Hannah England

Hannah England (born 6 March 1987) is a British middle-distance running athlete who specialised in the 800 metres, 1500 metres and mile run. At 1500 m, she is the 2011 World Championship silver medallist and finished fourth at the 2013 World Championships. She also competed at the 2012 Olympic Games in London. England is one of only five British women in history (as of 2019) to have run under two minutes for 800 m and nine minutes for 3000 m, the others being Christina Boxer, Kirsty Wade, Jessica Judd and Laura Muir. She announced her retirement from athletics on 14 January 2020.

Hannah England
England at the 2011 World Championships
Personal information
Birth nameHannah England
NationalityBritish
Born (1987-03-06) 6 March 1987
Oxford, UK
Height1.77 m (5 ft 9+1⁄2 in)
Sport
SportWomen's athletics
Turned pro2008
Retired2020[1]
Medal record
Representing  Great Britain
World Championships
Silver medal – second place2011 Daegu 1500 m

Biography

Born in Oxford, England, she attended the Cherwell School in Summertown, North Oxford. England joined Oxford City Athletic Club as an under 13, her first major success coming in the UK Athletics Reebok Cross Country Challenge in Birmingham as an Under 15. In 2005 England joined Birmingham University to study Biochemistry. Winning the national junior title in the 1500 m and competing at the World Junior Championships. As part of her degree studies, she spent a year at Florida State University. During her time there, she competed for the university's track team at the NCAA Track and Field Championships,[2] winning the mile run indoors and the 1500 m outdoors.[3] She returned to the United Kingdom and finished third in the 1500 m at the 2008 national championships. However, World Junior Champion Stephanie Twell was selected ahead of her for the 2008 Summer Olympics and England attended the Games as a reserve but did not compete.[4]

The following season she competed in the 1500 m at the 2009 European Athletics Indoor Championships, but did not progress beyond the heats after a below-par performance.[5] She set a personal best of 4:05.87 at the Fanny Blankers-Koen Games in Hengelo, finishing seventh and beating Olympic champion Nancy Lagat.[6] England set an 800 m personal best of 1:59.94 at the 2009 European Team Championships and managed fourth place in both 800 and 1500 metres events, helping the Great Britain team to a third-place finish.[7]

Qualification for the 2009 World Championships in the 1500 metres was going to be hard, as four British athletes had achieved the time required, but only three entrants per event were allowed. As Charlene Thomas surprisingly won the British trials, she was selected by default. Lisa Dobriskey, who had finished 4th at the Beijing Olympics the previous year and was still in good form, was also selected on merit; the last remaining place was between England and Stephanie Twell. As Twell had a faster time that season, as well as higher youth achievement, she was selected over England. Dobriskey went on to win a silver medal at the World Championships.

At the 2009 IAAF World Athletics Final, England qualified for 1500 metres as one of the top twelve athletes of the season.[8] She finished second in the race,[9] behind only Olympic Champion Nancy Jebet Lagat and beating among others reigning World Champion Maryam Yusuf Jamal.[9]

In 2010 England finished a strong second in the 1500m at the European Team Championships in Bergen, Norway and followed it up with a national AAA title, again at 1500m, to secure selection for the European Championships in Barcelona running a startling 56.7 last lap, albeit in a very slow race.

On 1 September 2011 at the IAAF World Athletics Championship, competing in the 1500m final, Hannah produced a stunning final 100 metres, coming from 7th place at the final bend to take the Silver medal in a time of 4:05.68.

Personal

She is the daughter of Oxford geophysicist, Professor Philip England and in 2012 she married fellow Great Britain athlete Luke Gunn.

International competitions
YearCompetitionVenuePositionEventNotes
2006 World Junior Championships Beijing, China 11th (heats) 1500 m 4:23.49
2007 European U23 Championships Debrecen, Hungary 5th 1500m 4:18.70
2009 European Team Championships Leiria, Portugal 4th 800 m 1:59.94
3rd 1500 m 4:09.25
2010 European Championships Barcelona, Spain 10th 1500 m 4:05.07
Commonwealth Games New Delhi, India 5th 800 m 2:00.47
4th 1500 m 4:06.83
2011 World Championships Daegu, South Korea 2nd 1500 m 4:05.68
2012 Olympic Games London, England 19th (semi-final) 1500 m 4:06.35
2013 World Championships Moscow, Russia 4th 1500 m 4:04.98
2014 Commonwealth Games Glasgow, Scotland 7th 1500 m 4:11.10
European Championships Zurich, Switzerland 6th 1500 m 4:07.80
2015 Adidas Grand Prix New York City, United States 5th 1000m 2:41.04
2017 IAAF World Challenge Zagreb, Croatia 6th 800m 2:01.23

National titles

Personal bests
Event Time Venue Date
800 metres 1:59.66 Linz, Austria 20 August 2012
1500 metres 4:01.89 Barcelona, Spain 22 July 2011
1500 metres (indoor) 4:07.13 Stockholm, Sweden 22 February 2011
Mile run (indoor) 4:30.29 Ghent, Belgium 8 February 2009
3000 metres (indoor) 8:56.72 Boston, United States 6 February 2010

References
  1. Hannah England announces her retirement Athletics Weekly
  2. trackboundUSA. Athlete Feature 27 – Hannah England. trackboundUSA. Accessed on 29 September 2014.
  3. Pullen, Nick (20 June 2008). Hannah England is in a class of her own. Birmingham Mail. Retrieved on 30 June 2009.
  4. Longmore, Andrew (14 June 2009). Hannah England raises national standard. The Times. Retrieved on 30 June 2009.
  5. England, Hannah biography. IAAF. Retrieved on 30 June 2009.
  6. Mills, Steven (2 June 2009). Ohuruogu and England in PB form in Hengelo Archived 10 June 2009 at the Wayback Machine. Athletics Weekly. Retrieved on 30 June 2009.
  7. ATHLETICS: Hannah over the moon at lifetime best. Oxford Mail (21 June 2009). Retrieved on 30 June 2009.
  8. "2009 World Athletics Tour Standings". 6 September 2009. Retrieved 9 February 2010.
  9. Ramsak, Bob (12 September 2009). "Event REPORT – 1500m – WOMEN". IAAF. Retrieved 9 February 2010.
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