Bronze For Bell – California Golden Bears Athletics

Georgia Bell shattered her personal best on the way to Olympic bronze and a new British record.

OLY8/10/2024 1:12 PM | By: Cal Athletics

Cal Grad’s Stunning Comeback Season Concludes With National Record In Olympic 1500m Final

PARIS – It was only right that Great Britain’s Georgia Bell would end her stunning comeback campaign here, standing triumphant in the city of her birth.
 
A nearly-four-second PR. A new national record.
 
An Olympic medal.
 

Several years ago, few could have seen this coming for the California track & field graduate. Statistically, Bell’s tenure with the Golden Bears was decent – her 1500m collegiate best of 4:18.89 sits at seventh on the program’s all-time list – but not outstanding. During her two years in Berkeley, Bell never advanced beyond the NCAA Preliminary and battled numerous injuries, preventing her from reaching her full potential. She subsequently elected to retire from the sport after receiving her degree in 2017 and switched her focus to the duathlon, where she claimed gold at the 2023 World Championships in the female 30-34 age group; finally, in 2024, she felt ready to return to full-time track & field competition.
 
And what a return it was. Bell won the British Indoor 1500m title and advanced to the World Indoor Championships, where she placed fourth in the final with a time of 4:03.47. She earned her first major medal of the outdoor season at the European Championships, finishing second with a time of 4:05.33, then won gold at the UK Championships and followed that up with a new English record (3:56.54) at the Diamond League Meeting de Paris in July.
 
Four days ago, Bell took second in her Round 1 heat with a time of 4:00.29. Two days ago, she placed second in her semifinal heat at 3:59.49.
 
As one of 12 athletes in Saturday’s final at Stade de France, Bell started off her race just behind the middle of the field, sitting in a modest eighth place after the first 400m. After 800m, she was in seventh; after 1200m, in fourth. It took a characteristically gutsy effort in the final 100m – and a slight move to the outside – for Bell to do what she had dreamed of all season: make an Olympic podium. Her third-place time of 3:52.61 was the 11th-fastest time in world history and a new British record,…