St Mary’s Athletes and Alumni Selected for Doha 2019 World Athletics Championships

Five Endurance Performance and Coaching Centre (EPACC) athletes and alumni from St Mary’s University, Twickenham have been selected to represent their country at the 2019 World Athletics Championships.

Hosted in Doha, Qatar, from 27^th Sept to 6^th Oct, the competition is the last major global athletics competition ahead of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

St Mary’s History Graduate and EPACC athlete Charlotte Purdue will compete in the Women’s Marathon. Charlotte, who recently spoke to St Mary’s about training in the heat chamber on campus, will be competing in her second World Athletics Championships, having run the marathon at the London 2017 World Championships. More recently, Charlotte finished as the first British woman in the 2019 London Marathon, and won the 2019 Big Half.

Current student and EPACC Athlete Rio 2016 Olympian Anna Møller has been selected to represent Denmark in two events. She will take part in the Women’s 3000m Steeplechase, for which she is currently the u23 European record holder, and the Women’s 5000m. Anna is the current u23 European Champion in both events.

Rio 2016 Olympian and EPACC athlete Steph Twell will compete in her third World Championships and her first major competition in the Women’s 10k, having previously run in the 5k. Steph recently competed in the Women’s 5k at the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, and finished as the runner up to Charlotte Purdue in the 2019 Big Half.

Fellow Rio 2016 Olympian and EPACC athlete Elliot Giles will compete in the Men’s 800m. Elliot has previously won a Bronze Medal at the European Athletics championships, and reached the semi-final of London 2017 in the 800m and competed in the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

In the Men’s 1500m, EPACC Athlete Jake Wightman will compete in his second World Championships after winning a Bronze Medal at both the 2018 Commonwealth Games and European Championships.

Speaking of their selections, Head of Sport at St Mary’s Andrew Reid-Smith said, “St Mary’s has a strong heritage in endurance running and it’s great to have international athletes returning to the University to prepare.  We are delighted that a number of our athletes have been selected for GB, this is testament to the setup and sets an inspiring example for all our student runners.” 

The University has also supported a number of other athletes who will be competing at the games. Team GB Marathon Runner Tish Jones has undertaken Heat Training in the University’s Human Performance Laboratory. Botswana’s Nijel Amos, who won Silver in the Men’s 800m at London 2012, was joined at St Mary’s by fellow Oregon Track Club athletes from Team China as part of their preparations for Doha.

When to watch St Mary’s athletes 

• Charlotte Purdue (Women’s Marathon) – 9.59pm GMT (11.59pm Doha) - 27^th Sept
• Anna Møller (Women’s 3000m SC) – 5pm GMT (7pm Doha) 27^th Sept
• Elliot Giles (Men’s 800m) – 3.05pm GMT (5.05pm Doha) 28^th Sept
• Steph Twell (Women’s 10000m) – 7.10pm GMT (9.10pm Doha) 28^th Sept
• Anna Møller (Women’s 5000m) – 4.25pm GMT (6.25pm Doha) 2^nd Oct
• Jake Wightman (Men’s 1500m) –  8pm GMT (10pm Doha) 3^rd Oct