Alexandra Bell once measured her world in two laps. Now, she is chasing a dream that stretches across 26.2 miles.

The British runner has traded the track for the road, leaving behind the 800m that took her to an Olympic final in Tokyo. Her destination is now the marathon, with LA28 firmly in her sights.

The decision did not come easily. After years of elite competition, Bell admits, “Mentally, I felt pretty exhausted. It was just becoming hard – hard to get up in the morning, find your goals, find your motivation. It becomes a miserable place.”

For Bell, something had changed. The athlete who once fought relentlessly for every hundredth of a second no longer recognized the person she was becoming. So, rather than forcing herself to continue down a path that had lost its meaning, she stepped away.

She took on side hustles, gave herself time away from athletics and eventually returned to her coach with a different idea. “I might be done with track, but can we come back and do something in a different format?” Bell recalled.

That “different format” has turned out to be dramatically longer. The former 800m specialist has embraced the roads, progressing through the 5K and 10K before making her half-marathon debut in Amsterdam in October 2025.

She won that race in 70:04.

Suddenly, an athlete who had spent her career being defined by two laps was discovering what she could do over 13.1 miles. A 31:31 performance at the Vitality 10,000 had already hinted that something special might be developing, and Amsterdam confirmed it.

Bell then lowered her half-marathon best to 69:15 at the Bath Half Marathon in March.

“I’m actually a half-marathon runner,” she said after Amsterdam, reflecting on a transition that had initially felt almost foreign.

But there was a deeper reason behind the change. Bell says she had already begun accepting that her 800m journey was nearing its natural end long before her final track race in July 2024.

“I think I had already made the decision probably 18 months prior to that year,” she explained.

Tokyo had given her something she had spent years fighting for. She arrived at the Games only after an extraordinary late twist, having initially missed selection.
And that journey remains one of the proudest chapters of her career.

The incredible story of Alexandra Bell

Bell’s road to Tokyo was anything but straightforward. Despite being one of Britain’s leading 800m runners, she had been overlooked for UK Athletics funding and had to work part-time at a Nike store while chasing her Olympic ambition. She even considered legal action after being left without the support she believed she needed.

Then came the British Olympic trials.

Bell finished fifth, seemingly ending her hopes of reaching Tokyo. But just when the dream appeared to be over, Laura Muir vacated her 800m place to concentrate on the 1500m.

Bell received the call around 10 days before the team travelled to Japan. “It was crazy in the lead-up because I obviously thought I was not going 10 days before,” she recalled.

There was barely time to process it, let alone prepare. Her Olympic kit had already been sent, and she had to ask her employer for time off.
None of that mattered.

“I was gonna be an Olympian,” Bell said of the moment. She made the most of the opportunity, reaching the Olympic final and running a personal-best 1:57.66 to finish seventh. A teenage Keely Hodgkinson finished second in that same race, beginning the Olympic story that would eventually lead to her Paris 2024 gold.
Bell now watches that generation from a very different perspective.

“I’m glad I left when I did!” she joked, watching Hodgkinson and Audrey Werro push the boundaries of the event.

There is no bitterness in her words. Instead, Bell speaks with admiration for what Hodgkinson has accomplished and the standard she continues to set.

“She has got many more years to come and many more fast times. I know she’s going to absolutely smash it out of the park.” Bell’s own Olympic chapter, meanwhile, is not necessarily finished.

Her new target is LA28.

“To get to the Olympics again,” she told Olympics.com. “How cool would that be?” This time, though, she wants to get there as a marathon runner.

“All roads lead to a marathon this year,” Bell revealed, with plans for her full-distance debut before potentially targeting the London Marathon in April 2027.

The immediate test comes at the World Athletics Road Running Championships in Copenhagen, where Bell will represent Great Britain in the half marathon. It marks her first British vest since the 2024 European Championships.

“I can’t believe how quickly I’ve got my hands on a vest again,” she said. And perhaps that excitement tells the story better than any result could.

Bell trains in Leeds alongside fellow British distance runners Emile Cairess and Phil Sesemann, becoming part of a training environment that has helped her adapt to the demands of longer-distance running.

The physical transformation has been substantial. The former 800m runner now spends far more time running, yet she says her body has responded surprisingly well after years of Achilles and lower-limb problems.

The mental transformation, however, appears even more significant. “I’m excited every day to get up and get out of the door,” Bell said.

That feeling was missing toward the end of her track career. On the roads, it has returned. “I am enjoying sport and life so much more now than I ever did as an 800m girl,” she added. “I’ve got this new love of life and this spring in my step.”

It is perhaps fitting that Bell credits Kelly Holmes as the athlete who inspired her journey in the first place. Years later, after fighting through rejection, funding struggles, and the uncertainty of Olympic selection, she is writing another chapter.

This one will not be decided over two laps. It will take 26.2 miles. And Bell knows exactly where she wants those miles to lead: Los Angeles.