Great Britain

Keely Hodgkinson

Hodgkinson could be forgiven for feeling sick of silver linings. The 800m star has finished second to either Athing Mu or Mary Moraa at a series of big events including the Tokyo Olympics (to Mu), and last year’s World Championships (to Moraa). It will take a Herculean effort to go one better in Paris, but all eyes will be on what should prove one of the most competitive events of the track and field programme.

Kimberley Woods

Woods heads to Paris as the reigning world champion in the exhilarating and brand new Olympic discipline of kayak-cross, involving heats in which four competitors hurtle down the same whitewater course simultaneously. Despite its inherent unpredictability, the 28-year-old from Rugby also won the overall World Cup title in 2023 and has proved a cut above her closest rivals.

Bradly Sinden

The Doncaster taekwondo star was disappointed with a silver medal in the men’s -68kg category in Tokyo and vowed to learn from his mistakes. He will return to Olympic competition with a second world title in the bag and as a strong favourite to finally make good on his lifelong ambition and turn that agonising silver into gold in the French capital.

Bryony Page

A surprise silver medallist on the women’s trampoline in Rio, Page returned to the podium with a bronze medal in Tokyo. At the age of 33 her confidence continues to rocket, and World Championship gold in Birmingham in 2023 – where she shunted Olympic champion Zhu Xueying into second place – suggests Page has what it takes to complete the set in Paris.

Tom Dean

Double Tokyo gold medallist Dean set himself the staggering target of five medals in Paris only to find the recent British Championships did not go to plan. Likely to be denied the chance to defend his 200m freestyle title, Dean nevertheless remains determined to make multiple visits to the podium as he heads up one of the most promising British swimming squads in decades.

Emma Wilson

Wilson, who won windsurfing bronze in Tokyo, is well placed to land gold in Marseille after making a stunning statement at this year’s World Championships, in which she won 15 of 20 qualifying races before finishing second in the winner-takes-all final race. Her consistency at the top level makes her arguably the best medal bet among the traditional surge of British sailing contenders.

Rhys McClenaghan

The Irish pommel ace finally ascended to the top of his sport after winning the 2022 World Championships in Liverpool, and went on to repeat the feat in Antwerp last year. McClenaghan, who was denied a medal in Tokyo after an early error, will relish the prospect of renewing his long-time rivalry with defending Olympic champion Max Whitlock in Paris.

Great Britain’s Ben Pattison grabbed a brilliant bronze at the World Championships – and revealed he had life-saving heart surgery just three years ago.

The 21-year-old became the first British male athlete to win an 800m medal at the World Championships since Peter Elliott’s silver in 1987.

It came after an operation during the Covid pandemic to fix a heart issue which had seen his heart rate skyrocket to 250 beats per minute.

Pattison grabbed third behind champion Marco Aprop and Kenya’s Emmanuel Wanyonyi in Budapest.

He said: “I had Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome. It was a bit scary at the time. It was Covid years so I didn’t miss out on racing but I was awake for the whole thing. It was a bit surreal. I was watching.

“They had to burn off a bit of my heart. At the time it was very scary but I had the right people around me.

“When they rang me they were pretty worried and as soon as they told me I wasn’t allowed to exercise at all.

“All I was allowed to do was go for walks, so I said to myself I’m going to go for walks every day. I had a lot of my friends on PS4 because it was the Covid times. So we’d wake up, get on Call of Duty.

“I remember when I got told I was like: ‘Is this my running career done?’ I almost had in the back of my head: ‘Is this the reason I’m good at running, because I’ve got this freaky heart?’

“I was almost worried when I got back I wouldn’t be the same.”

Pattison won bronze at last year’s Commonwealth Games but was not expected to challenge for the podium at the National Athletics Centre.

“I’ve never been the stand-out guy,” said the Loughborough Business Analytics graduate, who ran one minute 44.83 seconds.

“I’ve always been the guy on the team that’s been in the second or third place. I don’t win a lot of the domestic races but when it matters, I’m there.

“I’ve never not made a final in my life. I’ve got a Commonwealth medal and a world medal. If you’d told 10-year-old Ben he retired with a 1.44 personal best, a Commonwealth and world medal he’d have gone: ‘Who’s this looney?'”

Dina Asher-Smith was missing from the women’s 4x100m relay as Asha Philip, Imani-Lara Lansiquot, Bianca Williams and Daryll Neita claimed bronze.

