Phoebe Gill, 17, qualifies for Olympics after stunning 800m display
Phoebe Gill was far too good for her rivals in the women's 800m final - PA/David Davies
Dina Asher-Smith and Keely Hodgkinson had just completed their races but, even in such unseasonably cold weather, these two stars of British athletics were not leaving the side of the Manchester track. And there was a stand-out reason.
Next up was the women’s 800 metre final of the Olympic trials and that would mean the first big competitive senior test for a runner who has become the talk of British athletics and yet is younger than the darts prodigy Luke Littler.
Phoebe Gill had earlier this season set the fastest 800m time by any European 17-year-old in athletics’ history, all while studying at sixth form in St Albans for her A-Level exams next year in chemistry, maths and biology.
So how would she fare in a national championships against runners of the pedigree of Jemma Reekie, a world indoor medallist herself earlier this year and the fourth placed finisher at the Tokyo Games?
The answer could not have been more empathic. Gill hit the front shortly before the bell and, showing no signs of nerves, simply pinned her shoulders back and ran.
It all looked rather effortless until you saw the time – 1min 58.67sec in far from perfect conditions – as well as the damage that had been inflicted behind her. Reekie, one of the best 800m runners in the world, was well beaten while no other athlete - including sub two-minute runners of the calibre of Erin Wallace, Alex Bell and Ellie Baker - could get to within two seconds of the new British champion.
Hodgkinson and Asher-Smith applauded. Reekie and her coach Sally Gunnell sportingly did the same while Gill, who had spent the weekend meeting most of her childhood idols for the first time, was contemplating her imminent status as an Olympian.
She called it all “a whirlwind...a dream” and said that she had not imagined even after her super-fast run of 1min 57.86sec in May that the Olympics were a realistic possibility.
Under the guidance of Deborah Steer, her club coach at St Albans, Gill had decided to miss a potential chance to compete at the European Championship last month and must now decide whether to take up a place before the Olympics at the forthcoming European Under-18 Championships. Steer has praised Gill’s “very humble” outlook and willingness to encourage others at what is a volunteer-led club.
Gill believes that her improvement on last year - when she won the Commonwealth Youth Games - had been underpinned by a change in her mentality. She “definitely” intends to complete her A-Levels next year “because it’s important to stay in school” and, as the combination of New Balance trainers and Nike tracksuit suggested, is still without any sponsor. That will of course soon change. “I like to keep my running life and my other life very separate,” said Gill, who was supported in Manchester by her parents in ‘Run Phoebe’ T-shirts. “I feel like I’ve become a different person on the track. I’m very serious and I don’t want that in my normal life.
"Phoebe Gill reminds me of myself," says Keeley Hodgekinson - Getty Images/Gary Oakley
“I just started to take it more seriously [last year], training with the mindset of like a pro athlete. I find it very hard to deal with the mental aspect of sport, but I think I’ve kind of got that under grips now because, in my opinion, sport is 70-30 with 70% being mental fitness.”
Gill had got up in the night to watch Hodgkinson win Tokyo 800m silver, calling it an “inspiration” after the family missed out on tickets for the athletics at London 2012 when she was only five.
Hodgkinson herself could not fail to be impressed and, with Reekie alongside them, Britain will have three runners capable of at least reaching the Paris final.
“I’ve just met Phoebe for the first time five seconds ago – she is so sweet; amazing,” said Hodgkinson. “I don’t want to put any pressure on her, but I think she is definitely up there with making the final if it goes the right way. She kind of reminds me of myself to be honest. She is showing strength and speed. I feel like amazing things are going to happen. I am a veteran now at 22!”
There was later huge drama in the men’s 800m final when Elliot Giles and Josh Kerr collided and fell on the finishing straight to allow Ben Pattison and Max Burgin to sprint into the first two Olympic qualifying positions.
That leaves the British selectors with a huge choice between Jake Wightman – who is the fastest in Britain so far this season and a former world 1500m champion but currently injured – and Giles, who also has the Olympic qualifying standard.
Wightman’s chances of competing in the 1500m were effectively ended after Neil Gourley and George Mills finished first and second, leaving world champion Kerr to take the final spot in that event.
There were also impressive performances over 200m by Dina Asher-Smith, who won in 22.18sec, and Matthew Hudson-Smith - a 400m specialist - who stormed to victory in the shorter distance in 20.34sec.
Katarina Johnson-Thompson delivered a positive 200m run of 23.20sec - her fastest in five years - in preparation for the heptathlon in Paris while Georgia Bell also continued her fairytale comeback to the sport by beating Laura Muir to the women’s 1500m title.
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