Laura Weightman

Laura Weightman (born 1 July 1991) is a British middle-distance runner who competes in the 1500 metres and 5000 metres. She reached the 1500 metres final at the 2012 London Olympics and the 2016 Rio Olympics.[1][2] She won a silver medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games and bronze medals at the 2014 and 2018 European Championships. She also won a bronze medal in the 5000 metres at the 2018 Commonwealth Games. Her personal best in the Mile of 4:17.60 in 2019 ranks her in the world all-time top 25.

Laura Weightman

Weightman (front) at the 2018 European Championships.
Personal information
Nationality	British
Born	1 July 1991 Alnwick, Northumberland, England
Height	1.71 m (5 ft 7 ^1⁄2 in)
Weight	56 kg (123 lb) (2014)
Sport
Sport	Athletics
Event(s)	Middle distance
Club	Morpeth Harriers
Coached by	Steve Cram
Medal record Women's athletics Representing  Great Britain European Championships 2014 Zürich 1500 m 2018 Berlin 1500 m Representing  England Commonwealth Games 2014 Glasgow 1500 m 2018 Gold Coast 5000 m

Early life and education

Weightman was born on 1 July 1991 in Alnwick, Northumberland, England.[3] She was educated at The Duchess's Community High School, a state comprehensive school in the market town of Alnwick. In May 2013 she graduated with a Sport and Exercise Science degree from Leeds Metropolitan University. She currently lives in Leeds where she trains full-time.

Career

Weightman finished sixth in the 1500 metres final at the 2010 IAAF World Junior Championships in Athletics and ended the season with a 1500m best of 4:09.60. She improved this to 4:07.94 in 2011.

At the 2012 Olympic Games in London, Weightman ran a personal best of 4:02.99 in the 1500 metres semi-finals, and went on to finish ninth in the final. In 2013, she ran a 3000 metres best of 8:43.46 in Stretford. She further improved her 1500 metres best to 4:00.17 on 5 July 2014 at the Paris Diamond League. She won a silver medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and a bronze medal at the 2014 European Championships in Zurich.

Weightman reached her second Olympic final in 2016, finishing 11th at the Olympic Games in Rio. She finished sixth in the 1500m final at the 2017 World Championships in London. She won bronze medals in the 5000 metres at the 2018 Commonwealth Games and in the 1500m at the 2018 European Championships in Berlin. After running a personal best of 4:20.49 for the mile in 2018, she improved to 4:17.60 in 2019, a time that moved her into the world all-time top 25.

Weightman is coached by Steve Cram, former world-record holder in the 1500m and the mile. She was previously coached by Mike Bateman from Morpeth Harriers.

She became a five times British champion when winning the 1500 metres event at the 2020 British Athletics Championships in a time of 4 min 09.76 secs.[4]

Statistics

Competition record

Year	Competition	Venue	Position	Event	Notes
2010	World Junior Championships	Moncton, Canada	6th	1500 m	4:14.31
2012	Olympic Games	London, United Kingdom	7th	1500 m	4:15.60
2013	European Team Championships	Gateshead, United Kingdom	2nd	3000 m	9:03.11
2014	Commonwealth Games	Glasgow, United Kingdom	2nd	1500 m	4:09.24
	European Championships	Zurich, Switzerland	3rd	1500 m	4:06.32
2015	World Championships	Beijing, China	DNS (sf)	1500 m	4:06.13 (h)
2016	Olympic Games	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil	11th	1500 m	4:14.95
2017	World Championships	London, United Kingdom	6th	1500 m	4:04.11
2018	Commonwealth Games	Gold Coast, Australia	3rd	5000 m	15:25.84
	European Championships	Berlin, Germany	3rd	1500 m	4:03:75
2019	World Championships	Doha, Qatar	7th	5000 m	14:44.57
DNS (sf) = did not start semifinal

Personal bests

Event	Time	Venue	Date
800 metres	2:01.87	Stretford	25 July 2017
1500 metres	4:00.17	Paris	5 July 2014
Mile	4:17.60	Monaco	12 July 2019
3000 metres	8:26.07	Prefontaine Classic	30 June 2019
5000 meters	14:35.44	Monaco	14 Aug 2020

• All information taken from IAAF profile.[5]

References

1. "Laura Weightman delight after 1500m qualification". bbc.co.uk. 25 June 2012. Retrieved 24 July 2012.
2. "Laura Weightman Profile". Thepowerof10.info. Retrieved 24 July 2012.
3. Laura Weightman. Glasgow2014. Retrieved on 2014-09-17.
4. "Results list". British Athletics. Retrieved 18 January 2021
5. "Weightman, Laura Biography". IAAF. Retrieved 26 August 2012.