Asher-Smith, who came seventh in the 200m final on Friday, revealed she had been dealing with a neural problem following the 100m semi last week.

The 27-year-old was unable to feel her legs in the closing stage of her race and will now leave the Championships without a medal.

The quartet still produced a season’s best of 41.97s to finish third as the USA and Jamaica claimed gold and silver.

Williams said: “We found out this morning (about Asher-Smith’s absence) but we’ve all done changes together. We all work well together. If Dina was here, great. She’s not here and we still got a medal.”

Neita added: “I’m really feeling this as a major stepping stone towards Paris and the Olympics. But in terms of the relay, it’s just another amazing medal to add to my collection.”

Jeremiah Azu, Zharnel Hughes, Adam Gemili and Eugene Amo-Dadzie finished fourth in the men’s 4x100m relay behind the USA, Italy and Jamaica.

The men of Lewis Davey, Charlie Dobson, Rio Mitcham and Alex Haydock-Wilson reached their 4x400m relay final.

Laviai Nielsen, Amber Anning, Nicole Yeargin and Yemi Mary John also reached their 4x400m relay final in three minutes 23.33s.

The 31-year-old Scot won the Games test event in the French capital last month and a top-three finish at the World Triathlon Championship Finals in Spain on Sunday would see her meet the selection criteria for the British team.

Whether she qualifies this weekend or not, there seems little doubt Potter will be part of the British line-up next summer, joining a notable list of athletes who have competed at the Olympics in two different sports.

It was after using her summer holidays from her day job as a physics teacher to race in the 10,000 metres in Rio in 2016 that Potter decided to throw her eggs in the triathlon basket.

“I think I probably had doubts until last year,” she told the PA news agency.

“It’s been really hard. I think those around me, the guys I train with, my boyfriend and my mum and dad, will know how hard it’s been. Even that first year I was in Leeds I probably spent every day pretty upset and wondering whether I’d made the right choice. I think I probably cried every day.”

Potter used family motivation to keep her going, saying: “I always did know it was never going to happen overnight, these things never do, it always takes four or five years.

“It was in line with my sister finishing her medical degree in Sheffield. I gave myself until then, if I’m not making a living out of it by then or things are just not going how I thought they would then I’ll probably just quit and go back to the day job. Luckily I beat her to that. She’s just finished her training.”

Potter grew up doing swimming alongside her athletics but she was a cycling novice when she made the transition to triathlon aged 25.

“It’s not as easy to pick up skills like that as an adult because you have the fear, you know what’s going to happen if you come off,” she said. “It’s not like a kid where you just bounce off the ground. You know you’re going to hurt yourself.

“There was just a lot of doubt. I found that quite hard, constantly trying to believe in myself and constantly be like, it is going to work, I’m just not quite there yet. Getting to grips with a completely different sport.

“It was a very steep learning curve. Getting thrown into the world series and drowning, basically, way out of my depth. There was one way that I could race. If I had an easy swim and an easy bike then that would be fine.

“The way racing has been the last couple of years it’s not been ideal for me but now I’ve got my bike and my swim up to those levels, I’m trying to turn myself into an all-round athlete that can win from any position.

“It’s been quite good this year how I’ve managed to win and get on the podium in different events and in different race scenarios.”

Potter has put together a brilliant 2023 campaign, winning world series races in Abu Dhabi and Montreal and then getting the better of big French rival Cassandre Beaugrand in a head-to-head finish at the test event.

A repeat in Pontevedra would see the winner crowned world champion, although Potter’s main target remains booking her spot in Paris.

“My goal at the start of the season was to qualify for the Olympics,” she said. “I wasn’t expecting to be in the running for the world title. I knew I could be up there but I didn’t expect it to come down to the wire.

“It’s a bit of a chicken and egg where I think if I just focus on doing the little things right, I’ll probably get the Olympic qualification and finish wherever on the podium.”

Olympic silver medallist Alex Yee is in the running for the men’s title having also won the test event, and the British team look well positioned to continue their brilliant run of success in the sport next summer.

Potter is currently the leading woman in the absence of the injured Georgia Taylor-Brown, individual silver medallist in Tokyo, and her gold medal-winning mixed relay team-mate Jess Learmonth, who recently gave birth to her first child.

Potter praised the coaches in Leeds who have kept the faith through the last six years that her move to triathlon would pay off.

