England’s Georgia Hunter Bell has declared her ambition to complete a remarkable four-gold campaign in 2026 after producing a commanding performance to win the women’s 800m title at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
The 32-year-old middle-distance runner added the Commonwealth crown to the 1500m World Indoor Championship gold she secured earlier this year in Poland, continuing a breakthrough period that has transformed her into one of Britain’s leading athletes.
With the European Championships in Birmingham next month and the inaugural Ultimate Championships in September still to come, Hunter Bell believes her season is only halfway complete.
“There are four opportunities to win gold this year,” she told BBC Sport. “I am two golds down and two more to go.”
Her victory in Glasgow was emphatic. Starting as one of the pre-race favourites alongside Kenya’s world champion Lilian Odira, Hunter Bell controlled the race from the front before accelerating decisively in the final 200 metres to win by more than a second.
The title represents the first outdoor gold medal of her career, a significant milestone for an athlete whose rise has come unusually late.
After stepping away from athletics for five years, Hunter Bell returned during the COVID-19 pandemic and has since enjoyed a remarkable resurgence. She claimed 1500m bronze at the Paris Olympics and followed that with 800m silver at the World Championships, where she finished ahead of training partner and Olympic champion Keely Hodgkinson.
Hodgkinson did not compete in Glasgow, choosing instead to focus on preparations for the European Championships, where Hunter Bell will contest the 1500m rather than the 800m.
While pleased to have capitalised on the opportunity, Hunter Bell defended the decisions of athletes who opted to skip the Commonwealth Games, including Dina Asher-Smith, Katarina Johnson-Thompson and Matt Hudson-Smith.
“Every decision is different per athlete,” she said.
She revealed that illness forced her to withdraw from the London Diamond League earlier this month and stressed that athletes only miss competitions when circumstances leave them little choice.
“We want to be healthy and racing at all times. If we could, we would be racing non-stop. If we are not showing up, there is a reason for that.”
Elsewhere in Glasgow, Emily Newnham produced a strong finish to claim silver in the women’s 400m hurdles for England, while Jake Minshull also earned silver in the men’s event.
In the decathlon, Sammy Ball, the British under-20 record holder, finished fourth, with Lewis Church placing fifth for England.
