Jess Bailey: how they train

We speak to a world mountain running champion who is turning her attention towards the track this summer

Jess Bailey has a clear goal for this summer; to reduce her times for 800m and 1500m. It’s an interesting change
of direction for the multi-talented junior who won gold at the 2022 World Mountain and Trail Running Championships in Thailand, but it’s not a total surprise.

Bailey has previous – and current – form on the track. A European under-18 3000m silver medallist and UK School Games 3000m champion in 2022, she finished fourth over 3000m at the 2023 Commonwealth Youth Games despite missing the entire winter due to injury. More recently, she ran a nine-second personal best and World Under-20 Championships qualifying time of 9:10.18 at the Loughborough International (May 19).

The Leven Valley athlete grew up on the fells and cross country and won English National and English Schools cross country titles in 2022. As an under-20, she finished eighth in December’s European Cross Country Championships and was 18th at the global showpiece in March.

On the road she’s a former winner of the Mini London Marathon (2021) and in April this year she ran a 15:37 personal best at the Mid Cheshire 5km, taking down Emelia Gorecka’s British under-20 record (a mark since re-written by Innes FitzGerald with 15:32).

Bailey has enormous potential and that recent 5km – a test of upper-end aerobic work before fully transitioning onto the track – marked the start of a new era for the 17-year-old who says that mountain running will now take a back seat.

This summer’s plan is to phase the track season, starting with 3000m/5000m and gradually moving down to 800m/1500m. Perhaps surprisingly, the World Under-20 Championships is not the main target, although it’s a likely by-product – especially now that she has achieved the standard.

“It would be such an amazing opportunity [to go to the World U20 Championships], but it’s not my main season focus,” she says.

“There are a lot of juniors doing well. I want to run as well as I can this season and I don’t want it to be good or bad depending on whether I make that team – that all relies on other people. If I can run the qualifying times I’ll be happy with that and I’ll go to the trials and throw my hat in the ring, but it’s not the be-all and end-all this year.

“This track season is primarily about the shorter distances. That scares me, because quite frankly I’m…