Englishwoman savours another important milestone in Scotland by cruising to 800m Commonwealth gold.

Glasgow has played its part in Georgia Hunter Bell’s return to elite athletics. It was after finishing just outside of the medal positions over 1500m at the world indoor championships in the city two years ago that she decided it was time to leave her day job and focus fully on her running. 

Under the Friday night lights at Scotstoun Stadium, the 32-year-old underlined why that decision was the right one to make as she strode to the Commonwealth 800m title with a display of complete control, capturing the first major outdoor title of her career.  

The English athlete was the only one in the field to break the two-minute barrier as she clocked 1:59.51 to secure first place, leaving world champion Lilian Odira in her wake as the Kenyan’s late charge took her to second in 2:00.58, just edging out Australia’s Sarah Billings. 

Hunter Bell led for the final three quarters of the race and, whenever questions were asked of her, the woman who had taken the field through halfway in 60.32 responded emphatically. With 200m remaining, the pack was still tightly bunched but last year's world silver medallist chose her moment perfectly to apply some pressure of her own and strode away untroubled to hit her target. 

“The race was how I expected it to be but I didn’t think I’d be leading it," said the 1500m world indoor champion. "The plan was to get up there and sit in second place, try and get a bit of a draft. But when I realised no-one was going to take it on, I was like: ‘Right, I’ll hold this position but do the minimum amount I have to in order to stay here’.

"My thinking was: 'As soon as I feel pressure on me, that’s when I’ll go'. I’m really happy with that, it worked perfectly. I really felt my legs were going in the last few steps there and I couldn’t see where anyone was, but the crowd really pulled me home. It was great.

“[A first outdoor gold medal is] huge for me. I have realised it is very hard to be consistently good. Anything is possible, I really do think that. Every race is different, there are always upsets, we have seen people who we thought would get through the rounds go out in the semis. Every competition is its own thing.”

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