Ex-Cal Runner Georgia Hunter Bell Wins Stockholm 800

A bronze medalist in the 1,500 at the Paris Olympics, Bell has said she will consider running both events at the World Championships

Georgia Hunter Bell races in Philadelphia last month / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Georgia Hunter Bell, nearly a decade removed from a modest Cal running career, continued her remarkable resurgence Sunday with a victory in the 800 meters, beating two Olympians at the Diamond League meet in Stockholm, Sweden.

Running in the 1912 Olympics stadium, Bell raced from last place with 300 meters left to overtake Kenya’s Mary Moraa and South Africa’s Prudence Sekgodiso in a season-best time of 1 minute, 57.66 seconds.

“I really wanted to win today. It’s my first-ever Diamond League win. I had a lot of second places last year, so it’s a bucket-list thing for me,” she told reporters afterward. “The vibe here was insane. The whole stadium was amazing, so I’m really happy to do it here.”

Bell’s mark is shy of her year-old personal-best of 1:56.28, run in front of nearly 60,000 fans at London’s Olympic Stadium in the lead-up to the Paris Olympics, but it places her fifth on this year’s world list.

The 31-year-old native of Great Britain most recently ran at Cal in 2017 and shortly thereafter stepped away from the sport. She returned in 2023 and last year made a stunning breakthrough, winning a bronze medal in the 1,500 at the Paris Olympics.

Bell ran a British national record and the No. 11 all-time world mark of 3:52.61 at Paris and also won a silver medal in the event at the 2024 European Championships.

On Sunday at Stockholm, Bell was in dead last in the 800 when she sprinted past a high-qualify field to victory. 

Georgia Hunter Bell discusses her race / FloTrack

“I got a lot wrong,” she admitted. “I emerged OK . . . I didn’t go out hard enough, was trying to find space on the inside that wasn’t really there. So it was a lot of swerving. But I felt really good so I knew I just needed a gap. 

“I had to run really wide at the end, so hopefully there’s another second or two there if I run a bit better.”

Moraa, a bronze medalist in the 800 at Paris and the 2023 world champion, was second in 1:57.83. Sekgodiso, who was eighth at the Olympics last summer, crossed in 1:58.00 as the top seven finishers broke 1:59.

Back in March, Bell captured the bronze medal in the 1,500 at the world indoors in Nanjing, China.

Bell, who currently ranks in the top-5 globally in both the 800 and 1,500, hinted early this season that she may consider attempting a double at the World Championships in Tokyo in September.

The schedule in Tokyo seems favorable for that ambitious undertaking, with the 1,500 scheduled for heats on Sept. 13, semifinals on Sept. 14 and the final on Sept. 16, before the 800 gets under way with heats on Sept 18, semifinals on Sept. 19 and the final on Sept. 21, the meet’s last day of competition.

Bell and everyone else competing at Stockholm were overshadowed by the 12th world record set by pole vault star Mondo Duplantis. Raised in the the U.S. but claiming Swedish citizenship, Duplantis soared over 6.28 meters — or 20 feet, 7 1/4 inches — on his first attempt.

Duplantis now has vaulted nearly five inches higher than anyone in history.

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