Anning relishes view from the top after world gold

BBC News

25-03-2025

Staring out from the 61st floor, overlooking Nanjing's glass-and-steel skyline, Amber Anning could finally get the highs and lows into perspective.Two weeks before, she had been reduced to tears after disqualification for a lane infringement at the European Indoor Championships in the Netherlands.Three hours before, she had redeemed herself on the global stage in China, becoming the first British woman to win the 400m world indoor title.And, a few minutes earlier, she had lost once more."Me, [60m world indoor champion] Jeremiah Azu and [60m finalist] Amy Hunt went up to the top floor of our hotel that evening and played cards and a little bit of music," she told BBC Sport of the end of her World Indoors campaign."That was our celebration. It was really chill, a nice little vibe. But I actually lost every game. I was so upset! "Jeremiah won twice or three times, Amy won, I just couldn't - but at least I won the most important thing, which was the 400m."So far in her short career, Anning has tended to turn up trumps when it matters.While still a student, she won a world bronze medal with Britain's 4x400m team in Budapest.In 2024, she reached the Olympic final in Paris, breaking the legendary Christine Ohuruogu's British record en route to fifth place before picking up another two relay medals.Now, still just 24, she is an individual global champion and one of British athletics' brightest stars.
Her ascent to the upper reaches of the sport has been stylish.Last summer, she surged to a championship record when she won the British title, leaving Laviai Nielsen and Jodie Williams in her slipstream. In Nanjing, on the tight bends of an indoor track, she was bumped by American Alexis Holmes with 175m to go.Anning went wide, back and, potentially, out of contention.But she regathered herself, nibbled into Holmes' lead, powered off the last bend and beat her rival on the dip. Her winning margin was just three-hundredths of a second."With 400m you have so much time to think, it isn't like 60m where you just get it done," she said."When I got pushed I didn't panic, I said to myself 'this is not how you visualised it, this is not the execution you wanted, but what are you going to do before now and the end to get your gold medal?'"I had to wait and be patient, stay engaged, and stay in touch with her and then time it to perfection."When I watched it back I realised that if I had made that move even a second earlier or later, I wasn't winning. It is crazy how it works."There is a beautiful symmetry to Anning succeeding Ohuruogu as the British record holder.Lloyd Cowan, who guided Ohuruogu 's career, also coached Anning as a junior. He died in January 2021 from complications arising from a Covid-19 infection, aged 58."He was like my track dad," said Anning. "He just gave so much warmth, it felt so homely being around him. It was such a tough loss. "I thought I would be here with him today achieving this stuff and I know he is looking down on me now and I know he would be proud."It feels like we kept the record in the family, which is really nice."Anning's mother sits alongside Ohuruogu on the board of the Lloyd Cowan Bursary, which helps bring down financial barriers for promising young athletes and coaches who might otherwise be lost to athletics.If Cowan shaped Anning's early potential, it has been sharpened in the United States.Encouraged by her mother, Anning left the UK for Louisiana State University as a teenager.The alma mater of pole vault world record holder Armand Duplantis and 100m world champion Sha'Carri Richardson took her out of her comfort zone."I felt I was maybe a little too comfortable over here [in the UK] and I needed that extra push," she said."Over there, you are seeing success in your face every day."Because it is such a big place and big population, only a small percentage are going to make it, maybe they want it that much more because they know the chances are slimmer."I needed to take on that mentality of wanting to be the best in the world because that is the level they are at over there."
It took some time.Anning admits she was "not as disciplined as I should have been" initially at Louisiana and eventually transferred to Arkansas, which had a less lively party scene, as well as a world-class 400m group.Beating Holmes, the top-ranked American over 400m, to gold is testament to her grind.There may be other high-profile opponents to consider.Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, the all-conquering 400m hurdles superstar, clocked the seventh-fastest 400m time of 2024 in an invitational race in September and is thought to be racing on the flat in Michael Johnson's Grand Slam Track.The Netherlands' Femke Bol, another hurdles specialist, is the 400m indoor world record holder, having won gold in Glasgow last year.If they line up against her, Anning will be ready."Let them come," she said. "I love competition, it makes everyone better,"That just means I have to do a little bit better, train harder and work out what I have to do to stay up there and on top."From the 61st floor and the top step of the podium alike, Anning likes the view.