It may have seemed that in the last few years Georgia Hunter Bell has come out of nowhere, and - in a way - she did.
Now with a world indoor 1500m gold, world 800m silver, Olympic 1500m bronze, and European 1500m silver the British runner has certainly asserted herself at the top of the sport with the prolific success in the middle distance events.
But here are 10 things you may not know about her:
Origins in athletics
The first thing that should be known about Hunter Bell is that while her name may have only been popping up on international start lists the last few years, she is far from new to athletics.
As a junior athlete she made national podiums but after a stint in the American collegiate system she made the decision to leave the sport and take a corporate job due to being both mentally and physically burnt out.
That is until a few years later during the COVID-19 pandemic, Hunter Bell saw athletes she had raced, and beaten, as a junior competing at the Tokyo Olympics – reigniting her dream.
In 2022 she realised that a return to the sport she once loved really could be on the cards, and this time at the elite level, after running a 16:14 parkrun (5km).
Fighting just to run
But her journey to the elite level once she was back was far from linear, in the 2024 season Hunter Bell was having to beg race organisers to let her race as she was still somewhat unknown.
She shared the email she sent to be able to race in the Sparkassen Indoor Meeting Dortmund in 2024, which ended up being where she ran the world indoor 1500m qualifying time for the first time.
Coaching reunion
When she decided she wanted to take her return to the sport seriously, Hunter Bell knew there was one man to go to for coaching – Trevor Painter.
Not only had Painter coached Keely Hodgkinson to an Olympic silver in 2021 but he had also coached Hunter Bell when she was younger.
She told Athletics Weekly in 2024: “I wanted a coach that I could confide in and who would support me. I really found that in Trevor and Jenny's [Meadows] training group. I think of them as my second parents and they'll be coming to my wedding.”
Corporate life
Before returning to athletics Hunter Bell had been in cyber security, with 10 hour days working in London before becoming a professional athlete on a full-time basis after winning a breakthrough Olympic bronze.
But to get there, she had to take a four month sabbatical from her corporate job leading into the Rome 2024 European Athletics Championships and Paris Olympics.
The cycling secret
One of the reasons Hunter Bell had left the sport was that her body was struggling with the high mileage she needed to be running to keep improving.
However on her return to the sport, with mileage hitting high figures again, she found cycling was a great way to still get the distances in but it was less impactful on her body.
The perfect Tokyo celebrations
After pipping her training partner and gold medal favourite Hodgkinson to the silver medal at the Tokyo World Athletics Championships, the pair celebrated until the early hours of the morning at a karaoke bar.
Hodgkinson had changed clothes but Hunter Bell, soaking up the moment, was still in her GB kit and medal around her neck!
Love at first…swipe
In October 2024, Hunter Bell topped off an already amazing year by marrying her partner, George Hunter.
The pair met six years earlier on dating app Hinge and their early dates included playing tennis, bike rides and runs.
World Duathlon title
In 2023 while Hunter Bell was still returning to athletics, she was also competing in duathlons, which is where she took her first world title.
At the Ibiza Multisport World Championships in 2023, Hunter Bell took gold in the 30-34 age group in her first time representing Great Britain in any sport.
Born in Paris
Despite representing GB, Hunter Bell was born in Paris as her family lived there due to her dad’s job as a political journalist before moving to the UK at two-years-old.
She admitted she doesn't remember any of it as she was so young and while it’s cool to have been born in Paris, it’d be even “cooler” if she knew how to speak French.
So returning to Paris for the Olympics in 2024 to win her first global medal was extra special for Hunter Bell.
Kipyegon’s sub-four minute mile
In 2025 when Faith Kipyegon set out to attempt to be the first woman to break the historic four-minute mile, she was joined by some of the worlds best runners to help pace and push her – including Hunter Bell.
It wasn’t meant to be that day but the Briton spoke on Spencer Matthews’ podcast Untapped about the possibility of women in 20 years potentially running sub four minute miles all the time, just how the men do now.
She also didn’t rule herself out from looking at her running breaking that landmark time herself in the future.