 metres from each of them in Szczecin, Poland, in a discipline which has too often proved their Achilles' heel, may be all the pair need to lead Britain's women to a first victory in the European Cup for Combined Events, an annual competition matching the best national teams of heptathletes and decathletes.

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Not even in the days when Denise Lewis was the world's best heptathlete did Britain win the Cup. Indeed, our teams have never even finished on the podium. The best performance, when led by Ennis last year, is fourth.

Now Ennis's coach Tony Minichello, chair of UK Athletics' combined events management group, predicts that this could be Britain's year. He said: "I firmly believe we have a chance of winning. At the moment, heptathlon is the highest-quality event in Britain."

Russia, the defending champions, are the most serious rivals but Britain's chances have been boosted by the Russian decision to leave out teenager Tatyana Chernova, who rose to the top of the world rankings last month. They want her to concentrate on winning this month's European Under-20 Championships.

That means that on paper, at least, the best scores of the four Britons — Ennis, Sotherton, Julie Hollman and Ros Gonse — add up to a team victory, and Ennis and Sotherton start as joint favourites to win the individual competition.

Ennis is more circumspect than her coach. "I think we are capable of making a serious challenge. We should do very well," was the cautious prediction of the Commonwealth Games medallist and No 3 in this year's world rankings.

Any doubts in her mind may lie in the sixth of the seven events. Javelin throwing has been a British tradition since Tessa Sanderson won gold and Dave Ottley silver in the 1984 Olympics and was carried on by world records for Fatima Whitbread and Steve Backley.

Yet among the best heptathletes it is a major shortcoming. Sotherton and Ennis are contenders through the first five disciplines of hurdles, high jump, shot, 200 metres and long jump and serious challengers again in the final 800m.

When it comes to chucking spears, though, the two achieve about the distance of darts legend Phil Taylor. Ennis has never achieved the 40m that defines a moderate throw for a heptathlete and Sotherton has not managed it since 2004.

Ennis managed only 35.80m in her most recent competition last week and said: "It's hard to know why. It seems to go well in training with Mick Hill but little things break down in competition."

Hill, the former European silver medallist, has been giving advice to both women — as has Backley in the past — but the event threatens to become a mental as much as a technical barrier to the Britons achieving their potential as medal winners this weekend and beyond.