Alexandra Bell (born 4 November 1992) is a British athlete who competed for Great Britain in the 800 metres event at the delayed

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

, and for England at the

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

and

2022 Commonwealth Games The 2022 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Birmingham 2022, was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth of Nations that took place in Birmingham, England bet ...

Career

Alexandra Bell competes for Pudsey & Bramley Athletics Club. In 2016, she competed at her first

Diamond League The Diamond League is an annual series of elite track and field athletic competitions comprising fourteen of the best invitational athletics meetings. The series sits in the top tier of the World Athletics (formerly known as the IAAF) one-day mee ...

fixture, finishing seventh, and was the fifth fastest British

800 metres The 800 metres, or meters ( US spelling), is a common track running event. It is the shortest commonly run middle-distance running event. The 800 metres is run over two laps of an outdoor (400-metre) track and has been an Olympic event since the ...

runner. In 2018, she competed for the first time at the

Great Edinburgh International Cross Country The Great Edinburgh International Cross Country was an annual cross country running competition that took place every January in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was one of the competitions in the Great Run series of athletics events and was held alongsi ...

. Bell finished fifth in the 800 metres at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in

Gold Coast Gold Coast may refer to: Places Africa * Gold Coast (region), in West Africa, which was made up of the following colonies, before being established as the independent nation of Ghana: ** Portuguese Gold Coast (Portuguese, 1482–1642) ** Dutch G ...

, Australia. In May that year, she became the first British woman to run 800 metres in under 2 minutes at the British Milers’ Club Grand Prix. In July, she was not selected for the 800 m event at the

European Championships The European Championships is a multi-sport tournament which brings together the existing European Championships of some of the continent's leading sports every four years. The inaugural edition in 2018 was staged by the host cities of Berlin, ...

, despite having run faster than two of the athletes selected. In September 2019, Bell won the 800 m representing Europe in "The Match", a team competition against the US in

Minsk Minsk ( be, Мінск ; russian: Минск) is the capital and the largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach and the now subterranean Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the admi ...

, Belarus. She reached the semi-final of the 800 m at the 2019 World Championships in

Doha Doha ( ar, الدوحة, ad-Dawḥa or ''ad-Dōḥa'') is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor, it is home to most of the coun ...

, setting a personal best time of 1:59.82. In December that year, she was critical of

UK Athletics UK Athletics (UKA) is the governing body for the sport of athletics (sport), athletics in the United Kingdom. It is responsible for overseeing the governance of athletics events in the UK as well as athletes, their development, and athletics o ...

after not being included on the elite lottery funding list. In May 2021, Bell ran faster than the 800 m Olympic qualifying time at the Belfast Irish Milers. The event did not award points towards Olympic qualification, as it didn't have a European Permit. She finished fifth at the

2021 British Athletics Championships The 2021 British Athletics Championships was the national championships in outdoor track and field for athletes in the United Kingdom, which also served as the main qualifying event for athletics competitors for the delayed 2020 Summer Olympics ...

event, which doubled up as the Olympic trial event. Bell was not initially selected for the delayed

2020 Tokyo Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the 1 ...

, when the athletics squad was announced in June 2021. On 8 July, she was selected for the 800 metres event at the Games, replacing

Laura Muir Laura Muir (born 9 May 1993) is a Scottish middle- and long-distance runner. She is the 2020 Tokyo Olympic silver medallist in the 1500 metres, having previously finished seventh in the event at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Muir won the bronze med ...

, who had qualified for the event but later decided not to compete as she wanted to focus on the

1500 metres The 1500 metres or 1,500-metre run (typically pronounced 'fifteen-hundred metres') is the foremost middle distance track event in athletics. The distance has been contested at the Summer Olympics since 1896 and the World Championships in Athletic ...

race. In the Olympic final, Bell finished seventh in a personal best time of 1:57.66. Bell was eliminated in the semi-finals of the 800 m at the 2022 World Championships in

Eugene, Oregon Eugene ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Oregon. It is located at the southern end of the Willamette Valley, near the confluence of the McKenzie and Willamette rivers, about east of the Oregon Coast. As of the 2020 United States Census, Eu ...

in July. She was selected for the 800 metres event at the

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the exce ...

held in August in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

that year. She finished sixth in the final.Final results
/ref> The same month, she placed sixth in the event at the

staged in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

Personal bests

– 1:57.66 (

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

2021)

References

External links

* * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bell, Alexandra 1992 births Living people English female middle-distance runners British female middle-distance runners Olympic athletes for Great Britain Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Olympics Commonwealth Games competitors for England Athletes (track and field) at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Athletes from Leeds