Katarina Johnson-Thompson looks set to miss Gotzis as she prepares for World Championships

Katarina Johnson-Thompson may not defend her heptathlon title at the Hypo-Meeting in Gotzis at the end of the month and may instead switch her focus solely to August’s World Championships.

Gotzis had been billed as the first potential head-to-head between Johnson-Thompson and the returning Jessica Ennis-Hill but both athletes could now stay away, with a first showdown instead potentially scheduled for Beijing in August.

Johnson-Thompson has talked of raising her game to match Ennis-Hill on her return but her coach Mike Holmes warned against targeting the Olympic heptathlon champion: “You don’t rock up and try and take on Jess. It’s like kicking the Queen in the shins. You just don’t do it. They get on so well. I don’t think I’d use Jess as a cattle prod in Kat’s case. We’ve got the utmost respect – total respect – for Jess.”

Johnson-Thompson won last year’s event in Gotzis with a personal-best 6,682 points to mark herself as the world’s leading heptathlete, but the target for 2015 has shifted. “Last year, Gotzis was the only game in town,” said Holmes, ”but this year it’s all about Beijing so we’re going to try and take the long game I think this year. Last year, she ended up number one in the world, she confirmed that in the European Indoors. How many times has she got to go out and demonstrate that?

“I mean the one that counts is in Beijing so to come out continuously and have people take pot shots at her can get a bit wearing so we’re really looking seriously at Beijing being our priority now.”

Meanwhile, Ennis-Hill, whose coach Toni Minichiello had previously hinted she too could miss Gotzis, is set to continue her return to action by competing on Sunday at the Loughborough International Athletics meeting in both the long jump and the javelin.