, Katrina Jane Weston (née Colebrook, formerly Finch; born 8 November 1957) is a former British

middle distance runner Middle-distance running events are track races longer than sprints, up to 3000 metres. The standard middle distances are the 800 metres, 1500 metres and mile run, although the 3000 metres may also be classified as a middle-distance event. The 1 ...

who specialised in the

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 ...

. Competing as Jane Colebrook, she equalled the world indoor best to win at the 1977 European Indoor Championships and won a bronze medal at the

1978 Commonwealth Games The 1978 Commonwealth Games were held in Edmonton, Alberta from 3 to 12 August 1978, two years after the 1976 Summer Olympics were held in Montreal, Quebec. They were boycotted by Nigeria, in protest at New Zealand's sporting contacts with apar ...

. Competing as Jane Finch, she won a silver medal at the

1985 World Indoor Games The World Indoor Games were arranged by the IAAF and held at the Palais Omnisports Paris-Bercy in Paris, France, from January 18 to January 19, 1985. In 1987 the championship was renamed to the IAAF World Indoor Championships and gained official st ...

Career

Born Jane Colebrook in

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-west, Leicestershire ...

, she started out as a sprinter and won the under-15s

200 metres The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400 metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run the race. A slightl ...

race at the 1972 AAAs Junior Championships. She stepped up to longer distances over the next two years, winning both indoor and outdoor under-17s title in the

400 metres The 400 metres, or 400-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field competitions. It has been featured in the athletics (sport), athletics programme at the Summer Olympics since 1896 for men and since 1964 for women. On a standard outdoor runn ...

and

. She was the winner of the intermediate 800 m race at the 1974

English Schools Championships English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

. In December 1976 she ran a British indoor junior record of 2:05.0 minutes for the 800 m (later bettered by

Kirsty Wade Kirsty Wade (née McDermott, born 6 August 1962) is a British former middle-distance runner. She is a three-time Commonwealth Games gold medallist representing Wales, winning the 800 metres in Brisbane 1982 and both the 800 metres and 1500 me ...

in 1981). She had her greatest achievement at the

1977 European Athletics Indoor Championships The 1977 European Athletics Indoor Championships were held in San Sebastián, a city in Spain, on 12 and 13 March 1977. Medal summary Men Women Medal table Participating nations * (12) * (12) * (8) * (17) * (9) * (26) * (10) * (3) * (11) ...

at the age of nineteen, where after qualifying for the final as one of the fastest losers she went on to beat

Totka Petrova Totka Nikolaeva Petrova ( bg, Тотка Петрова, born 17 December 1956) is a retired female middle distance runner who represented Bulgaria in the 1970s and the early 1980s. She specialized in the 800 and 1500 metres, and won numerous in ...

to win the 800 m

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have bee ...

with a

world indoor record World records in Sport of athletics, athletics are ratified by World Athletics. Athletics records comprise the best performances in the sports of track and field, road running and racewalking. Records are kept for athletics at the Summer Olympi ...

-equalling time of 2:01.1 minutes. This time was a British indoor record for 26 years, becoming the longest-standing British record at one point, and was improved upon by

Kelly Holmes Dame Kelly Holmes (born 19 April 1970) is a retired British middle distance athlete. Holmes specialised in the 800 metres and 1,500 metres events and won gold medals for both distances at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. She set Briti ...

in 2003. It remains the fastest ever time by a female British under-23 runner. That July, she ran her lifetime best for the 800 m outdoors in

Oulu Oulu ( , ; sv, Uleåborg ) is a city, municipality and a seaside resort of about 210,000 inhabitants in the region of North Ostrobothnia, Finland. It is the most populous city in northern Finland and the fifth most populous in the country after: ...

, Finland, clocking a time of 2:00.6 minutes, which made her the second best British performer in the event at that point, behind

Rosemary Stirling Rosemary Olivia Wright (née Stirling, born 11 December 1947) is a former British sprinter and middle-distance runner. She won a gold medal in the 4 × 400 m relay at the 1969 European Championships, and a gold medal in the 800m at the 1970 C ...

. Colebrook also won the women's title at the North of England Cross Country Championships that year. She won a 400/800 m double at the

UK Athletics Championships The UK Athletics Championships was an annual national championship in track and field for the United Kingdom, organised by the British Athletics Federation. The event incorporated the 1980 Olympic trials for the British Olympic team. The venue f ...

in 1978. Colebrook went on to represent England in the latter event at the

and won the

bronze medal A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receive ...

behind

Judy Peckham Judith Peckham (née Canty; born 9 December 1950) is a former Australian track and field athlete who competed in the 400 metres and 800 metres. She was a member of the 4×400 metres relay team which finished in fourth place at the 1976 Summer ...

and

Tekla Chemabwai Tecla Chemabwai Sang (born February 3, 1954) is a Kenyan retired sprinter and middle-distance runner who represented Kenya in track and field athletics. Chemabwai competed at the 1968 Summer Olympics, but did not advance past 400 metres heats.spor ...

. She won the final major medal of her career at the

1985 IAAF World Indoor Games The World Indoor Games were arranged by the IAAF and held at the Palais Omnisports Paris-Bercy in Paris, France, from January 18 to January 19, 1985. In 1987 the championship was renamed to the IAAF World Indoor Championships The World Athlet ...

, where she took the 800 m

silver medal A silver medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of, or plated with, silver awarded to the second-place finisher, or runner-up, of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc ...

behind the Romanian Olympic medallist Cristieana Cojocaru. She brought her professional career to a close in order to focus on her family and raising her three children. She returned to competition as a masters athlete and won the over-35s

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 ...

title at the European Veterans Indoor Championships. In her later career she was known under her married name Finch. She was later divorced, competing as Jane Colebrook again, and then remarried and ran as Jane Weston. She was coached by Dave Sunderland. Her sister, Teena Colebrook, was also a runner and won seven

NCAA Division II NCAA Division II (D-II) is an intermediate-level division of competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It offers an alternative to both the larger and better-funded Division I and to the scholarship-free environmen ...

titles in middle distance events for

California Polytechnic State University California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (California Polytechnic State University, Cal Poly"Cal Poly" may also refer to California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt in Arcata, California or California State Polytechnic Univ ...

.British Athletes in the USA
GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2011-09-08.

International competitions

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Colebrook, Jane Living people 1957 births Athletes (track and field) at the 1978 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for England Commonwealth Games medallists in athletics English female middle-distance runners People from Caistor Sportspeople from Lincolnshire World record setters in athletics (track and field) World Athletics Indoor Championships medalists Medallists at the 1978 Commonwealth Games