Cal Alum Georgia Bell Runs Lifetime Best in Sizzling 1,500 at Paris

Kena's Faith Kipyegon topped the event's fastest-ever field with a world-record performance

Georgia Bell / Instagram

One-time Cal runner Georgia Bell was part of the fastest women’s 1,500-meter race in history at Paris on Sunday, and the 30-year-old from Great Britain made the most of it.

Bell ran a huge lifetime best of 3 minutes, 56.54 seconds to place fifth in a Diamond League race where the top 12 finishers cracked 4 minutes — a first in track and field history.

Bell, who already has qualified for the Paris Olympics, obliterated her previous best of 4:00.41, clocked earlier this season at the Prefontaine Classic.

Meanwhile, at a World Athletics Continental Tour Gold meet at the Dutch city of Hengelo, Cal discus world-recordholder Mykolas Alekna prevailed with a mark of 226-7 (69.07 meters). It was Alekna’s first competition since he settled for third place at the European Championships last month.

Alekna, a 21-year-old junior at Cal, also was officially named to the Lithuanian Olympic team on Sunday, following in the footsteps of his father, Virgilijus Alekna, a former two-time Olympic champion. Mykolas Alekna, who redshirted this season at Cal to prepare for the Olympics, delivered his world-record of 243-11 (74.35m) at Oklahoma in April.

Bell ran a collegiate best of 4:18.89 at Cal in 2016, then left the sport for several years before beginning a comeback in 2021. That return has hit full stride just in time for the Olympics, with Bell winning the UK Olympic trials and finishing second at the European Championships.

"When I quit after college it was just so clear I hadn’t reached my full potential and it wasn't a happy ending. There was something left but I thought it would always be that way," Bell told BBC Sport this week. "I just didn’t know journeys like this existed."

Bell said she became inspired to return to running after watching athletes she had once beaten compete at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.

"I remember watching them at the Olympics and thinking 'I'm pretty sure I was beating them, now they are there and I'm here doing nothing,' " she said. "I was super happy for them, they obviously did so much to get there, but I also felt a bit nostalgic about what could have been. 

"Never did I think that I would be going to the next Olympics - but it probably got me up off my arse and going for a run at least."

Bell now ranks 13th on the 2024 world list.

Kenya’s Faith Kipyegon, the 30-year-old reigning Olympic champion, broke her own world record with a 3:49.04 performance. 

Australia’s Jessica Hull was second in an area record time of 3:50.83, Britain’s Laura Muir set a national record of 3:53.79 to place third and Australia’s Linden Hall was fourth in a personal best of 3:56.40.

The top eight finishers and a total of 10 runners in the field recorded lifetime bests. Agathe Guillrmoy set a French national record with her eighth-place finish of 3:59.05.

The Paris meet also produced a world record in the women’s high jump, where Ukraine’s Yaroslava Mahuchikh cleared 6 feet, 10 3/4 (2.10 meters) to eclipse the nearly 37-year-old standard of 6-10 1/4 (2.09) by Stefka Kostadinova of Bulgaria.

The men’s 800 delivered an historic result with three runners breaking 1:42 and six crossing in under 1:43 — both of those for the first time ever. Algeria’s Djamel Sedjati won in the world-leading time of 1:41.56, one of four national records set in the race.

Mondo Duplantis made three tries at toppling his own world record, failing to clear 20-6 inches (6.25 meters) in the pole vault after winning at 19-8 1/4 (6.0m).

World leader and 2022 world champion Brooke Andersen, who failed to make the U.S. Olympic team, captured the women’s hammer throw with a toss of 240-4 (73.27). 

Cal alum and Canadian star Camryn Rogers, the 2023 world champ, did not participate at Paris but already has qualified to compete in the French capital at the Olympics.