CHINA: British 1500-m runners Neil Gourley and Georgia Hunter Bell impressively secured medals on the last day of the World Athletics Indoor Championships in China.
Gourley took silver in the men’s 1500 m, recording a time of 3:39.07, just behind Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen, who finished with a final time of 3:38.79. The Norwegian recently secured a gold medal in the 3,000-meter event of the same competition.
With his win, Gourley expressed in an interview with BBC Sports: “It feels really good. A couple of weeks ago, I came away disappointed with the European Indoors.”
He added: “I came here with a point to prove, just to myself, and it was a change in tactics today. It was a case of if you can’t beat him (Ingebrigtsen), join him… It worked out because it meant I fed off his momentum, and I felt much better doing it that way. I just left a little too much to do in the home straight to catch him.”
Moreover, Hunter Bell took bronze in the women’s 1500 m, finishing behind Ethiopia’s Gudaf Tsegay and Diribe Welteji. The athlete ran a personal best of 3:59.84, marking her second global medal after earning Olympic outdoor bronze in the Paris Olympics last year. She undoubtedly made a strong comeback after narrowly missing out on a podium finish at the European Indoors just a few weeks ago.
Bell shared: “This absolutely feels like a redemption…. I’m just proud of how I came back. This medal means a lot. I just want to get as many medals as possible.”
With Gourley and Bell’s performances and achievements, they helped Britain’s medal haul at the event to be four in total.
In a social media post shared by British Athletics, it stated: “Our 1500-m heroes 🤝This time last season @neil_gourley was injured and had to watch the World Indoors on TV. Now he’s a world silver medallist … @georgiabelltheduathlete finished 4th in Glasgow last year, but in Nanjing, she’s done one better 🥉”
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In similar news, Jeremiah Azu clinched gold in the men’s 60 m, matching his personal best of 6.49 seconds, while Amber Amming secured victory in the women’s 400 m.