“They’ve stuck by me through thick and thin so I owe it to them because they believed when I was nothing,” she said. “They can see a reward now hopefully. It was a bit bonkers to do it but I definitely think it’s been the right decision.”

The group of both athletes and staff members from UK Athletics were forced to return to their hotel after the flight havoc which has impacted thousands of passengers since Monday.

UK airspace was hit with a network-wide failure for air traffic control systems which caused disruption and hundreds of flights to be delayed or cancelled.

Some athletes are now travelling from Budapest directly to Zurich for the Diamond League meeting on Thursday while the UKA is working to get other athletes back home but do not yet know when they will return.

Great Britain were returning from Hungary after a successful World Championships where they won 10 medals – the joint highest in their history.

Ujah, now 30, tested positive for two banned substances in a test taken at the Tokyo Olympics, which led to his team being stripped of their silver medal.

Team-mate Richard Kilty, who has also been named in the eight-strong men’s squad, said at the time he would “never forgive” Ujah for forcing him to hand back his medal.

Another member of the Tokyo squad, Reece Prescod, is also named despite quitting the relay team shortly before last year’s World Championships in Budapest, and subsequently accusing UK Athletics of “emotional blackmail” in their attempts to convince him otherwise.

Seemingly alluding to the issues relating to Ujah and Prescod, British Athletics head of sprints and relays Darren Campbell said: “They (the men’s 4x100m squad) have had their fair share of challenges in recent years.

“But I have have had my own discussions with each and every member of the squad and know they are motivated, committed and focused on working together to reach Paris.”

Ujah was cleared of deliberately taking a banned substance, but was criticised for not following established protocols when he unknowingly bought a contaminated supplement for £10 off Amazon during lockdown.

The decorated Welshman secured a silver medal in the 110 metres hurdles at the 1988 Games in Seoul and five years later won gold at the world championships with a world record time of 12.91 seconds that would stand for 11 years.

Jackson, 57, accepts his friend Usain Bolt’s now hung-up spikes might occupy an unfillable place in athletics, but feels the sport is more than ready for new superstars to emerge – an occurrence he believes is only possible at an Olympics.

He told the PA news agency: “If we have a successful team, which it’s believed to be, and we get five or six medals, if we achieve a ‘Super Saturday’ as we did in London 2012, that will be another kick-start, because that signifies a new generation.

“We won’t be looking at Jess (Ennis-Hill), Mo (Farah), Greg (Rutherford) any more. You’re looking at the next generation, touching distance for all up-and-coming athletes, and us pre-historic athletes will be happy to celebrate their success.”

Bolt stepped away from competition in 2017, nine years after the 2008 Beijing Games where he became the first man in history to win 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay golds in world record times in the same Olympics.

The “fastest man on earth” would go on to defend his 100m and 200m titles at an unprecedented two successive Games at London 2012 and Rio 2016, becoming box-office viewing and one of the most recognisable names in sport.

Jackson said: “When Usain [broke through], it happened at the Olympic Games, so when you break through you have to break through on that Olympic level.

“The World Championships are great, fantastic, yes, but it’s that dream of the Olympic Games that will make it come true.

“[Usain] is once in a lifetime, seriously. As an athlete and a person, I’ve known him for a long time and he’s just brilliant. His professionalism is up and beyond. He’s just magic.

“When you see somebody with the physical talent like that but [also] the rest of the attributes to be a global superstar, you’ve just got to tip your hat to him.”

Jackson believes Paris’ proximity and UK-friendly time zone, combined with – unlike the coronavirus-restricted Tokyo 2020 Games – full houses and weeks of “wall-to-wall athletics” across both the Olympic and Paralympic Games could catapult his sport back into the spotlight.

Take your pick of talent, from Zharnel Hughes – tipped by Bolt himself as a contender for 100m gold in Paris – world champion Josh Kerr hoping to upgrade his 1500m Tokyo bronze, 2024 world indoor pole-vaulting champion Molly Caudery or Commonwealth T38 100m champion Olivia Breen, who Jackson feels has “stepped up her game” since winning T38 long jump bronze at the Tokyo Paralympics.

Jackson, now a regular commentator, has spent plenty of time around para athletes and saw his career take off alongside that of fellow Welsh athlete and prolific Paralympic champion Tanni Grey-Thompson.

