Georgia Hunter Bell arrives in Birmingham as favourite for 1500m after comeback

Georgia Hunter Bell arrives in Birmingham this week as the favourite for 1500m gold at the European Athletics Championships, having rebuilt her career after quitting the sport at 23. She has learned from Keely Hodgkinson and says she wants to emulate Kelly Holmes by going for an 800m/1500m double at the Los Angeles Olympics.

"I grew up and was always just good at running," says Georgia Hunter Bell, as she remembers the moment she felt her career was over at 23. Her teenage promise — she was the UK’s top 15-year-old after running a 2:08 min 800m — was undermined by injuries aggravated by overtraining in the US collegiate system; she retired, took a job in tech and did not run on the track for five years.

A return began with a pandemic parkrun in which she posted 16min 34sec and, in November 2022, she reunited with her former coach Trevor Painter and Jenny Meadows. Painter and Meadows, who guided Keely Hodgkinson to Olympic gold in Paris, identified renewed potential and "They really made me believe," she says. "After one hill session, Jen pulled me in and was like, 'You can run the Olympic qualifying time' and that's when I was like, 'OK, I am going do this'. Then it went from 'you can run the time' to 'you can make the team' to 'you can actually get a medal'."

Over the past two years the 32-year-old has collected six major medals, including an Olympic 1500m bronze, a world 800m silver and world 800m indoor and Commonwealth golds. The world duathlon title followed in 2023, along with a 1500m in 4:06 that was "just four seconds off the Olympic qualifying time", and days before her 30th birthday Hunter Bell was able to quit her job to become a professional athlete.

This year she is the second fastest woman in the world over 1500m and the fifth fastest over 800m, and her coaches remain divided on which event suits her best. "Jen thinks there's a lot more potential in the 800m, and then Trev thinks I have a better aerobic base, which is maybe suited for the 1500m a bit more," she says, adding that she feels "pretty equal in both".

Her tactical range was underlined at the Commonwealth Games when she beat 800m world champion Lilian Odira by leading early, keeping the pace steady and then accelerating when Odira was out of position on the back straight of the second lap, finishing with a final 200m in 27 seconds. "Jen and I watched the rounds," Hunter Bell explains. "And we anticipated what we thought she might do." Those performances followed learning curves after she found being favourite unfamiliar: "I used to relish being the underdog in 2024," she says, "but I found it quite a hard adjustment to be favourite... And I made some mistakes in 2025, which were really important to learn from."

Her training under Painter and Meadows emphasises high-speed efforts on the track and limited slow running, with long bike rides at weekends instead of long runs and a strong focus on recovery. "You have to be quite disciplined with what you do in your spare time," she says. "You're almost trying to be horizontal for as much as you can during the day. When you're not training or racing, you're chilling out and letting your body recover." Training alongside Hodgkinson has also influenced her: "She's very chilled, which I've really learned from," she says, and on what she may have given Hodgkinson she adds with a laugh, "I would be interested to hear what she would say... Maybe because I have achieved something that on paper you wouldn't think is possible, that's helped her see that you can actually do anything? And maybe I've helped her be on time more. I'm always like, you need to go!"

Hunter Bell has discussed attempting an 800m/1500m double with Kelly Holmes and considered it at the world championships in Tokyo before deciding against a double there. "The idea of me winning a gold in the 800 and 1500 in LA is kind of unthinkable because the races are so quick, and what they demand from your body is so much," she says. "So everything is leading towards LA – that's the north star."