Sotherton javelin costs her dear

Sotherton says she may concentrate on jumping in the future

Another woeful performance with the javelin ruined Kelly Sotherton's first heptathlon competition of the season in Austria on Sunday.

Sotherton finished seventh overall behind Olympic champion Carolina Kluft after her javelin effort of 30.19m placed her 26th of the 27 throwers.

She has now lost her spot as UK number one to young rival Jessica Ennis.

Sotherton's javelin coach Mick Hill said: "I'm flabbergasted. She threw more than 30.19m with me on Monday."

Her javelin throw earned her only 480 points - compared with 1,065 from her 100m hurdles, 1003 from the high jump, 793 from the shot, 958 from the 200m and 988 from the long jump.

Sotherton had been in second place overnight but slipped to eighth after the javelin, before clawing one place back with a good run in the 800m.

Ennis scored 6,388 points to win the first IAAF Combined Events Challenge of the season in Italy at the beginning of the month.

Sotherton split with her previous javelin coach, Steve Backley's old mentor John Trower, in November last year.

Since then she has been working with Backley's old GB team-mate Hill.

Hill said: "I expected with a little bit of nerves and adrenalin flowing, she would throw mid or high-30s.

"I am disappointed for Kelly because she has worked hard to address the problem.

"But it's a matter of doing hundreds and hundreds of throws properly; at the moment 30% are good and the rest are not."

Poor throws with the javelin have cost Sotherton dear on several previous occasions, including the 2004 Olympics.