Georgia Bell

Georgia Hunter Bell (née Bell; born 17 October 1993) is an English track and field athlete who competes as a middle distance runner. She is the reigning World Indoor Champion and European Champion in the 1500 metres, having won the titles in a British indoor record time at the 2026 World Indoor Championships, and the 2026 European Championships respectively. She is also the reigning Commonwealth Games champion in the 800 metres from 2026, winning all three titles in the same season.

A promising junior runner who returned to the sport after a hiatus, she won a bronze medal in the 1500 m at the 2024 Summer Olympics, running a new national record time. That year, she also won the silver medal at the 2024 European Athletics Championships and became British national champion, indoors and outdoors, in the 1500 metres. She retained her national indoors title and won the UK national outdoors title over 800 metres in 2025 and 2026, and won the silver medal over that distance at the 2025 World Championships.

Early life Bell was a high-achieving junior competitor, winning the English Schools title at under-15 level over 800 metres, and clocking a time of 2:08.81, which placed her eighth on the UK all-time list. She also won silver in the same championships as an under-17 in 2009. She attended Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School and studied geography at the University of Birmingham. In 2015, after winning the BUCS (British Universities & Colleges Sport) indoor 800 metres title and silver at the England Athletics Under-23 Championships, she started at University of California, Berkeley.

Career Bell secured a track scholarship in the United States as a junior athlete, competing collegiately before stepping away from the sport for five years, partly due to injuries. She returned to London and worked in technology sales.

Her athletics comeback was sparked during the COVID-19 pandemic, when restrictions led her back to running. Participation in her local Parkrun and rapid improvements in form prompted her to reconnect with her former coach, join local club Belgrave Harriers and resume competitive racing.

She became a training partner of Keely Hodgkinson, guided by coaches Jenny Meadows and Trevor Painter. In April 2023, she won the Duathlon World Championships in the female 30-34 age group, in Ibiza.

In 2023, she improved her personal bests over 1500 m, 3000 m and 5000 m on the track, and set a new road 10k personal best in Telford, in December 2023.

2024: Olympic medalist In January 2024, Bell ran a new personal best over 1500 metres, running 4:03.54 in winning the World Athletics Indoor Tour Bronze event in Dortmund. The following week, Bell beat pre-race favourite Sembo Almayew for victory over 3000 m in Val-de-Reuil in another lifetime best time of 8:42.16. In February 2024, she lowered her 1500 m personal best to 4:03.22 in Stockholm. On 18 February 2024, she won the final at the 2024 British Indoor Athletics Championships in Birmingham of the 1500 metres to become British indoor champion.

She was selected to compete for Britain at the 2024 World Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow. She qualified for the final of the women's 1500 metres race, with a time of 4:04.39. She finished fourth in the final with a time of 4:03.47.

In May 2024, she finished sixth in the 1500 metres at the 2024 Doha Diamond League in a time of 4:03.72. That month she also ran a personal best 800 metres time of 1:59.93 in Andújar. Bell ran a 4:00.41 personal best for the 1500 m at the 2024 Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Oregon.

Selected to run the 1500 metres for Britain at the 2024 European Athletics Championships in Rome, she won the silver medal. Later that month, she won the 1500 metres at the 2024 British Athletics Championships in Manchester.

Her place at the 2024 Summer Olympics was officially confirmed when Team GB named their athletics team on 5 July 2024. A few days later she set a 3:56.54 personal best in the 1500 metres at the 2024 Meeting de Paris, to go No.2 on the UK all-time rankings, and set an English national record. On 20 July 2024, she improved her 800 m personal best to 1:56.28 at the London Diamond League. At the 2024 Paris Olympics, Bell won a bronze medal in the women's 1500 m. To do so, she broke Laura Muir's British record, running a time of 3:52.61. In September 2024, she finished second in the 800 metres at the Diamond League final in Brussels, and finished seventh in the 1500 metres at the same event. She later announced that she was turning professional rather than return to her cyber security job after her sabbatical.

2025: World Championships medalist

She ran a 3000 m personal best of 8:36.96 at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix on 2 February 2025. The following weekend she ran a personal best 4:23.35 for the indoor mile to win the Millrose Games in New York City on 8 February 2025.

