Georgia Hunter Bell is expected to be selected for both the 800m and 1500m in Britain’s world championships squad next week, assuming all goes according to plan. However, the decision on whether she will compete in both events will remain uncertain.
No British athlete has attempted to race in both middle-distance events at a global championship since Kelly Holmes, Hunter Bell’s inspiration, claimed two gold medals at the 2004 Olympics.
As long as Hunter Bell finishes in the top two in the 800m at this weekend’s UK Championships in Birmingham—an outcome that would be highly surprising if it does not happen—she will secure her spot in that event alongside her guaranteed place in the 1500m, earned with last year’s Olympic bronze.
“We have requested selection for both,” said Jenny Meadows, who coaches Hunter Bell alongside her husband, Trevor Painter. “Whether she competes in both is another matter.”
Meadows elaborated: “If the 800m were first at next month’s world championships—the same order in which Kelly achieved her double in Athens—we would attempt both. But the 1500m comes first, and running three rounds of that before switching to the faster 800m is a tougher challenge. I’m not certain we’ll do the double. We may choose one event over the other.”
“She has one more Diamond League race in each event: the 1500m in Silesia on August 16 and the 800m in Lausanne on August 20. The final team selection is on August 26, so we’ll decide after the 20th. Will she stay in both or focus on one? Many things are still uncertain, but it’s a strong position to be in.”
The fact that Hunter Bell, now 31, is a genuine contender for medals in both distances is extraordinary. A standout junior, she stepped away from the sport for five years in 2017 and was only competing in local meets and parkruns two years ago. Now, she ranks as the second-fastest woman in the world this year over 800m—with Diamond League wins in Stockholm and London—and fourth in the 1500m.
Should she opt for the 800m in Tokyo, she could face training partner Keely Hodgkinson, who has not raced since her Olympic victory last summer and is absent from this weekend’s UK Championships while recovering from injury. The two recently trained together in Portugal, with Hodgkinson set to return in Lausanne later this month.
Britain’s five individual Olympic medalists—Hodgkinson, Hunter Bell, Matthew Hudson-Smith, Josh Kerr, and Katarina Johnson-Thompson—have all confirmed their spots for the world championships and are skipping their main events this weekend in Birmingham.
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