The cover photo of this year’s annual is of Jessica Ennis-Hill, the 2012 Olympic heptathlon champion, who returned to the top of the podium at the 2015 World Championships in Beijing. The 29-year-old from Sheffield decided to compete at the championships only a month beforehand. She had given birth to son, Reggie, in the summer of 2014 and had returned to training only in the autumn. She was excited about competing in Berlin, despite reservations about her fitness, because she had missed the 2008 Olympics at the iconic Birdsnest Stadium through injury.
As usual the annual is packed full of essential information for the track and field enthusiast, with results from all major championships as well as reports of the World Championships and a look forward to the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
PETER MATTHEWS is a television commentator for the IAAF, and has covered all major athletics events since 1985 with ITV or the IAAF. For ten years before that he was a broadcaster on athletics for BBC Radio. A long-time ATFS member, he was formerly Editor of the Guinness Book of Records and International Editor of Athletics Today magazine. He is co-publisher of Athletics International.