London: The opening day of the athletics programme of the Olympics on Friday has a distinctly British tinge with pin-up heptathlete Jessica Ennis and Welsh 400m hurdles world champion Dai Greene both figuring.

While Greene will be bidding to safely negotiate round one of the hurdles event, Ennis will be straight into full competition, taking part in the 100m hurdles and high jump in the morning session before the shot put and 200m in the evening on day one of her gruelling seven-discipline event.

Former world champion Ennis, who most recently won silver medals in the 2011 worlds in Daegu, and world indoor pentathlon in Turkey in March, missed the Beijing Olympics through injury, and will be under pressure to perform from an expectant public.

Up against Ennis will be Russian world champion Tatyana Chernova and Ukraine’s Natalia Dobrynska, who won the 2012 world indoor pentathlon title in a world record total just days before her husband and coach, Dmytro Polyakov died.

There are just two finals on Friday: the women’s 10,000m and the men’s shot put.

The 10,000m will be particularly fascinating as it has been built up as a duel between Kenya’s world champion Vivian Cheruiyot and Ethiopia’s defending Olympic champion Tirunesh Dibaba, with both eyeing a middle-distance double.

Dibaba has been wracked by injuries since her double gold medal-winning performances in the Beijing Games, and will be bidding to emulate her cousin Derartu Tulu in becoming the second woman to win two Olympic gold medals in the women’s 10,000m.

Cheruiyot comes to London in great form, however, and will seek to carry on her imperious form from last summer’s Daegu worlds when she won the 5000-10,000m double.

The shot put sees 22-year-old world and European champion David Storl of Germany taking on a strong US trio of throwers.

The German has not had the best run of form since his victory in Helsinki and currently stands fifth on this year’s world list, less than half a metre down on Reese Hoffa, who leads the world rankings after throwing 22.00m to win the US Olympic trials in June.

The 2007 world champion was favourite for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games title but finished seventh as Tomasz Majewski of Poland shocked the field to take gold.

Hoffa will be joined by teammates Christian Cantwell, the 2009 world champion and Beijing silver medallist, and Ryan Whiting.

On the track veteran-yet-versatile track stars Veronica Campbell-Brown of Jamaica and American Allyson Felix open up their Olympic campaigns in the hotly-anticipated women’s 100m.

Heats and round one for the blue riband event take place on Friday, with the semi-finals and final scheduled for Saturday’s evening session at the Olympic Stadium.

The event is sure to be a tester for the two sprinters who have dominated the 200m for the past several years.

While not outright favourites, the duo’s long-term rivalry will surely light up the stage of the 100m, in which defending Olympic champion Shelly Ann-Fraser of Jamaica and in-form American world champion Carmelita Jeter also compete.

Kenyans seem sure to dominate the men’s 1500m, Absel Kiprop seeking to defend his Olympic crown from Commonwealth champion Silas Kiplagat, winner of the Kenyan trials in June, and Olympic debutant Nixon Chepseba.