Still, he admits it was not until he became the international sports director for the Wings for Life World Run, which raises funds for spinal cord injury research, that he truly began to appreciate some of the specific challenges those affected face, from difficulties regulating temperature to insufficient government support.

The event, backed by Allwyn in a three-year partnership, takes place on May 5 this year, with everyone departing at the same time – midday in the UK – regardless of time zone across the globe.

Anyone can take part in the event, which embraces walkers, wheelchair-users and anyone else looking to test themselves against an in-person or virtual ‘catcher car’, covering as much distance as they are able.

Jackson’s advice to participants feels just as poignant for the Team GB and ParalympicsGB athletes poised for Paris.

“You should (always) be slightly disappointed,” he said. “Let me come back, work a little harder, just go a little bit further.

“Nothing is ever perfect, but excellence is good enough.”

Daley is set to become the first British diver to compete in five Games, having come out of retirement to compete in Tokyo three years ago.

The four-time Olympic medallist is the defending champion in the men’s 10-metre synchronised diving event and will defend his title alongside team-mate Noah Williams. 

Glover won the coxless pairs gold in both London and Rio and has come out of retirement at 38 to compete in her fourth Olympic Games.

“My dad would not have ever believed I would be a flag bearer one day,” Daley said.

“He always considered flag bearers to be Olympic icons and legends. I think he would be so incredibly proud of me being a flag bearer of Team GB.”

An Olympian at the age of 14 in Beijing, Daley won gold alongside Matty Lee in Tokyo to add to three bronze medals he has achieved in individual and synchronised 10-metre events.

“This Olympics is something I would consider to be a bonus Olympics," said Daley. 

"This Olympics has been about enjoying it, embracing every moment and taking everything in as much as I can. To be flagbearer too is just the icing on the cake."

Glover will compete in Paris as part of the women’s four.

She became the first mother to row for Great Britain at the Olympics when she finished fourth alongside Polly Swann in the women's pairs in Tokyo four years ago. 

“I just love the Olympics and have always loved what it stood for. But I still pinch myself that I am an Olympian, let alone doing something that I just saw as going down in history.

“To be flag bearer for a nation, it’s an honour. You can work hard to become an Olympian but this is bestowed upon me by somebody else who has seen that hard work. That just means so much.”

The Scottish distance runner was forced to miss the London Marathon with a knee injury suffered in training, which also kept her out of the World Championships in Budapest.

She is also grieving the sudden death of her stepdad John Nuttall in November but is stepping up her recovery and hopes to do enough to be on Team GB’s plane to France in the summer.

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The 33-year-old says adding a gold medal to her 2022 Commonwealth Games title is “outside my realm” but believes she can get on the podium.

Asked by the PA news agency if she is confident she will be in Paris, she said: “I would like to think so. I am professional athlete so I am always going to back myself.

“I have come back from a hell of a lot worse than this. So I am still here and I still think that even though I had a challenging 2023 I still think I have the capabilities of making the team.

“I have the qualifying time so that is the hardest part out of the way so I just need to show I am not injured and I am on the right path towards the Olympics. I feel confident.

“I am not sure how realistic a medal is at this point, making the team will be a big enough challenge at this point considering the amount of time I have been off and coming from where I have been but I would never write myself off.

“I need to get into the same shape that I got into last March and April then I will definitely be setting my sights on sneaking an outside medal.

“Winning might be outside my realm but there’s no reason I can’t be looking for one of those outside medals but I have to get myself back into shape.”

Nuttall, a former Commonwealth Games medallist, died from a heart attack before Christmas and McColgan wants to make her family, especially her mum Liz, proud.

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“I feel like I have had some tough times so I need to try and turn it around and make it worthwhile,” she aded.

“And also make my family proud, after what we have all gone through it would be a nice way to round off 2024, making my fourth Olympic Games.

“I would be the first Scottish athlete to do that so that is a big goal.”

Much will depend on McColgan’s training over the next few months, something which the Scot places a lot of importance on.

Often training on her own and in unfamiliar places, McColgan is able to feel safe by using Shokz headphones.

“I have been wearing them for several years, for me it is really important to be able to hear surrounding sounds whilst I am training,” she said.

“Certainly if I am on my own, going for runs in the evening, or in woodland areas or places I haven’t been before, it just gives me a little bit of added safety, being able to hear what’s around me.

