Alexandra Bell: Meet the Leeds athlete who will be running the women’s 800m in the Tokyo Olympics 2021

The Pudsey and Bramley Athletics Club runner will be competing in the delayed 2020 Tokyo Olympics women’s 800m event on July 30 at 2:57am (UK time).

Early years

The 28-year-old athlete competed at her first Diamond League fixture in 2016, where she finished in seventh place, and was the fifth fastest British 800m runner.

She made her Great Edinburgh International Cross Country debut in 2018 and in May of that year at the British Miler’s Club Grand Prix, she became the first British woman to run 800m in under two minutes.

She went on to win the 800m in September 2019 where she represented Europe in The Match, a team competition against the USA, Minsk and Belarus. She sailed to the semi finals of the 800m 2019 World Athletics Championships, where she set a personal best time of 1:59.82.

Olympics stardom

Alexandra beat the 800m Olympic qualifying time at the Belfast Irish Milers in May 2021, however, the event did not count towards Olympic qualification as it did not have a European permit.

The athlete finished fifth at the 2021 British Athletics Championships event, which did count towards the Olympic trial event. But she was not initially selected for the 2020 Summer Olympics when the athletics group was revealed in June 2021.

However, on July 8, 2021, she ended up replacing Laura Muir after she backed out due to other commitments.

How to watch her in action?

You can watch the event live on BBC One or Eurosport on July 30 at 2:57am (UK time).