Megan Keith (born 23 April 2002) is a Scottish

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

athlete and cross country runner. In 2023, she became the European U23 champion over 5000 metres.

Career

Early career

During her teenage years, Keith competed in

orienteering Orienteering is a group of sports that require navigational skills using a map and compass to navigate from point to point in diverse and usually unfamiliar terrain whilst moving at speed. Participants are given a topographical map, usually a s ...

and won European and World Youth Championship gold medals in the sport, before starting to focus on running at around the ages of 16-17. In 2018, at her international orienteering debut, she became the first ever female to win a gold medal for Great Britain at the European Youth Orienteering Championships in

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

, winning the sprint event by a huge margin of 34 seconds. In 2019, Keith went on to be part of the British relay team that won the Junior World Orienteering Championships in

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, the first ever British gold medal in the competition. Following this success, Keith won Scottish Young Sportswoman of the Year at the Scottish Women in Sport awards. Immediately after this award, Keith came 27th at the 2019 European U20 Cross Country Championship in her debut for Great Britain in athletics.

2021

An Inverness Harriers athlete, and Edinburgh University student, Keith ran a new personal best at the

2021 European Athletics U23 Championships The 2021 European Athletics U23 Championships are the 13th edition of the biennial athletics competition between European athletes under the age of twenty-three. It was planned to be held in Bergen, Norway from 8 to 11 July., but this venue was c ...

held in

Tallinn Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju ' ...

, running 9:16.50 in the 3000m. Keith won gold at the European U20 Cross Country Championship in Dublin in December 2021.

2022

In 2022, she became the British under-23 3000m champion as well as Scottish Under-23 Cross Country Champion. In December, she finished second in the

2022 European Cross Country Championships The 2022 European Cross Country Championships was the 28th edition of the cross country running competition for European athletes. It was held on 11 December 2022 in La Mandria Park near Turin, Italy. Italy became the first country to have stage ...

under-23 race, in

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...

2023

In February 2023, Keith was named in the Great Britain squad for the

2023 World Athletics Cross Country Championships The 2023 World Athletics Cross Country Championships took place on 18 February 2023 in Bathurst, Australia. It was the event's 44th edition and the second time after Auckland in 1988 that the championships were held in Oceania. In March 2020 th ...

in Bathurst, Australia, where she placed 53rd. She was selected as part of the Great Britain team for the

2023 European Athletics U23 Championships The 2023 European Athletics U23 Championships were the 14th edition of the biennial athletics competition between European athletes under the age of twenty three. The event was organized by European Athletics Association and held from 13–16 Ju ...

held from in July 2023 in

Espoo Espoo (, ; sv, Esbo) is a city and municipality in the region of Uusimaa in the Republic of Finland. It is located on the northern shore of the Gulf of Finland, bordering the cities of Helsinki, Vantaa, Kirkkonummi, Vihti and Nurmijärvi ...

, Finland. She won the 5000m gold medal ahead of Spaniard Maria Forero and compatriot Eloise Walker. In July 2023, competing at the

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 ...

event in London, she set a new 5000m personal best time of 14:56.98. She was chosen to represent Great Britain at the

2023 World Athletics Championships The 2023 World Athletics Championships ( hu, 2023-as atlétikai világbajnokság), the nineteenth edition of the World Athletics Championships, are scheduled to be held from 19 August to 27 August 2023 in Budapest, Hungary. The city of Budapes ...

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

in August 2023. She won the U23 race at the 2023 European Cross Country Championships in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

in December 2023 and also claimed gold as part of the British squad which won the U23 team event.

2024

In January 2024, she set a European U23 record running in the Valencia 10K as she posted a time of 31.22m beating a record set by German athlete

Alina Reh Alina Reh (born 23 May 1997) is a German middle- and long-distance runner. She won the bronze medal in the 10,000 metres at the 2018 European Athletics Championships. At the European U23 Championships, Reh earned silver for the 5000 metres in 2 ...

in 2018. The run was also the third fastest by a Scots athlete over 10,000m on the road - with only

Liz Liz is a female name of Hebrew origin, meaning "God's Promise". It is also a short form of Elizabeth (given name), Elizabeth, Elisabeth, Lisbeth, Lisbeth, Lizanne, Liszbeth, Lizbeth, Lizabeth, Lyzbeth, Lisa (given name), Lisa, Lizette, Alyssa, and ...

and

Eilish McColgan Eilish McColgan (born 25 November 1990) is a Scottish middle- and long-distance runner. She is the 2022 Commonwealth Games 10,000 metres champion with the Games record, and 5000 metres silver medallist. McColgan is a four-time European Champio ...

having recorded faster times. In March 2024, she ran a 10,000 metres time of 30:36.84 in

San Juan Capistrano, California San Juan Capistrano (Spanish for "St. John of Capistrano") is a city in Orange County, California, located along the Orange Coast. The population was 34,593 at the 2010 census. San Juan Capistrano was founded by the Spanish in 1776, when St. ...

, to place fourth on the UK all-time list for the event.

Personal life

At University she shares a flat with fellow GB athlete Alyson Bell and triathlete Isla Britton.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Keith, Megan 2002 births Living people Sportspeople from Inverness Scottish female middle-distance runners British female middle-distance runners Scottish female long-distance runners British female long-distance runners 21st-century British people 21st-century Scottish women