Jemma Reekie: “This time last year, I was broken”

UK 800m champion who feared she may never get back to her best heads into the World Indoor Championships full of ambition and ready to give the home crowd something to shout about

Jemma Reekie’s honesty is arresting.

“This time last year, I was terrified. I was broken as an athlete,” says the reigning British indoor 800m champion. “I had actually written down on my laptop everything that I was struggling with at that point. One of the [things on the list] was that I was never going be as good as I used to be.”

Making comparisons with a previous version of yourself is something many an athlete can relate to. It’s never the most helpful of exercises but it was a particularly painful experience for Reekie, given just how high her stock had once risen.

The last time she raced over 800m at Glasgow’s Emirates Arena, in February of 2020, the then double European U23 champion announced that she had taken huge strides forward by breaking Jenny Meadows’ indoor British record in a time of 1:57.91. One week later, that performance was followed up by a showing at the Millrose Games in New York that took down Laura Muir’s UK indoor 1500m and mile marks.

Reekie had marked herself out as a real talent, an emerging force, a potential world-beater. Had the Olympics taken place that summer, it isn’t within the realms of fantasy to suggest she could have come home from Tokyo with a medal. As it was, by the time those pandemic-affected Games rolled around, a certain Keely Hodgkinson had stepped into the limelight. Despite her best efforts, and forcing the pace in the closing stages, Reekie had to settle for fourth in the Olympic 800m final in Japan as her British team-mate landed silver.

From that point onwards, the struggle became almost entirely uphill. Reekie was laid low by glandular fever and admits she didn’t give herself the time to recover fully, instead trying to make up for lost time. In the summer of 2022, she failed to make the final of the World Championships and the Commonwealth Games, while fifth place at the European Championships fell some way short of her expectations.

Then came the emergence of reports about strains in the relationship with her long-time coach Andy Young. She and long-time training partner Muir ultimately took the decision to split from their mentor in March of last year. All of the above contributed to that list on Reekie’s laptop.

“I think I was just…