“That is important for me. I enjoy running with music so I suppose it is good to have that motivation but at the same time it is not completely in my ear.”

:: Eilish McColgan is an ambassador for leading electronics brand, Shokz (uk.shokz.com)

The Lionesses – who need to finish top of Nations League Group A1 to have a chance at claiming GB an Olympic spot – slipped to third after losing 3-2 in Belgium on Tuesday.

Sarina Wiegman’s side, with six points from four games, are three behind leaders the Netherlands and one behind second-placed Belgium.

Their final two group fixtures see them play the Dutch at Wembley on December 1 and then Scotland at Hampden Park four days later.

Former England and Team GB forward Aluko said: “It is a tough group with the Netherlands, Belgium and Scotland. It is not an easy group at all. I think the Nations League is deliberately competitive.

“Really, England have got to win the last two games to have any chance of qualifying, but if any team is going to prove anyone wrong it’s the Lionesses, and they have done so well in the last two years.”

Aluko is not doubtful that England – who were World Cup runners-up over the summer, a year on from winning the Euros – could pull through because they “have everything to win those last two games”.

She added: “I think sometimes there can be a bit of a hangover from the World Cup where you have a massive high and then come back to normality.

“Sometimes it takes players a little bit to get going again. The season only just started again and we are only five games into the Women’s Super League.

“Fatigue is not just physical – it is mental as well. There are so many games and so many tournaments.

“Frankly, the women’s game is really competitive. On any given day, Scotland can beat England and Holland can beat England – that is the sort of level of competition we are dealing with.”

Aluko was speaking after she collected an MBE for her services to association football and to charity on Wednesday.

The Prince of Wales, who presented Aluko with her MBE at a ceremony at Windsor Castle, told her “this feels like this is overdue”, and she later said of that moment: “It was lovely and a really, really nice thing to say.”

Broadcaster and football executive Aluko’s playing career included featuring at three World Cups, three European Championships and the London 2012 Olympics.

She began her career at Birmingham and had subsequent spells at Charlton, Chelsea and in the United States before returning to Birmingham in 2012.

Aluko rejoined Chelsea from 2012 to 2018, during which time she won two WSL titles, the WSL Spring Series and two FA Cups.

After announcing her retirement from playing in January 2020 following a spell with Juventus, Aluko had stints as sporting director at Aston Villa and Los Angeles-based Angel City FC.

The 36-year-old has also worked heavily with charities and organisations such as Charity Water, Common Goal and Unesco.

The American quartet of Tamari Davis, Twanisha Terry, Gabrielle Thomas and Sha’Carri Richardson, topped the event in a Championship record 41.03s Championship Record, ahead of their Jamaican counterparts – Natasha Morrison, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Shashalee Forbes and Shericka Jackson –who ended in season’s best 41.21s.

Great Britain’s quartet of Asha Phillip, Imani Lansiquot, Bianca Williams and Daryll Neita, was third in a season’s best 41.97s.

During the event, Fraser-Pryce who has been braving a chronic knee injury, suffered what is reported to be a muscle strain, but like a warrior, pushed through the difficulty to safely hand off the baton, ensuring the country ended with a medal.

The last time the event was staged in the UK was in London in 2017, while Glasgow hosted the World Indoor Championships at the weekend.

Now Buckner has told BBC Sport that UK Sport and UK Athletics are conducting a feasibility study into launching a bid to stage the 2029 event.

“We’d love to have another crack at 2029 and a World Championships,” said Buckner.

“We just do a great job. Everyone talks about the atmosphere at every event we’ve done.

“We first of all have to do a feasibility study and look at what the various options are.”

Buckner indicated that London would be the favoured venue for the event, in light of the successful staging of both the 2017 event and the 2012 Olympics.

“We can’t definitely say it’ll be London, but it would be in our mind given the success of it before,” Buckner added.

“I think London (2017) was transformational and it built off 2012 (the Olympic Games). It was transformational in all sorts of ways.”

Lina Nielsen, Ama Pipi, Hannah Kelly and Jessie Knight won their heat in three minutes, 26.4 seconds in Glasgow.

They finished almost a second ahead of Jamaica, with the Czech Republic third.

“I love this track,” anchor leg Knight told the BBC. “I’m not the best at getting out in the first 200 but I really tried, and not overcooking it as well.

“I’m really happy with that. I felt strong at the end and we’re really excited for the final. We’re going for the win as always.”

