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Alexandra Bell (athlete)

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Alexandra Bell
Bell at the 2022 Commonwealth Games
Personal information
Born (1992-11-04) 4 November 1992 (age 32)
Leeds, England
Height166 cm (5 ft 5 in)
Weight55 kg (121 lb)
Sport
CountryGreat Britain
England
SportAthletics
Event800 metres
Achievements and titles
Olympic finals2020
World finals2019, 2022
Commonwealth finals2018, 2022
Medal record
Women's athletics
Representing  Great Britain
European Cross Country Championships
Gold medal – first place 2019 Lisbon Mixed relay
Gold medal – first place 2021 Dublin Mixed relay

Alexandra Bell (born 4 November 1992)[1] is a British athlete who competed for Great Britain in the 800 metres event at the delayed 2020 Summer Olympics, and for England at the 2018 and 2022 Commonwealth Games.

Career

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Alexandra Bell competes for Pudsey & Bramley Athletics Club.[2]

In 2016, she competed at her first Diamond League fixture, finishing seventh, and was the fifth fastest British 800 metres runner.[3]

In 2018, she competed for the first time at the Great Edinburgh International Cross Country.[4]

Bell finished fifth in the 800 metres at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia.[5][6] 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.[5] In July, she was not selected for the 800 m event at the European Championships, despite having run faster than two of the athletes selected.[6]

In September 2019, Bell won the 800 m representing Europe in "The Match", a team competition against the US in Minsk, Belarus.[1] She reached the semi-final of the 800 m at the 2019 World Championships in Doha, setting a personal best time of 1:59.82.[1] In December that year, she was critical of UK Athletics after not being included on the elite lottery funding list.[7]

In May 2021, Bell ran faster than the 800 m Olympic qualifying time at the Belfast Irish Milers.[8] The event did not award points towards Olympic qualification, as it didn't have a European Permit.[9] She finished fifth at the 2021 British Athletics Championships event, which doubled up as the Olympic trial event.[10] Bell was not initially selected for the delayed 2020 Tokyo Olympics, when the athletics squad was announced in June 2021.[11] On 8 July, she was selected for the 800 metres event at the Games, replacing Laura Muir, who had qualified for the event but later decided not to compete as she wanted to focus on the 1500 metres race.[12] In the Olympic final, Bell finished seventh in a personal best time of 1:57.66.[13]

Bell was eliminated in the semi-finals of the 800 m at the 2022 World Championships in Eugene, Oregon in July. She was selected for the 800 metres event at the Commonwealth Games held in August in Birmingham that year,[14] and finished sixth in the final.[15] The same month, she placed sixth in the event at the European Championships staged in Munich.[1]

Personal bests

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d "Alexandra BELL – Athlete Profile". World Athletics. Retrieved 1 January 2023.
  2. ^ "Alexandra Bell". Team England. Archived from the original on 29 July 2018. Retrieved 29 July 2018.
  3. ^ "Weekend Interview: Time for Leeds's Alex Bell to step up the pace". Yorkshire Post. 21 November 2016. Archived from the original on 19 December 2018. Retrieved 19 December 2018.
  4. ^ "Four Scots picked for GB for Edinburgh XC". Scottish Athletics. 14 December 2017. Archived from the original on 4 April 2019. Retrieved 19 December 2017.
  5. ^ a b "Alexandra Bell breaks BMC GP 800m best in Watford". Athletics Weekly. 27 May 2018. Archived from the original on 31 August 2018. Retrieved 29 July 2018.
  6. ^ a b "Alexandra Bell feels 'let down' after not being selected by British Athletics". BBC Sport. 29 July 2018. Archived from the original on 11 April 2019. Retrieved 29 July 2018.
  7. ^ Sobot, Lee. "Alexandra Bell Slams british athletics and barry fudge for omission from lottery funding". yorkshirepost.co.uk. Archived from the original on 19 December 2019. Retrieved 19 December 2019.
  8. ^ "Belfast Irish Milers Meet: Alexandra Bell and Phil Healy advance Tokyo Olympic claims". BBC Sport. 29 May 2021. Retrieved 15 June 2021.
  9. ^ "Belfast Irish Milers Meet: Belfast meeting loses European Permit status after Athletics Ireland intervention". BBC Sport. 20 May 2021. Retrieved 15 June 2021.
  10. ^ "800 Metres – Women – Final". UK Athletics. 26 June 2021. Archived from the original on 1 July 2021. Retrieved 29 June 2021.
  11. ^ "A FURTHER 65 ATHLETES NOMINATED TO REPRESENT TEAM GB AT THE 2020 TOKYO OLYMPIC GAMES". UK Athletics. 29 June 2021. Archived from the original on 29 June 2021. Retrieved 29 June 2021.
  12. ^ "Tokyo 2020: Laura Muir in U-turn over Olympic double to concentrate on 1500m". BBC Sport. 8 July 2021. Retrieved 9 July 2021.
  13. ^ "Athletics - Final Results". Olympics.com. 3 August 2021. Retrieved 13 April 2022.
  14. ^ "Keely Hodgkinson, Marc Scott, Max Burgin, Alex Bell and Scott Lincoln to represent England at Commonwealth Games". The Yorkshire Post. 22 June 2022. Retrieved 23 June 2022.
  15. ^ Final results
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