Sarah Calvert wins the 1500
It was a case of déjà vu all over again for Sarah Calvert in the 1500 meters at the British Championship. In 2025, she just held off Laura Muir to win the British Championships in 4:16.27 – a win that earned her a place on the GB team for the World Championships – except that it did not, as she did not have the qualifying time.
This year the result was:
1 Sarah Calvert 4:07.82
2 Katie Snowden 4:08.22
3 Laura Muir 4:08.73
Sarah has a PR of 4:04.33, compared with the European Championship qualifying time of 4:03.50. She has until 26 July to meet it and confirm her selection. After the race she commented: “I think last year was a surprise, I’m even more shocked because I thought last year might have even been a fluke, but everything has to come together at the end of the day, so for it to come together two days in a row, I’m super happy with that. I can’t believe it’s happened again.
“It went out a lot faster than last year. I knew that a slow race would favor me, so when it went out a bit faster I thought okay, but I just tried to stay calm, cool, collected and just follow the plan. The plan was the same if it was really slow or fast, ‘just wait for that last 120m,’ and that’s what I did. I would love to go run in European time now, but it’s been quite hard to get into the fast races. This is a season’s best, and it should help me going forward as I get into those big meets. So I am looking forward to it all”.
2019-2023, Sarah completed a BSc in Medical Sciences, after which she enrolled in a five-year medicine degree, both at Edinburgh University. On LinkedIn she describes herself as “Currently on a sabbatical from medical school to pursue full-time professional running for New Balance”.
She was second in the 1500m at the World University Championships in 2025, having previously represented GB at U20 and U23 level. She is now coached by Luke Gunn (husband of Hannah England).
It was a great performance by Calvert but a really disappointing run by Laura Muir. An athlete with a PR of 3:53.37 and a 2026 time of 4:00.77 should not have found herself run out of it in a race won in 4:07.
