The lightbulb moment behind Georgia Hunter Bell's newfound potential

Independent

5 days ago

A lightbulb moment for Georgia Hunter Bell occurred at Stockholm Diamond League earlier this year. The Olympic 1,500m bronze medalist was dropping down in distance to the 800m, sharpening up in an event she is also comfortable racing in. But over the final 100m at another Olympic Stadium, following that famous night last year at the Stade de France, the 31-year-old unlocked a new weapon. From sixth to first, Hunter Bell stunned the field by stealing the win with a surge from the very edge of lane three, taking almost a second out of 2023 800m world champion Mary Moraa with a 14.1-second kick over the last 100m to post 1:57.66.
The training partner to Olympic champion Keely Hodgkinson, who is still to make her season debut, suddenly had a dilemma. Race the event that delivered her a fairytale high in Paris, or capitalise on that deadly combination of strength and, now, a sizzling finish over two laps.
'I feel like winning medals is the most important thing,' Hunter Bell tells the Independent. 'So I would rather win a medal in one than, like, come fifth or make the final in both. That's kind of cool, but there's nothing better than winning a medal.
'The thing with the 1500m with [Olympic champion and world record holder] Faith Kipyegon is, even though I know people are beatable on the day, you never know what happens, but it is very much like racing for silver and bronze in the 1500m. And there is so much depth in the 1500m, like everyone is very, very close. That is a big consideration.
'Whereas I feel like in the 800m, if you make the final, kind of anything can happen.'
In that final, Hunter Bell, should she negotiate Saturday's heat and Sunday's 800m final in Birmingham, could find herself on the same start line as Hodgkinson.
The 23-year-old has not raced since that Olympic final following a hamstring injury before the Keely Klassic earlier this year, but is due to return at the Lausanne Diamond League on 20 August.
'The thing with Keeley is like, she could come back and would still run like times that most people would be happy with,' Hunter Bell says. 'But she's not going to be happy unless she's able to step on the track and run like 1:56, like she wouldn't be happy with 1:57, so I understand why she wants to come back when she's at that shape. Last year, you know, she dealt with a few different things, injury-wise, and then came back and ran the fastest time in the world. So it's amazing how she gets into shape so quickly. So, I'm not worried about her at all.'
Hunter Bell could well replicate the great Dame Kelly Holmes, who pulled off the audacious 800m and 1500m double gold at the 2004 Olympics, by competing in both events at a major championships.
In fact, after grabbing another 800m Diamond League victory two weeks ago, Hunter Bell openly admits she is considering a similar bid but conscious that doing so could 'stuff your chances at both'.
She adds: 'You wouldn't want to do both, and come away with no hardware at the end. So yeah, it's a lot of strategy, watching what we're doing, but also watching what the other people that we're competing against are doing.'
British Championships and a top-two finish in the 800m will enable her to make the most compelling of decisions for an athlete at the top of her game, with the governing body almost certain to hand her a wildcard in the 1,500m as an Olympic medalist.
Team GB colleague Jemma Reekie holds similar versatility over the same distances, but with Olympian Phoebe Gill out injured, Hunter Bell is a strong favourite to advance and suddenly face a strange but exciting prospect of racing a friend, teammate and Olympic champion. And her mindset appears to hint at a preference to pursue a second major medal in a second event.
'We train together,' Hunter Bell adds when considering a race at the World Championships against Hodgkinson. 'We are friends, and it will be interesting if we get to a final, because we're both going to be advised by the same coaches.
'And they're going to advise us on our strengths. But they're very professional, and I'm already doing that with Sarah Healy in my team. So if anything, I think it's a good thing.
'Like, there's nothing more that I would want than for us both to medal in the same event, that would be the coolest thing for our team, the coolest thing for Team GB.
'If we could have two girls representing and bringing medals home in the 800m, that would be crazy. So I think we're kind of really motivated to do it together, and we both respect each other as athletes a lot.'