Jessica Ennis says that Carolina Klüft is an animal. She means it in a nice way, a compliment to the multitasking queen's brutal competitiveness. By contrast, the slight, pretty figure sitting by an Austrian athletics track explains why she does not scream when she throws the shot or hurls the javelin. “It would be pathetic,” she said. “Like a sigh.”

Nevertheless, Ennis is becoming a big noise in the build-up to Beijing. She is not a Klüft-like animal but neither is she a “Tadpole”, the mildly dismissive moniker handed to her by Kelly Sotherton, her compatriot and rival for heptathlon gold. Today Ennis lines up against all her main challengers, bar Sotherton, who is recovering from illness, in the Hypo Meeting here, surrounded by snow-capped mountains and lush fields.

She is 22, was fourth in the World Championships in Osaka, Japan, last year and, given her progress and Paula Radcliffe's crutches, may be Britain's best bet for an athletics gold this summer. Yet you would never know it from speaking to her. Asked whether her rivals now regard her as a serious contender, she said: “I fear other people rather than thinking they're walking round worrying about me. I find it hard to imagine the Olympics. I don't want to think about getting a medal. Deep down I know it's what I'm going for, but I don't want to get wrapped up in it.”

That is likely to be inevitable if she puts in a good performance over two days here. Ennis has the looks and charm, allied to a prodigious talent, to become a star. With Klüft opting to relinquish her heptathlon crown in favour of the long jump in Beijing, the event is wide open. Lyudmila Blonska, the Ukrainian who served a two-year doping ban, is the favourite, but Ennis has performed better in four of the seven events. Blonska remains a controversial figure, with Sotherton giving her a verbal mauling after the Ukrainian pipped her to the silver medal at the World Championships, even claiming nobody spoke to her. “We don't support cheats,” she railed.

Ennis is more conciliatory and Blonska is unlikely to be ostracised in Austria. “It's down to the meet organisers,” she said. “It's their choice. I know she was banned, but she was caught and served her time. I can't say she is still taking or doing anything dodgy.”

Given that Ennis was 363 points shy of Blonska when chalking up her personal best in Osaka last year, she still has a mountain to climb. However, she has since improved her javelin mark by five metres and says that her shot has also wintered well. She is small and demure, but her coach, Toni Minichiello, says that she gets angry and even swears. “We have arguments but every athlete and coach argue,” Ennis said. “I get frustrated and angry. Yes, I swear. Me and my boyfriend have decided we use foul language too much so we're going to curb it. When I get frustrated I usually just cry, though. Sometimes, if I've had a bad session, I go home and cry. Other times I count to ten and try to get myself back together.”

That was evident from Osaka, where Ennis underperformed in the shot but then blew away the field in the 200metres. “It's what's really hard about the heptathlon,” she said. “You're thinking, ‘If only I'd done that.' It's human nature to dwell on things but you have to put it aside. I ran my heart out in the 200metres as it was the only way to redeem myself.”

Ennis and Sotherton are carrying on a British tradition in the combined events, forming a timeline back to Denise Lewis, Daley Thompson and Mary Peters. Their rivalry is helping to drag the best from both. It is friendly, although there is no doubt the “Tadpole” tag rankled. “Oh my God,” Ennis said when the subject was broached. “I'm not going to say anything nasty or untoward. We get on fine. She can be quite fiery, but she's a really lovely person as well.”

Minichiello is more forthright. “The comment was inappropriate and slightly insulting, but it's part of Kelly's make-up and I think that's a bit sad,” Minichiello said. “That's how she competes, by using things like that, it's potentially gamesmanship.”

Ennis has added three strides to her javelin run-up since Osaka. “It's down to technique,” she said. “If I'm not in the right positions I just haven't got the strength.”

She has worked on the weights over the winter and is looking for a score close to her personal best this weekend, but animal aggression will not be key. “Sometimes you get more from trying less,” Minichiello said. “She was trying to lamp it [the javelin] out of the stadium and tensing up. That's how we coach in Britain. You throw, you growl, but that's not Jess. I've never heard her shout.”

Come tomorrow night she may have plenty more that she does not want to shout about.