The Netherlands, favourites for the gold medal, qualified from the first heat in 3min 27.70sec.

The Scot clocked three minutes 29.38 seconds to win a massive battle with Ingebrigtsen, who came second, over the final 300m.

He emulated Jake Wightman’s win in Eugene last year, with Wightman missing through injury this year, to deny Norway’s Ingebrigtsen – who also had to settle for silver in 2022 – the world crown again.

Pearne-Webb won gold with Team GB in Rio in 2016 and captained them to bronze in Tokyo five years later, on both occasions against the odds.

Now the 33-year-old defender is targeting a third assault on the medals firm in the knowledge that they may have to do something unexpected once again.

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Pearne-Webb told the PA news agency: “Obviously I’ve been to the past two and been in a similar situation. It’s very similar to going into both Rio and Tokyo in terms of where we’re ranked, outsiders looking in.

“You probably wouldn’t expect us to be on the top of the podium when we get there, but I fully believe that we have the opportunity to be on top of the podium, just like I did going into Rio and just like I did going into Tokyo – and look what we did at both those Games.

“I’m really excited about the next few months.”

Britain, who will play in Pool B alongside Australia, Argentina, Spain, the United States and South Africa, open their campaign against Spain on July 28 having claimed the 12th and final qualification spot with a 2-1 victory over Ireland in January.

Pearne-Webb, who famously scored the winning goal in a final shoot-out victory over the Netherlands in Rio, is confident the nerve they displayed to edge their way to Paris will serve them well in the French capital.

“I always find Olympic qualification is more stressful than the Games themselves,” she said. “It’s been great preparation for us to be in those hugely pressurised moments of ‘It’s all or nothing’ in a game.

“We’ve experienced that now, we came through on the right side of it, thankfully, and that just puts a huge amount of confidence in the bank when we get to the Olympics this summer.”

Pearne-Webb’s comments came as she was unveiled as the chair of a new body which will give elite athletes a voice in the formation of sporting policies.

The Athlete Advisory Forum, a branch of the British Elite Athletes Association, will review proposals relating to matters such as coaching, culture, equality, diversity and inclusion, finances, representation, safeguarding, selection, social impact, support and welfare from organisations including UK Sport – which has made athlete input into policy development part of its response to the Whyte Review into allegations of abuse in gymnastics – and the BEAA itself.

Pearne-Webb is joined by fellow BEAA athlete board member and Olympic sprinter Asha Philip, former GB rower Alice Davies, para discus thrower Dan Greaves, bobsleigh Olympian Brad Hall, Scottish diver Grace Reid, men’s hockey keeper James Mazarelo, shooter Seonaid McIntosh, fencer Marcus Mepstead and retired sailor Kirstie Urwin.

“It’s a really good opportunity for something that’s across all sports, an opportunity for our voice to be heard,” Pearne-Webb said.

“We’re at a good place now, where there are many opportunities for us to have a say and give our opinions on various different things, so I think it’s a really good step in the right direction for what we need.”

Holly Bradshaw has revealed she has beaten crippling anxiety to lay her pole-vault ghosts to rest.

The 31-year-old is ready for the World Championships in Budapest after returning from a nightmare injury streak.

Bradshaw suffered a freak accident in Eugene last year when her pole broke in the final jump of her warm-up.

It left her with back, arm and hamstring injuries and she then snapped her hamstring at the Commonwealth Games a few weeks later in a rush to compete in Birmingham.

A comeback this year, shaking off an Achilles issue, has seen her make the plane for Budapest on her world ranking position but it has not been without its own fears.

She said: “I was crippled with anxiety leading into it and I just had to remind myself, this is what I love. Going through the warm-ups out in Lausanne (Diamond League in July) I was nervous. I was pretty much shaking.

“I felt sick. I hadn’t competed in over a year and actually jumped well in over two years in a competition environment.

“There’s also the anxiety of clearing the bar. Having my big fall in Oregon has created some anxiety around pole vaulting, especially in windy conditions. So there’s this something that sits in the bottom of your stomach or in your mind that says, ‘I don’t want to do this. This is scary.’

“The first couple of competitions was really trying to overcome that and overcome that fear but once that hard bar went up and I cleared the opening one I had the biggest smile on my face.

“I didn’t pick up a pole after I snapped my hammy until January. That’s five and a half months I couldn’t run down the runway.

