London 2012: Jessica Ennis storms to personal best and victory in Götzis

Sixty-one days out from the Games, there were intimations of Olympic immortality in Jessica Ennis's performance in Austria. She was so dominant that by the time it came to the 800m the only question left to ask was just how much she wanted to turn the screw on everyone else.

Before competing in Götzis, Ennis had spoken about the small psychological edge that a victory would provide. Never mind her modesty, by winning in such style she was not so much serving notice to her rivals as she was taking names and collecting dues; she is an athlete in the form of her life. Her tally of 6,906 broke Denise Lewis's British heptathlon record by 75 points, was the 17th best in history, and perhaps most importantly, surpassed the personal best of the 2011 world champion Tatyana Chernova by 26 points.

Ennis's overnight lead over Chernova was 229 points, but that margin was deceptive. One of the reasons why rivalry between the two athletes is so compelling is that the differences between them are so pronounced. Chernova is nearly 10 inches taller and 13lb heavier. Ennis has better personal bests in all four events on day one, Chernova is superior in all three on day two. If both had reproduced their average scores for the second day they would have tied on 6,770. When Chernova won the world championship in Daegu, she made up 280 points on Ennis on day two.

The defining moment of this competition came in the first discipline on the second day. Chernova's personal best in the long jump is 6.82m, 28cm beyond anything Ennis has ever managed. Ennis is an erratic long-jumper – 6.19m cost her the world indoor pentathlon title in March – and will always be under pressure in the event, forced to fret about just how many points Chernova's leap will take out of her lead. Ennis's first jump was 6.23m. Chernova surpassed that with an opener of 6.32m. Ennis, pushing herself hard, fouled her second jump, overstepping by 5cm. Chernova then improved to 6.41m. Ennis, with one jump left, was going to lose 57 points from her lead.

Under intense pressure, with Chernova prowling on the runway behind her, Ennis nailed the perfect jump with her final attempt. Her toe was hard up against the take-off board, and she flew out to 6.51m. That equalled her outdoor best. "Oh my, why do I coach?" said Ennis's coach, Toni Minichiello. He described the moment as "heart-pounding". All of a sudden the barometer switched right round. All the pressure was on Chernova. She could only manage 6.44m. Ennis ended up picking up 22 points in an event where she had expected to lose many more.

Ennis's score at that point was the best she has ever recorded after five events. And her afternoon was about to get better still. After lunch she came out for the javelin, another event where she lags a long way behind Chernova. In Daegu, it was the javelin that cost Ennis gold. In Götzis she carried the momentum from the long jump pit into the next event. In the first round she threw a new personal best of 47.11 metres. It was the first time in her career she had thrown more than 47m, and beat her previous best by 40cm.

In Daegu, Minichiello had been furious that she was forced to compete in the B javelin group along with the lesser competitors, while Chernova threw in the A group. Here Ennis was in the A group, and she thrived. In the 200m she had been running on the inside of the talented Dutch teenager Dafne Schippers, the fastest woman in the field, and had been pulled around by her.

In the javelin, being bracketed with the strongest throwers brought the best out of Ennis. Her second and third efforts were both over 44m. There was a consistency that spoke volumes about the hard work she has done over the winter.

The 251-point lead she took into the event gave her a 12.5m buffer over Chernova. In the end the Russian beat her by a little under 6m, with her first round throw of 53.21m. Ennis had a 133-point lead at the start of the 800m.

Chernova would have needed to been 9.77sec quicker over two laps to have beaten Ennis, which is tantamount to having no chance at all. Still, Chernova overtook Ennis in the final few metres of the race, just to make the point "I'm still here". Chernova won in 2min 8.94sec, six hundreths of a second ahead of Ennis, but still 132 points behind her.

The next time Ennis and Chernova go head-to-head it will be in very different circumstances, and with much more at stake. Götzis is a low-key meet, and the contrast with the Olympic stadium could hardly be stronger. Here the crowd was only 2,000 or so strong, and the small stadium is surrounded by grass banks dotted with würst vendors and schnitzel sellers. Ennis gave her post-competition press conferences while standing in a wheelie bin full of iced water.

In a little over two months from now Ennis will need to reprise her on-track feats on the biggest stage she will ever perform. If she does, her life will never be the same again.