Georgia Hunter Bell was crowned 1500m champion on Sunday night, capping an incredible week for Great Britain that also saw sprinters Amy Hunt and Dina Asher-Smith deliver standout performances at the European Championships.
History-making performances
Team GB narrowly missed finishing top of the overall medal table – with nine gold, eight silver and two bronze medals – when Italy beat Britain in the men’s 4x400m relay.
Hunter Bell’s training partner Keely Hodgkinson took silver in the 800m, behind Swiss athlete Audrey Werro, 22, after a thrilling race at Alexander Stadium in Perry Barr, Birmingham.
Record-breaking sprinters
In the mixed 4x100m relay, which is a new event, Zharnel Hughes, 31, and Jeremiah Azu, 25, called it a privilege to join Hunt, 24, a Cambridge English graduate, as she grabbed her unprecedented fourth gold medal of the championship.
Asher-Smith, 30, became the most decorated athlete in the championship’s 92-year history with her 11th medal, also in the mixed relay. Matthew Hudson-Smith, 31, surpassed French sprinter Christophe Lemaitre, 36, as the most decorated man in championship history with his ninth medal overall.
Teammates’ tributes
Hunter Bell paid tribute to her teammates after the British women’s 4x100m relay victory. Hunt handed the baton to Success Eduan, 21, who built a significant lead for Imani Lansiquot, 28. Hunt joked afterwards: “I think we have won all the medals. Dina is the greatest of all time, Success is a midwife who delivers babies as well as doing this, while Imani has written a play. I am surrounded by all these amazing women.”
Lansiquot added: “These girls are so phenomenal. They put me in the best possible position where I could just be free and enjoy it. That will be a memory for life.”
Hunter Bell’s journey
Hunt, Hunter Bell, Asher-Smith and fellow athlete Josh Kerr, 28, are likely to be in the running for Sports Personality of the Year 2026 in December.
Hunter Bell, who is the daughter of Channel 5 News political editor Andy Bell and worked as an artificial intelligence analyst, ran what she thought was her final race in Texas in 2017 after falling out of love with the sport. But in 2021, she started doing Parkrun, and three years later she was heading for the Paris Olympics with Team GB, after qualifying as the 1500m British champion at the age of 30.
She told the Mirror before the Paris Games, where she took home the bronze medal: “Parkrun got me back into running during Covid. I did the Bushy Park one in London and the Christmas Day Parkrun in Tunbridge Wells. It is a really fun way to test yourself. I was second overall when I came back at the Parkrun, just one guy beat me. I got back in touch with my running coach [Trevor Painter] and started doing races again.”
She began training with Hodgkinson, also under the guidance of Painter, and the pair became great friends off the track and huge rivals on it. Hunter Bell, 32, won the 1500m world indoor gold in March, the Commonwealth Games 800m last month and is now the European 1500m champion.
She has the inaugural World Ultimate Championships next month where she will aim for her fourth gold of the year. Hunter Bell said she has a different perspective compared to other athletes after returning to the track late in life. She said: “Every time I win a medal that is brought home, it gets me even more excited. I was so inspired by the performances over the last week by my teammates. I was absolutely buzzing.”
Off the track
Hunt, who trains in Italy, paid tribute to her parents Claire and Peter, who bought her gold earrings for the championships, which proved to be her lucky charm. She said: “I am incredibly grateful to my parents for the love they have shown me. I always say, you only have one life, you have to make the most of it. If your life gets too narrow and running always comes first, it can become unhealthy. That is why I walk around my gorgeous place in Padua and do the things that you should do as a 24 year old.”
Off the track, Hodgkinson, also 24, celebrated a new collection with the sports brand Nike, when she attended the launch in her hometown of Manchester. Part of the collection was an eye-catching corset. She posted pictures of her modelling the corset as well as a snap of her enjoying the launch with her family. Captioning the post, Hodgkinson wrote: “Details. An evening in my hometown for the KH collection, fireeee”. Tennis star Katie Boulter told her: “Corset is epic!!”. Hunt joked: “corset is insaaaaaane.”
