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.[3] 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.[4]
Career
A Shaftesbury Barnet Harriers athlete,[5] Bell returned to Britain from the United States, becoming a training partner of Keely Hodgkinson, guided by Jenny Meadows and Trevor Painter.[6] In April 2023, she won the Duathlon World Championships in the female 30-34 age group, in Ibiza.[7][8]
In 2023, she improved her personal bests over 1500m, 3000m and 5000m on the track, and set a new road 10k personal best in Telford, in December 2023.[9]
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.[10] The following week, Bell beat pre-race favourite Sembo Almayew for victory over 3000m in Val-de-Reuil in another lifetime best time of 8:42.16.[11] In February 2024, she lowered her 1500m personal best to 4:03.22 in Stockholm.[12] 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.[13][14]
Her place at the 2024 Summer Olympics was officially confirmed when Team GB named their athletics team on 5 July 2024.[23] 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.[24] On 20 July 2024, she improved her 800m personal best to 1:56.28 at the London Diamond League.[25] 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.[26][27] 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 cyber security job after her sabbatical.[28]
Personal life
She previously worked for a London-based firm that studies cyber attacks.[29] She is the daughter of political journalist Andy Bell and Angela Bell, a school PE teacher. She has two sisters.[30][31][32]
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