by Stuart Weir
Geogia Hunter Bell is looking good.
Georgia Hunter Bell cruised into the 1500m final, running 4:11.31, the fastest time of three heats. While several athletes are skipping the indoor season—Jemma Reekie told me that she did not think racing in February would help her be in peak condition in September—Bell, who returned to the sport after a gap of several years, seems to run at every opportunity.
Georgia said of her race: “Job done, I just wanted to make sure there was no trouble. People can trip over each other when it’s slow, and bad things can happen. I had the experience in the outdoors at the Europeans when I got spiked in my Achilles, so I was like, if no-one is going to take it on, I will take it and just make this honest”. Winning European and Olympic medals last year has changed her perspective: “It feels different – I am not really an underdog anymore, I’ve got the blue number so I can’t act like I am, no I like it I am just embracing it!”
In a British Athletics press point this week, Georgia reflected on what has happened in the last 12 months. This time last year, she had a full-time sales job, training early in the morning and evenings. Going full-time was too big a risk. “I was only going to make track a full-time job once I was sure I could make a living out of it because obviously, you have to make a living. So, where I was before I went to Paris was not a realistic option. But after Paris, it changed. Nike changed my contract because I was a medalist, which made it possible to go full time”.
She said it was not significant “to be full time and not have the stress [of doing both]. I was working in a software sales job where you could be fired monthly if you didn’t hit your quota. So it’s not like a very dozy job, where you can chill out. It was, ‘there is a number you need to get on the board’. You need to find a way. I think that has really helped my perspective on running. It’s kind of like a meritocracy. Obviously, luck is involved, but you need to make those things happen and have an excellent work ethic. So while that has been good from my perspective, I do have to say having that removed, just having that stress not on my shoulders anymore, I wake up every day really excited for the day versus being, ‘How on earth am I going to do all of this and try and train and book time off on Friday to get myself to Dortmund and race well’. It was just quite a lot to manage the whole time. A lot of spinning plates”.
Reflecting further on where she is now, she said: “It has been a crazy 12 months. And I will say, it’s quite fun being the underdog. I enjoyed that role last year because I knew I was in great shape. I had loads of confidence. Trev and Jen [coaches Trevor Painter and Jenny Meadows] believed in me. Based on training, they have their finger on what’s possible. And so that was fun. And now I’m going into it with the new challenge of being expected to win this year. I hadn’t looked at that wording at the end of the video saying, ‘going for European gold. ’ So I guess I’m saying publicly I’m going for European gold. That is different, so I’m adjusting to it. I guess very athlete once they have their breakthrough, it’s almost the second year, which is the more telling of your physical and mental capability, whether you can back it up”.
Don’t you just love the people in our sport! Half an hour after her race tonight, I walked past Georgia, standing in a public area with her family, quite accessible to anyone who wanted to chat with her.
The other two heats were won by Esther Guerrero (4:12.21) and Berenice Cleyet-Merle (4:13.51).Revee
Walcott-Nolan (GB) made the final. Britain’s other runner 19 19-year-old Ava Lloyd, did not.
