Nethaneel Joseph Mitchell-Blake (born 2 April 1994,

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

) is a British sprinter who specialises in the

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 ...

. He was the 2013 European Junior Champion and his personal best of 19.95 seconds ranks him as the second-fastest in Britain of all-time in the event. He is only the second Briton, after Adam Gemili to break both

10 seconds ''10 Seconds'' is a television game show that aired on The Nashville Network from March 29, 1993 to September 24, 1993. After the last episode aired, the show went in reruns until March 25, 1994. The show was hosted by Dan Miller and announced by ...

for

100 metres The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been contest ...

and 20 seconds for 200 metres. Part of the

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

4 x 100-metre relay team that won the World title in 2017, he won his first major individual honour, a silver medal, in the individual 200 metres at the

2018 European Athletics Championships The 2018 European Athletics Championships were held in Berlin, Germany, from 6 to 12 August 2018. The championships were part of the first European Championships with other events happening in the United Kingdom. For the second Championships in a ...

before claiming another relay title running for Great Britain, the eventual gold medalists, in the heats of the 4 x 100 metres.On 18 February 2022 it was announced that Nethaneel and his teammates

CJ Ujah Chijindu "CJ" Ujah (born 5 March 1994) is a British athlete, specializing as a sprinter. The lead-off runner of the Great Britain 4 × 100 metres relay team that won both the World title in 2017 and the European title in 2016 and 2018, he also ...

, Zharnel Hughes and Richard Kilty would be stripped of their

4 × 100 metres relay The 4 × 100 metres relay or sprint relay is an athletics track event run in lanes over one lap of the track with four runners completing 100 metres each. The first runners must begin in the same stagger as for the individ ...

2020 Summer Olympics silver medals after the

Court of Arbitration for Sport The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS; french: Tribunal arbitral du sport, ''TAS'') is an international body established in 1984 to settle disputes related to sport through arbitration. Its headquarters are in Lausanne, Switzerland and its c ...

found

guilty of a doping violation.

Career

Born to Joseph Blake and Audrey Mitchell-Blake in

Newham The London Borough of Newham is a London borough created in 1965 by the London Government Act 1963. It covers an area previously administered by the Essex county boroughs of West Ham and East Ham, authorities that were both abolished by the ...

, London,Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake
LSUSports. Retrieved on 30 May 2016. his family relocated to

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of Hispan ...

when he was age thirteen. Having already competed extensively as a child in the UK,Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake
Power of 10. Retrieved on 30 May 2016. his talent for sprinting was recognised by

Jamaica College Jamaica College (abbreviated J.C. or JC) is a public, Christian, secondary school and sixth form for boys in Kingston, Jamaica. It was established in 1789 by Charles Drax, who was the grand-nephew of wealthy Barbadian sugar planter ...

, who took him on, and he competed at the Inter-Secondary Schools Boys and Girls Championships.Bloom, Ben (19 May 2016)
Rio Olympics 2016: Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake – from unknown student to Great Britain's new sprint hope
'' Daily Telegraph''. Retrieved on 30 May 2016. After a 200 m win at the 2011 Jamaican junior championships in a personal best of 21.54 seconds, he was selected to compete for Great Britain at the

2011 World Youth Championships in Athletics The 2011 World Youth Championships in Athletics were the seventh edition of the World Youth Championships in Athletics. They were held in Lille Métropole, France, with stadium-based events at Stadium Lille-Métropole in Villeneuve d'Ascq, on 6� ...

and finished fifth in his semi-final. Mitchell-Blake was recruited by

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 near ...

and began to compete for them collegiately with the

LSU Tigers The LSU Tigers and Lady Tigers are the athletic teams representing Louisiana State University (LSU), a state university located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. LSU competes in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) as a ...

team. In his first year in 2013 he was a 200 m semi-finalist at the NCAA Outdoor Championships and took fourth in the

there. In the relay he had top three finishes in the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities o ...

in both the 4 × 100 metres relay and

4 × 400 metres relay The 4 × 400 metres relay or long relay is an athletics track event in which teams consist of four runners who each complete 400 metres or one lap. It is traditionally the final event of a track meet. At top class events, th ...

. He represented Great Britain at the

2013 European Athletics Junior Championships The 2013 European Athletics Junior Championships was the 22nd edition of the biennial athletics competition between European athletes in under twenty. It was held in Rieti Rieti (; lat, Reate, Sabino: ) is a town and ''comune'' in Lazio, cen ...

and was the 200 m champion, having set a best of 20.62 seconds. He also helped his country to fifth in the relay.Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake
Tilastopaja. Retrieved on 30 May 2016. In his second year at Louisiana he failed to improve after an injury-affected indoor season, having a best of 20.69 seconds. He was again a semi-finalist at the 2014 NCAA Outdoor Championships, though he claimed his first top three finish there with LSU in the 4 × 100 metres relay. Upon his return to competition in 2016, he set new bests. In the

60 metres 60 metres, or 60-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field. It is a championship event for indoor championships, normally dominated by the best outdoor 100 metres runners. At outdoor venues it is a rare distance, at least for senior ath ...

he ran 6.65 seconds and in the indoor 200 m he completed the distance in 20.57 seconds. At the Southeastern Conference (SEC) indoor championships he won the 200 m after another best of 20.51 and also placed seventh in the 60 m. He entered the longer event at the

2016 NCAA Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships The 2016 NCAA Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships was the 52nd NCAA Men's Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships and the 35th NCAA Women's Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships, held at the Birmingham CrossPlex in ...

and finished as runner-up. In the outdoor season, he ran 10.09 seconds for the

in April, putting him at the top of the seasonal British rankings. He marked a breakthrough at the SEC Outdoor Championships, coming within one hundredth of the British record for the 200 m with his winning time of 19.95 seconds. He completed a regional triple by taking the 100 m individual and relay events, too. Mitchell-Blake anchored the men's 4 x 100m relay team to a gold medal at the

2017 World Championships in Athletics Seventeen or 17 may refer to: * 17 (number), the natural number following 16 and preceding 18 * one of the years 17 BC, AD 17, 1917, 2017 Literature Magazines * ''Seventeen'' (American magazine), an American magazine * ''Seventeen'' (Japanes ...

. He ran the same leg at the

2019 World Athletics Championships The 2019 IAAF World Athletics Championships () was the seventeenth edition of the biennial, global athletics competition organised by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), since renamed World Athletics. It was held bet ...

, with the team finishing in silver medal position with a new European record of 37.36 seconds.

International competitions

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mitchell-Blake, Nethaneel Living people 1995 births People from the London Borough of Newham Athletes from London British male sprinters English male sprinters Olympic male sprinters Olympic athletes of Great Britain Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics World Athletics Championships athletes for Great Britain World Athletics Championships winners European Athletics Championships winners British Athletics Championships winners Louisiana State University alumni LSU Tigers track and field athletes English expatriates in Jamaica English expatriates in the United States Black British sportspeople Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medallists for Great Britain Olympic silver medalists in athletics (track and field) Competitors stripped of Summer Olympics medals Athletes (track and field) at the 2022 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games gold medallists for England Commonwealth Games medallists in athletics