Latest news with #AmberAnning
Telegraph
21-04-2025
- Sport
- Telegraph
Amber Anning interview: The letter that inspired me to become world champion
Last month, in emotional scenes inside China's Nanjing Youth Olympic Sports Park, Amber Anning stood on top of the podium after a coming-of-age performance to win 400-metre gold at the World Indoor Championships. Her stunning triumph marked a number of firsts. It was Anning's first international title, in her first professional season after years grafting away on the American college scene, and she was Britain's first-ever female winner in the event. The stars had truly aligned. Two weeks earlier, Anning's confidence had been shredded after she was disqualified from the heats at the European Indoor Championships in Apeldoorn for a lane infringement. Determined to avoid a repeat in Nanjing, she calmly recited a letter to herself before warming up. 'It was basically what I would say to the 'old Amber' and what I would say to her now,' says Anning. 'I wrote about all the sacrifices I'd made, all the events I'd missed socially, moving over to America and not wanting to feel disappointment after all the hard work I'd put in, wanting to hear the national anthem standing on the podium and going out to get what's mine. 'I wrote it at the Europeans but took the letter to the worlds and every time I read it, it put a smile on my face. It just reminded me that I had come so far and that I could go out there and achieve what I wanted to.' SHE'S DONE IT! 🥇 Great Britain's Amber Anning has won Women's 400m gold in dramatic style in Nanjing! #BBCAthletics #WorldIndoorChamps — BBC Sport (@BBCSport) March 22, 2025 Anning is speaking to Telegraph Sport from her United States training base in Arkansas, where she has returned to ready herself for the outdoor season. Unlike most emerging British talent, she made the bold decision to leave her Brighton-based family, aged 19, to make a track career for herself in the US. When she arrived at Louisiana State University on a scholarship in 2020, she was a small fish in a very big pond and began rubbing shoulders with some of the best 400m specialists in the world. Anning initially struggled to grapple with the huge cultural shock, before body-image insecurities struck. She quickly came across what it meant to be labelled 'Freshman 15' – the term is used to describe so-called weight-gain among college athletes in their first year, when they may put on up to 15 pounds. 'I wasn't running very fast and I was struggling with weight,' reflects Anning. 'The portions over here are really big and sometimes there'd be some points where I'd see myself in the mirror and just struggled with my look. 'I came to America looking really lean and really toned. When you're 18, 19, you're not developed as much in terms of lifting. During my first year, when I came back for Christmas, I don't think my parents even recognised me. 'A lot of comments were going around. I remember the team, some girls made comments that I was fat and overweight. It was mentally hard. When you're underperforming as well you've got all this stuff going on.' In her award-winning memoir Good For A Girl, Lauren Fleshman, a former middle-distance national champion, painted her own damning experience of the American college system as one severely lacking in female coaches needed to promote healthy practices. 'It can be hard to be a female sometimes,' says Anning. 'We deal with a lot, and it's about making sure that you have people around you who understand when you're on your period, you're not maybe going to be the best, like some people's are heavier than others.' Anning, though, insists her formative years in the States have been 'pretty positive' and insists the cut-throat nature of her training environments is inherently tied to her success on the track. At her maiden Olympics in Paris last year, she collected a pair of relay bronzes and finished a respectable fifth in the women's 400m final, but her career might have veered in a completely different direction after she experienced devastating loss as a teenager. The sudden passing of Anning's childhood coach, Lloyd Cowan, the esteemed trainer who masterminded Christine Ohuruogu's 2008 Olympic success in Beijing, turned Anning's world upside down. Cowan coached Anning as a junior and such was the profound influence the former Commonwealth sprint hurdler had on her career that Anning's mother helped set up the Lloyd Cowan Bursary as a way to honour his legacy after his unexpected death in 2021, which was believed to be related to Covid-19 complications. The initiative supports athletes who lack the financial means to stay in the sport. 'I was devastated,' says Anning. 'I was in a lot of disbelief. Lloyd was just such a figure and role model to me and someone who I thought would be here on this journey with me today, especially seeing what he'd done with Christine Ohuruogu. 'Those first two years [after his passing] I'd get teary even talking about it because he had such a profound impact on me. He was just such a charismatic man who had so much love and joy. At the worlds, on the podium, I was thinking, 'Lloyd, we got there! We can tick something off our list.'' How proud he would have been of his diligent pupil, who will not be parting with her lucky letter any time soon. 'It's staying in my backpack for now,' smiles Anning.