“I would have loved to have just got back up and planted the pole, that would have done my psychology a world of good, but because I couldn’t it was tricky.

“I’m quite robust, I don’t know whether it’s like the northern streak in me. I’m renowned on the circuit for, ‘she’ll pop off the pole, fall and then she’ll just get straight back up and clear the bar’.

“I just don’t let those negative things seep into my brain. I’m just kind of crazy. I just go for it. The biggest challenge for me was trying not to let those terrifying, negative, thoughts come in.”

After finishing second at the British Championships to Molly Caudery last month, Bradshaw now feels it is important to talk about any issues so others can understand what athletes deal with.

“Athletes being more open with what they’re going through, with what they’re struggling with, it just educates people,” she said.

“How are you guys (the media) meant to know what’s going on if we don’t tell you? So we tell you what’s going on and then there’s more knowledge around that situation. In the past athletes get frustrated but actually it’s on them to be open as well.

“I remember when I was a young athlete, I wanted to keep my injuries secret. I didn’t want anyone to think I’m weak.

“Now it’s like, ‘this is what’s going on in my life and this is what I’m navigating’.

“I’m just doing the best that I can and I’m kind of on this journey to try and achieve something. I’m going to tell you all about it and not be embarrassed or shameful of it.”

Kerr powered away on the final lap to win comfortably in seven minutes 42.98 seconds, with defending champion Selemon Barega fading down the final straight as he was beaten to silver by American Yared Nuguse.

After disappointment for Laura Muir in the women’s 3,000m final earlier in the evening, Kerr’s victory sparked huge celebrations in the Emirates Arena.

“I think I burned more energy celebrating than I did in the race, which is a bit embarrassing,” Kerr, the world 1500m champion outdoors, said on BBC Sport. “This competition is so important.

“I’ve come to championships before not ready to have a real go at it and I feel I’ve let the UK audience down a bit in the way I’ve performed in front of them. It was really important to come here fit and ready to go and really execute.

“I came in without a solid plan, just really fluid. I wanted to make sure I wasn’t acting emotionally.

“I kept a patient head and then I could really send it with 400 metres to go.”

Muir set a season’s best time of 8mins 29.76secs, but that was only good enough for fifth as American Elle St Pierre took the win ahead of Ethiopia’s Gudaf Tsegay.

St Pierre’s time of 8:20.87 was a World Indoor Championships record.

Jemma Reekie delighted her home crowd by cruising into the final of the women’s 800m with a “perfect” performance.

The 25-year-old Scot bided her time in second spot before passing Ethiopia’s Habitam Alemu on the final straight to win heat two in commanding fashion in a time of 1:58.28.

World number five Reekie progresses to Sunday’s medal race as the fastest qualifier across the two semi-finals and had a warning for her podium rivals.

She told BBC Sport: “(It was) perfect planning – you’d think Jon (Bigg, her coach) knew a bit about this sport by now. (It was) really good.

“I’m in really good shape. Obviously the final’s going to be really tough, but I want them to know if they’re coming to win on my track they’re going to have to work hard.

“I think it will be a fast one.”

At 19 years and 26 days, Italy’s Mattia Furlani became the youngest long jump medallist in World Indoor Championships history by claiming silver in the men’s event with a leap of 8.22m.

The teenager missed out on the title – to Greece’s Miltiadis Tentoglou – only on countback, with bronze going to Carey McLeod of Jamaica (8.21m).

Britain’s David King qualified for the semi-finals of the men’s 60m hurdles after clocking 7.64 but compatriot Tade Ojora failed to make the cut in his heat.

Amy Hunt fell short in the women’s 60m, finishing fifth in her heat in a time of 7.29.

Jamaica’s quartet of Alana Reid, Kemba Nelson, Shashalee Forbes and Tia Clayton produced a season’s best 42.29 fifth in the final at the Paris Olympics at the Stade de France on Friday.

The American quartet of Melissa Jefferson, TeeTee Terry, Gabby Thomas and Sha’Carri Richardson combined to run 41.78 for gold ahead of Great Britain (Dina Asher-Smith, Imani Lansiquot, Amy Hunt) who ran 41.85.

Germany ran 41.97 in third while France were fourth in 42.23.

This, as they booked their spot in Sunday’s showpiece event, after finishing tops in their heat on Saturday.

