Stephanie Twell

Stephanie April "Steph" Twell (born 17 August 1989) is a British middle- and long-distance runner who competed at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing and the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro and trains at Aldershot, Farnham & District AC. She won the 1500 metres at the 2008 World Junior Championships, and is a three-time winner of the European Junior Cross Country Championships (2006–2008), as well as being part of four winning Great Britain teams. Representing Scotland, she won a bronze medal in the 1500 metres at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi.

Twell is currently sponsored by sports company New Balance and is coached by one of the nation's leading endurance coaches, Mick Woods.

Twell was born in Colchester, England. Born and raised in England, Twell announced in 2009 that she would compete for Scotland rather than England, and represented Scotland at the 2010 and 2014 Commonwealth Games. She is eligible to compete for Scotland as her mother is from Paisley.

Twell's personal best time for the 1500 metres is 4:02.70, set in Barcelona, Spain on 1 August 2010. She competed in the women's 1500 metres at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and was eliminated in her heats running 4:06.68.

In September 2008, Twell was named European Athletics Rising Star of 2008. In January 2009 she was named "Telegraph Ten for 2012" – 10 of Britain's brightest young sports stars in The Daily Telegraph.

She began the 2009 cross country season well, winning at the Antrim International Cross Country. A few months later, Twell finished 38th in the 2009 World Cross Country Championships in Jordan. Although she was the fastest Briton in the race, she was disappointed with her performance and stated that she resolved to do better in the next championships.

She set a new personal best in the 5000 metres in May 2009, winning the Artur Takac Memorial in 15:18.47 – a meeting record.

She had a disappointing run at the 2009 European Team Championships over 3000 m, finishing in fourth in a time well outside her PB. At the 2009 World Championships she was never in contention in her heat at 1500 m and then when one of the favourites she was only 11th in the European Cross Country Championships (under 23 race).

Her 2010 was marked by improvements in her personal bests on the track. She set a 1500 metres best at the Weltklasse Zurich Diamond League meeting, finishing third and ahead of Lisa Dobriskey with a time of 4:02.54. Stepping up to the 5000 m at the Memorial van Damme in Brussels, she smashed her previous best by 22 seconds to set a new Scottish record of 14.54.08, breaking Yvonne Murray's 15-year-old mark. She ran at the Women's 5K Challenge in London in August 2010 and took third place behind Sylvia Kibet and Linet Masai. Reflecting on the race, she said: "To run 15:32 is great for me and third was just what I aimed for."

Twell suffered a fractured ankle competing in a cross-country race in Belgium in February 2011. A further foot injury in June 2012 ended her hopes of competing at the 2012 Summer Olympics.

Year	Competition	Venue	Position	Event	Notes
Representing  Great Britain /  Scotland
2006	World Junior Championships	Beijing, China	8th	1500 m	4:16.58
	European Junior Cross Country Championships	San Giorgio su Legnano, Italy	1st	4.1 km	12:33
2007	European Junior Cross Country Championships	Toro, Spain	1st	4.2 km	14:12
2008	World Junior Championships	Bydgoszcz, Poland	1st	1500 m	4:15.09
	Olympic Games	Beijing, China	heats	1500 m	4:06.68
	European Junior Cross Country Championships	Brussels, Belgium	1st	4.2 km	13:28
2010	European Championships	Barcelona, Spain	7th	1500 m	4:02.70
	Commonwealth Games	Delhi, India	3rd	1500 m	4:06.19
			4th	5000 m	16:03.91
2014	Commonwealth Games	Glasgow, Scotland	14th	5000 m	16:30.66
2015	World Championships	Beijing, China	12th	5000 m	15:26.24
2016	World Indoor Championships	Portland, Oregon	6th	3000 m	09:00.38
	European Championships	Amsterdam, Netherlands	3rd	5000 m	15:20.70
	Olympic Games	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil	heats	5000 m	15:25.90
2017	European Indoor Championships	Belgrade, Serbia	5th	3000 m	08:50.40

Personal bests

• All information (excluding 400 m) taken from IAAF profile.