Yahoo
22-03-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Amber Anning makes British history to win 400m gold at World Athletics Indoor Championships
Amber Anning stormed to 400 metres gold to claim her first senior individual international medal on the second day of the World Athletics Indoor Championships in China. The British record holder, who collected a pair of relay bronzes at last summer's Paris Olympics, crossed the line in 50.60 seconds to pip the United States' Alexis Holmes by three hundredths of a second, while Norway's Henriette Jaeger took bronze. It was redemption for the 24-year-old, who was disqualified from the same event due to a lane infringement at the European Indoor Championships earlier this month. "It feels amazing," said Anning, who became the first British woman to win an individual world indoor sprint title. "I came here wanting the win after the disappointment of the Europeans. I wanted the gold and I'm grateful that I was able to get the job done and bring a medal back to the home city. "I knew with the calibre of girls in this race it was going to be close, especially to get that break. But I stayed strong, I had faith in myself, and I got to the end and I fought for that line." Amy Hunt, who claimed 4x100m relay silver in Paris, was delighted by her fifth-place finish in the women's 60m after qualifying for her maiden senior individual world final. Hunt improved on the morning's semis by running 7.11secs in the final, and said: "I can't believe I'm fifth in the world in an event that nobody thinks I can do apart from me and my coach! "That was one of the most fun races I have ever done in my life and at the end of the day that's what it is all about. I was smiling at the start line, I was stood next to the world champion and I nearly had them. A few inches off, a couple more metres I would have got them." There was disappointment for pole vaulter Molly Caudery, who was unable to defend her title from Glasgow 2024 in a competition plagued by technical issues. Caudery, who has experienced an injury-hampered start to her season, finished fourth. She said: "It was definitely not what I wanted but I am disappointed to say the least. It was a really, really, tough competition and there were a lot of technical issues, but I don't want to put any excuses out. "If there is an hour wait in the middle of the competition when it's getting to those medal bars - the really important bars - it shouldn't be happening at a competition like this. The girls did struggle with that - as did I - it ruins the flow and even I know we were all deflated after, but that's championships for you." More medals are up for grabs on Sunday's final day of competition. Debutant Funminiyi Olajide is in the women's long jump before Scott Lincoln appears in the shot put. Scotland's Neil Gourley goes for gold in the men's 1500m final and Olympic bronze medallist Georgia Hunter Bell is in the women's final of the same distance.
The Guardian
22-03-2025
- Sport
- The Guardian
GB's Amber Anning makes history with 400m gold at world indoors
Amber Anning stormed to 400m gold to claim her first senior individual international medal on the second day of the World Athletics Indoor Championships in China. The British record holder, who collected a pair of relay bronzes at last summer's Paris Olympics, crossed the line in 50.60sec to pip the United States' Alexis Holmes by three hundredths of a second, while Norway's Henriette Jaeger took bronze. It was redemption for the 24-year-old Anning, who was disqualified from the same event due to a lane infringement at this month's European Indoor Championships. 'It feels amazing,' said Anning, who became the first British woman to win an individual world indoor sprint title. 'I came here wanting the win after the disappointment of the Europeans. I wanted the gold and I'm grateful that I was able to get the job done and bring a medal back to the home city. 'I knew with the calibre of girls in this race it was going to be close, especially to get that break. But I stayed strong, I had faith in myself, and I got to the end and I fought for that line.' Amy Hunt, who claimed 4x100m relay silver in Paris, was delighted by her fifth-place finish in the women's 60 metres after qualifying for her maiden senior individual world final. She improved on the morning's semis by running 7.11secs in the final, and said: 'I can't believe I'm fifth in the world in an event that nobody thinks I can do apart from me and my coach! 'That was one of the most fun races I have ever done in my life and at the end of the day that's what it is all about. I was smiling at the start line, I was stood next to the world champion and I nearly had them. A few inches off, a couple more metres I would have got them.' There was disappointment for the pole vaulter Molly Caudery, who was unable to defend her title from Glasgow 2024 in a competition plagued by technical issues. The 25-year-old, who has experienced an injury-hampered start to her season, finished fourth. She said: 'It was definitely not what I wanted but I am disappointed to say the least. It was a really, really, tough competition and there were a lot of technical issues, but I don't want to put any excuses out. 