Georgia Hunter Bell nonchalantly raised her arms to the delight of a euphoric Birmingham home crowd after a supreme display to win a first European 1,500m crown. Three and a half laps of sheer dominance underlined a rare treble following victories at the World Indoor Championships and Commonwealth Games.
But despite immense success in 2026, the Olympic and World medalist quickly allowed her mind to drift before exiting the Alexander Stadium. Her curiosity and appetite for more, even “a bit of fomo,” left her imagining what role she might have played in the titanic 800m clash before, as European champion Audrey Werro took down Hunter Bell’s teammate Keely Hodgkinson and Femke Broeders-Bol.
Well, we will soon gain some insight, after it was confirmed that Hunter Bell will join that star-studded trio and World champion Lilian Odira in the Zurich Diamond League 800m next Thursday, in what could whet the appetite for a golden era in the event in the build-up to LA28.
“It was really close between me and Werro last year in Zurich,” Hunter Bell tells the Independent when looking ahead to the closing stages of her season. “It was a dip on the line, but this year is such a good line-up. It's me, Keely, Werro, Femke and Lilian. I think it will be a really great race.
“I'm going to see about the Diamond League Final, too. I want to do it, but I also need to be conscious of how much racing I'm doing and training I’m missing. Then I need to make a decision about the World Ultimate Championships. I'll definitely be doing it, but I haven't decided which event right now.
“I do just feel like I really want an opportunity this year to be part of the big five, I guess, in the 800m. So that kind of opportunity with World Ultimate Championships, I think it would suit me quite well because there'll be no pacemaker. There'll be two rounds, so the endurance comes in a little bit more versus a one-off Diamond League, so I am kind of eyeing that up.”
It has been a lingering problem for Hunter Bell and coaches Trevor Painter and Jenny Meadows. A good problem, of course, with their athlete proving adept at both events: a 1,500m bronze at the Paris Olympics and an 800m silver at the Tokyo World Championships last year, where she managed to edge out Hodgkinson behind Odira.
The potential is clearly there for an audacious attempt at a medal in both events, following in the footsteps of the legendary Kelly Holmes at the Athens Games in 2004, with the Beijing World Championships next year and the Los Angeles Olympics both proving enticing.
“Next year will be more of a year for taking that risk,” Hunter Bell adds. “I wanted to prove to everyone that I can win global titles across both events. I really want to try and do the double, probably at Worlds in Beijing, but I am waiting to see that schedule.
“It will mean that I will be a lot more intentional with my races because I do usually race a lot. This year was going to be a lighter racing year, but I still think it's going to end up around like 25 races. The last two years, I've done over 50 races.
“To do the double I would need to do everything right in training and then also be under raced going into that. The idea is that is a big goal for me next year. I want to try that, and then depending on how that goes, will impact whether I do it at the Olympics the following year.
“I think the races would be fine, but it's really difficult to sleep after a race, your body is obviously really sore. So we need to practice working out how I can get to sleep no matter what and recover.
“I don't just want to participate in both. If I'm going to do it, I want to at least medal in both.”
Part of Hunter Bell’s endurance is built on a fondness for the bike, with long rides factored into her training across camps in South Africa and Switzerland, both for the physical and mental benefits.
“It's just so much fun. It's like therapy,” Hunter Bell, who is also a Canyon athlete, adds. “It's the one time of the week I find that I'm not really on my phone or you know not distracted by anything else. I am truly just like in looking around at my surroundings. It's sociable too.
“I've been following the Tour de France all summer, too, and Demi [Vollering] is definitely someone that I really look up to. But you know, also Kasia [Niewiadoma-Phinney] the other day on Mont Ventoux. I've done that climb, and I know how hard it is. So it makes you have even more respect for how quickly they're doing it.
“My hope is next year to go to one of the classics, like Milan–San Remo or Paris–Roubaix and experience it with Canyon from [inside the support] car as well.”
Until then, there is more business on the track, with the M11 group back in training ahead of the Diamond League finale. Hunter Bell and Hodgkinson are primed to join each other on the startline after sickness scuppered a showdown in London earlier this summer.
And despite a clinic from the outside of lane one in the 1,500m on Sunday, it is the 800m that has lit a fire inside Hunter Bell to finish the season strongly, starting with those last punishing sessions alongside Hodgkinson.
“Of course we're competitive, but it's in a way that we’re not tearing the other one down,” Hunter Bell concludes. “It literally is just like us being competitive, and so we're getting quicker.
“I just think the 800m is so fun right now because it's not a sure thing of who's going to win. And like me as a spectator, I’d be watching. Of course, you get nerves. But this is going to be really fun, so I think it's great for the sport.”