Jennifer Meadows

88 before focussing on the 400m. It has only been in recent seasons that she has excelled at 800m, having previously mixed the two distances. Meadows made a tremendous improvement during the 2007 indoor campaign, where she set a national record for 600m as well as breaking the two-minute barrier for the first time.

Meadows was originally not selected for the 2007 World Championships but was drafted in as a last minute replacement for Becky Lyne, and Meadows justified her selection by setting a lifetime best in the semi-finals.

She continued to improve during 2008, making the world indoor final, winning the European Cup and running 1:59.11 at the Paris Golden League meeting, before making the Olympic semi-final in Beijing.

Meadows defended her UK indoor 800m title but once again, and was denied a medal by a narrow margin, finishing fourth at the European Indoor Championships final in 2009 but a PB of 1:59.52 at the Birmingham Indoor Grand Prix moved her to fourth on the British all-time list.

She was head athletics coach for Manchester Leisure before becoming a full-time athlete. She has a degree in English, sport, PE and recreation from Liverpool Hope and is a keen Manchester United supporter and owns a miniature Schnauzer called Harvey.

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Images courtesy of Mark Shearman