'If there is an hour wait in the middle of the competition when it's getting to those medal bars – the really important bars – it shouldn't be happening at a competition like this. The girls did struggle with that – as did I – it ruins the flow and even I know we were all deflated after, but that's championships for you.' There are more British medal hopes on Sunday's final day of competition. The debutant Funminiyi Olajide is in the women's long jump before Scott Lincoln appears in the shot put. Scotland's Neil Gourley goes for gold in the men's 1500 metres final and the Olympic bronze medallist Georgia Hunter Bell is in the women's final of the same distance. Sign up to The Recap The best of our sports journalism from the past seven days and a heads-up on the weekend's action after newsletter promotion Sweden's Armand Duplantis won a third consecutive pole vault title with a leap of 6.15m and the American Grant Holloway cruised to the 60m hurdles crown. Switzerland's Mujinga Kambundji denied the pre-race favourite, Zaynab Dosso of Italy, to win her second world indoor title in the marquee women's 60m sprint in 7.04sec. Dosso had dominated the heats but could not summon up her best effort when it mattered and had to settle for silver in 7.06, with Patrizia van der Weken of Luxembourg grabbing bronze. Duplantis was the overwhelming favourite after soaring to 6.27m and breaking the world mark for an 11th time in Clermont-Ferrand last month, and at Nanjing's Cube the 25-year-old completed a century of jumps over six metres. The twice Olympic champion comfortably scaled 6.05m for the 100th vault over 6.00m and despite a rare blip in his first try at 6.10m, he joined Sergey Bubka and Renaud Lavillenie as a triple world indoors champion.
The Independent
22-03-2025
- Sport
- The Independent
Amber Anning's golden performance makes history at World Indoor Championships
Amber Anning stormed to 400 metres gold to claim her first senior individual international medal on the second day of the World Athletics Indoor Championships in China. The British record holder, who collected a pair of relay bronzes at last summer's Paris Olympics, crossed the line in 50.60 seconds to pip the United States' Alexis Holmes by three hundredths of a second, while Norway's Henriette Jaeger took bronze. It was redemption for the 24-year-old, who was disqualified from the same event due to a lane infringement at the European Indoor Championships earlier this month. "It feels amazing," said Anning, who became the first British woman to win an individual world indoor sprint title. "I came here wanting the win after the disappointment of the Europeans. I wanted the gold and I'm grateful that I was able to get the job done and bring a medal back to the home city. "I knew with the calibre of girls in this race it was going to be close, especially to get that break. But I stayed strong, I had faith in myself, and I got to the end and I fought for that line." Amy Hunt, who claimed 4x100 metres relay silver in Paris, was delighted by her fifth-place finish in the women's 60 metres after qualifying for her maiden senior individual world final. Hunt improved on the morning's semis by running 7.11secs in the final, and said: "I can't believe I'm fifth in the world in an event that nobody thinks I can do apart from me and my coach! "That was one of the most fun races I have ever done in my life and at the end of the day that's what it is all about. I was smiling at the start line, I was stood next to the world champion and I nearly had them. A few inches off, a couple more metres I would have got them." There was disappointment for pole vaulter Molly Caudery, who was unable to defend her title from Glasgow 2024 in a competition plagued by technical issues. Caudery, who has experienced an injury-hampered start to her season, finished fourth. She said: "It was definitely not what I wanted but I am disappointed to say the least. It was a really, really, tough competition and there were a lot of technical issues, but I don't want to put any excuses out. "If there is an hour wait in the middle of the competition when it's getting to those medal bars - the really important bars - it shouldn't be happening at a competition like this. The girls did struggle with that - as did I - it ruins the flow and even I know we were all deflated after, but that's championships for you." More medals are up for grabs on Sunday's final day of competition. Debutant Funminiyi Olajide is in the women's long jump before Scott Lincoln appears in the shot put. Scotland's Neil Gourley goes for gold in the men's 1500 metres final and Olympic bronze medallist Georgia Hunter Bell is in the women's final of the same distance.
NBC Sports
22-03-2025
- Sport
- NBC Sports
Anning leans ahead of Holmes for 400m win
Amber Anning and Alexis Holmes battled until the very end but Anning overtook Holmes in the final moments to win the 400m at the World Indoor Championships in Nanjing, China.
