Have you ever wondered what might have been? So did Georgia Bell.
And eventually, it led to becoming the women’s 1500m silver medallist at the Roma 2024 European Athletics Championships.
Throwback or unknown?
The British runner sprang to international attention in January when she ran 4:03.54 indoors to win in Dortmund (see full meeting here on the European Athletics YouTube channel), which led to one of two reactions at the time, according to Bell.
“It’s interesting. Half of the people are like ‘Who the hell is this?’ and the other half are like ‘Thowback!’ laughs Bell now. “I was a youngster who did quite well at the teenage level and then just completely stopped running for years when I graduated (from) college.
“But with COVID, I got back into running, got back in touch with my coach Trevor Painter who coaches Keely (Hodgkinson), Erin Wallace and Sarah Healy.
“We’ve been working together for two years now. There were lots of gains made last year in the background. But since January, I’ve had a breakthrough and come onto the elite circuit."
Burnt out in USA
Bell was one of Great Britain’s most promising distance runners as a U17 and U20 runner and it earned her a scholarship to the University of California. Based at Berkley, the transatlantic move didn’t work out for Bell though.
“I was there for two years and had two different stress fractures. I had a bunch of injuries. I was ether in a boot or coming back, I was never at full fitness. I was just mentally and physically burnt out. So, I just went into the working world. I never thought I would set foot on a track again,” she recalls.
Pandemic was the catalyst for return
But with the pandemic, she rekindled her love of the sport. “When COVID happened and running was the only thing you could do, I just gained the fitness back really quickly and was really enjoying it. After a while I was ready to make it competitive again and go back to the track.
“It was when I did a Parkrun in Bushy Park in London and I did 16 minutes and 8 seconds and that was a pretty decent time just for hopping in a 5k. And it was after that, I signed up to a first few track races, the British Milers Club in the UK. Did quite well in them on the domestic amateur circuit.
“And then I was thinking ‘If I am doing this one my own, with no plan, what could I do if I am going back and working with a coach like Trevor and with Jenny (Meadows)?”
So, she contacted her former coach Painter, who oversees a group including Olympic and world 800m silver medallist Hodgkinson, 2021 European U23 1500m bronze medallist Wallace and 2023 European U23 1500m silver medallist Healy along with wife Meadows, a world 800m bronze and European indoor gold medallist in her own right.
“We had loose communications like when there are big life events, like when he had his daughter and things that were going on in my life,” she says. “But it was definitely out of the blue when I said, ‘Can we have a quick call - I have been running again in the background and would you want to work together again?’
“He was always saying ‘Georgia is the one who got away.’ He didn’t want to me to go to the US. He thought I could develop into a really good athlete in the UK. So, he was really happy to take it on and it’s gone really well so far.”
"what could have been if I'd kept going?"
In her time away from the track, the success of some of her British running peers had also not gone unnoticed.
“I grew up racing Katie Snowden and Alex Bell, I watched them competing at the Olympics and think ‘I used to beat those girls when I was younger, I wonder what could have been if I’d kept going?’
“So, it was always a bit of unfinished business for me. I feel really grateful I’ve been able to come back, go into such a good training group and I feel it’s all happening on my time right now. So better late than never.”
Her new-found success has meant she has been able to concentrate solely on athletics since May. “I have taken a sabbatical from my day job to aim for the Olympics in Paris,” she reveals.
“I was juggling a 9-5 until very recently. And it’s nice to just focus on running during the summer. I work in cyber security software sales. It’s really interesting. They’ve been really supportive of me taking a break to go for it.”
With a second lease of life to her career, Bell is not wasting any time. She placed fourth at the World Indoor Championships in Glasgow in March.
And her commitment shone through at Roma 2024 when she stuck with the pace in a highly competitive women’s 1500m final and finished strongly to come home just behind Irish winner Ciara Mageean and win a medal in her first major outdoor championships.
“I’m really happy with how it went,” she says. “I knew it was going to be a tough field and I wanted get out, fight aggressively, stick to the front and the goal was to make a move with 400m to go.
“I couldn’t quite get past Jemma (Reekie) for that inside line. But I managed to just come through at the end. I wanted to come away with a medal, so to come away with silver, I am over the moon.”
Family vibe aiding Olympic ambitions
Boosted by her new-found status as European medallist, Bell’s next target is this weekend’s UK Athletics Championships and Olympic Trials in Manchester (29-30 June), home of her training group. Still based in London, Bell is fulsome in her praise for the training set up which has helped her to fulfil her talent, albeit belatedly.
It's obviously great group for the physical training,” she said. “But more it’s the community they have in that group. With Trevor as the man with a plan for the coaching and Jen as the mentor who has done it all before, it makes such a family vibe.
“He (Trevor) sets me a plan remotely and I’ll go to Manchester for maybe one weekend a month for training and I go to any camps and things like that. I do a lot of training on my own, but I am able to jump into the sessions with the girls when I am in Manchester.
“Every time someone in the group does well, it pushes someone else forward. We see what’s possible with Keely and we have got so many good athletes coming through. I just feel really lucky to be part of it really.”
Chris Broadbent for European Athletics