Jessica Ennis-Hill has announced her retirement from athletics ©Getty Images

London 2012 Olympic heptathlon champion Jessica Ennis-Hill has announced her retirement from athletics today.

The 30-year-old, who also won silver at last month's Games in Rio de Janeiro, had been considering whether to continue competing and bow out after a home World Championships in London next summer.

"From my first world title in Berlin 2009 to Rio 2016 I'm so fortunate to have had such an amazing career within the sport I love and this has been one of the toughest decisions I've had to make," she posted on Instagram this morning.

"But I know that retiring now is right. 

"I've always said I want to leave my sport on a high and have no regrets and I can truly say that.

"I want to thank my family and incredible team who have spent so much of their time supporting me and enabling me to achieve my dreams.

"Also a huge thank you to all those people who have supported and followed my career over the years."

Ennis-Hill broke the British and Commonwealth record to score 6,955 points to win heptathlon gold at London 2012 to become one of three home winners on "Super Saturday" in the Olympic Stadium.

Jessica Ennis-Hill followed her London gold with silver at Rio 2016 ©Getty Images
Jessica Ennis-Hill followed her London gold with silver at Rio 2016 ©Getty Images

She missed out on retaining her Olympic title in Rio by just 35 points to Belgium's Nafissatou Thiam. 

The Sheffield-based athlete came to prominence with bronze at the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games behind English team-mate Kelly Sotherton.

She finished fourth at the 2007 World Championships before missing the Beijing Olympics through injury.

A major breakthrough followed on her return in 2009 when she won World Championship gold in Berlin.

This was followed by another victory at the 2010 European Championships in Barcelona and silver at the 2011 Worlds in Daegu.

She also won pentathlon gold at the 2010 World Indoor Championships in Doha.

After missing the 2013 World Championships through injury, she skipped the 2014 season in order to give birth to her son, Reggie, before returning to win a second global crown in Beijing in 2015.

A consistent high-level performer, Ennis-Hill was also a world class hurdler.

Her 100 metres time of 12.54 at London 2012 was the fastest ever clocked in a heptathlon and would have been enough for fourth place in the individual final.

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