Cherokee Young, running from lane eight, ran the lead leg for the Jamaicans handing off to Nickesha Pryce, who ran a well-paced leg to send Shiann Salmon on her way.

Salmon did well to maintain the gap for Stacey-Ann Williams, who only had to run steady and true to take the team home in a new world leading time 3:22.74.

They won ahead of Canada (3:23.29), with Netherlands (3:23.75) taking the third automatic qualifying spot.

Great Britain won the second heat in 3:23.33, ahead of the favourites United States, who were later disqualified via Technical Rule 24.7, as they passed the baton outside the takeover zone.

That meant Belgium (3:23.63) and Italy (3:23.86) got second and third respectively, while Poland (3:24.05) and Ireland (3:26.18) got the two fastest non-automatic qualifying spots.

The final will be the curtain-call event of the nine-day Championships at 2:47pm Jamaica time.

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The 25-year-old Scot bided her time in second spot before passing Ethiopia’s Habitam Alemu on the final straight to win heat two in commanding fashion in a time of one minute 58.28 seconds.

World number five Reekie progresses to Sunday’s medal race as the fastest qualifier across the two semi-finals and had a warning for her podium rivals.

She told BBC Sport: “(It was) perfect planning – you’d think Jon (Bigg, her coach) knew a bit about this sport by now! (It was) really good.

“I’m in really good shape. Obviously the final’s going to be really tough but I want them to know if they’re coming to win on my track they’re going to have to work hard.

“I think it will be a fast one.”

The 2019 champion is eyeing the podium at the World Championships after last year’s winner Nafi Thiam pulled out.

Belgium’s Thiam, the double Olympic champion, is sidelined with an Achilles issue as she targets the treble at next year’s Games in Paris.

The USA’s Anna Hall, third in Eugene last year, is favourite for the crown in Hungary but Johnson-Thompson feels the competition is wide open.

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“Before Thiam dropped out, I felt like it was very much like a head-to-head between Thiam and Anna Hall and now I don’t know what it’s going to take to win a medal,” she said, ahead of the start of the heptathlon in Budapest on Saturday.

“I don’t know what it’s going to take to win. So that’s why I feel like it’s open. I could name five people who could finish between first, second and third.

“Sometimes the heptathlon can be a two-person race and then everyone else is fighting for the bronze, I feel like this year is quite open and I don’t know where it’s going to go.

“You never know. I’ve always been worried that 2019 was my peak, because then Covid happened and I had my Achilles rupture and the momentum I was building towards my peak got short changed and cut off.

“I feel like anybody who’s won a major championship has the ability to say ‘I’ve done it before therefore, it can be done again’. I feel like that, even though I can’t remember it.

“Whenever I look back at videos, or see images of Doha, it just takes me back to that place in time and the frame of mind I was in.

“So it’s always a positive thing to look back. What has been done before can be done again. That’s the type of frame of mind I get myself into when I see those images.

“I just like to prove myself right. I feel like if I let other people’s opinions in, I wouldn’t be sitting here saying that I’m in good shape and excited about the outcome, because I would have instead believed that I might as well give up or my body isn’t right for it.

“My goal is a medal and I think I can score what it takes to get on the rostrum but you never know whether the event is going to go off or if it’s going to be quite subdued.

“I’m trying to predict the future but I can’t. I feel like that’s why I’m just chilled because you’re just never going to know.”

Johnson-Thompson beat Thiam to win world gold in Doha four years ago before her Achilles rupture in late 2020.

She recovered to make the Tokyo Olympics only to suffer a calf injury in the 200m and withdraw. She finished eighth at last year’s World Championships – having split with coach Petros Kyprianou weeks before after only five months in Florida.

A successful defence of her Commonwealth Games title in Birmingham put her back on the podium and she is now content in Hungary.

“This one feels different in the way that I feel like I’m the calmest I’ve ever been going into it,” said the 30-year-old, now based in the UK under Aston Moore.

“In Doha it was exciting and I had a big battle but with this one I feel completely calm and full of experience.

“I’ve done it so many times now and it never gets any easier but you can approach it in a different manner. I feel like this one, I’m just going to put all my experience into it and see where it gets me.

“It’s always a stepping stone to next year, because ultimately the main goal of my career is to get an Olympic medal.

“This is maybe my last heptathlon before Paris – I don’t know if I’m going to do another one. So it’s like a full on dress rehearsal.”