On 23 February, she won the gold medal in the 1,500 metres at the British Indoor Championships for the second year in a row. At the 2025 European Athletics Indoor Championships in Apeldoorn, Hunter-Bell finished fourth in the 1,500 metres. She was named in the British team for the 2025 World Athletics Indoor Championships in March 2025, where she won her heat to qualify for the final, before placing third to win the bronze medal in an indoor 1500 metres personal best time of 3:59.84 close to the British Record.

In May 2025, she was named as a challenger for the short distance category at the 2025 Grand Slam Track event in Philadelphia, placing fourth in the 1500 metres race and a close runner-up to overall slam winner Diribe Welteji in the 800 metres in a time of 1:58.94. She won the 800 metres in 1:57.66 at the 2025 BAUHAUS-galan event in Stockholm, part of the 2025 Diamond League. She ran a season's best of 3:54.76 for the 1500 metres to finish fourth at the 2025 Prefontaine Classic on 5 July.

On 19 July 2025, she won the 800 metres at the London Diamond League Meeting in a time of one minute 56.74 seconds. On 3 August 2025, she became the British 800 metres champion after winning the 800 metres title at the 2025 UK Athletics Championships in Birmingham. Amid ongoing speculation over her decision whether to run the 800 metres, 1500 metres, or both at the upcoming world championships, she placed third in 3:56.00 over 1500 metres at the Diamond League event in Silesia on 16 August 2025. On the 20 August, she finished third behind Keely Hodgkinson and Audrey Werro over 800 m in 1:57.55 at the 2025 Athletissima event in Lausanne. She ran a 800 m personal best 1:55.96 to finish behind Werro in second at the Diamond League Final in Zurich on 28 August to move to third on the British all-time list. She chose to be selected only for the 800 metres as part of the British team for the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, Japan, where she secured a silver medal with a personal best time of 1:54.90 finishing ahead of Hodgkinson and behind Lilian Odira of Kenya. On 10 October, she finished runner-up to Keeley Hodgkinson over 800 metres at the 2025 Athlos meet in New York.

2026: World Indoor, Commonwealth, and European champion Hunter Bell began her 2026 indoor season with wins over 1500 metres in February on the World Athletics Indoor Tour in Karlsruhe (4:00.04) and Liévin (4:00.21), but missed the British Indoor Championships with illness. On 1 March in Glasgow, she ran her first indoor 800 m since 2015, running an indoor personal best of 1:57.80 to break the Scottish all-comers' 800 m record and move third on the British all-time list. Competing at the 2026 World Athletics Indoor Championships in Toruń, Poland, she advanced to the final of the 1500 m after winning her heat. Hunter Bell won gold in the final on 22 March, finishing with a British indoor record time of 3:58.53, surpassing Laura Muir's record.

Competing outdoors Hunter Bell finished in second in the 1500 m at the Maurie Plant Meet in Melbourne, Australia on 27 March 2026, finishing with a time of 4:01.52, 0.22 seconds behind Claudia Hollingsworth. On 4 June, she won over 1500 metres in the 2026 Diamond League event in Rome. On 21 June, she set a new championship record as she retained her national 800 metres title at the 2026 UK Athletics Championships in 1:55.93, surpassing the previous mark set by Kelly Holmes. On 28 June, she won her second Diamond League race of the season, winning ahead of Freweyni Hailu over 1500 metres with 3:55.63 at the 2026 Meeting de Paris. She ran a personal best 4:18.52 for the mile run at the 2026 Prefontaine Classic on 4 July. On 31 July, she won the gold medal in the 800 metres at the 2026 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, ahead of reigning outdoor world champion Lilian Odira. On 16 August, she won the gold medal in the 1500 metres at the 2026 European Athletics Championships in Birmingham, finishing ten metres clear of the field having controlled the pace of the race before running a 58.44 seconds final lap to finish in a time of 4:07.78. With the victory, she won her seventh international medal within two years of competition. On 27 August, she ran a season's best 1:55.03 for the 800 metres the 2026 Weltklasse Zürich, her second fastest time ever for the distance behind the 2025 World Championships final.

Competition results International competitions

National championships and competitions

Circuit performances

Personal life She previously worked for a London-based firm that studies cyber attacks. She is the daughter of political journalist Andy Bell and Angela Bell, a school PE teacher. She is the great-granddaughter of First World War officer and diarist Edwin Campion Vaughan. She has two sisters. She married George Hunter in West Sussex on 19 October 2024.