Background

When Hannah was 12, a PE teacher took her to a cross country race, and the young Oxford-native was interested enough in the sport to soon join a club. By 16, Hannah had given up on cricket, the family's preferred sport, to concentrate on her running. Indeed, Hannah's early success came despite her admission that, "I knew I wasn't training as hard as I could."

In 2004, Hannah was selected to be one of the initial members of 'On Camp with Kelly', the middle distance developmental program headed up by double Olympic gold medalist, Dame Kelly Holmes. The early support this program offered began to show itself in 2006 when Hannah was selected to represent Great Britain in the 1500m at the IAAF World Junior Championships in Beijing (Hannah would go on to finish seventh in her heat, two spots shy of qualifying for the final).

While studying biochemistry at Birmingham University, Hannah continued to train with the Oxford City Athletic Club under Coach Bud Baldaro. Given the chance to study abroad for a year, Hannah enrolled at Florida State University for the 2007-2008 academic year, attracted by both the strength of the track program, as well as the climate. That fall, Hannah helped the Seminoles to their third place finish at the NCAA Cross Country Championships.

Her success on the track was even more pronounced. In March, Hannah won the mile at the NCAA Indoor Championships. Just three months later at the NCAA Outdoor Championships, Hannah surprised the field and won the 1500m, breaking her personal best by over six seconds. Her incredible new personal best also gave her the all-important Olympic 'A' standard.

Following her huge success at the NCAA Championships, Hannah returned to the UK for the British Olympic Trials. Her third place finish was one spot out from automatic qualification, and Hannah was ultimately not selected for the British Olympic Team. Undaunted, Hannah's breakout 2008 season has no doubt laid the path that will take her towards London 2012.