Middle-distance runner talks about the work she is putting in to revolutionise her running style as she looks to keep pace at the sharp end of 800m running
Jemma Reekie has spent the recent past trying to take the brakes off. Since moving from her native Scotland to Brighton to start working with coach Jon Bigg, the world indoor silver medallist has zoned in on changing the very way she runs as she looks to keep pace with the ever advancing standards of women’s 800m running.
Given the work involved in changing from being a heel striker to a more forefoot runner, she looks back on 2024 – a year that brought that world indoor medal in front of a home crowd in Glasgow as well as a Diamond League win in Stockholm and a reassuring and confidence-boosting PB in London – with some satisfaction. There is one glaring exception, however. Only reaching the semi-finals at the Paris Olympics fell some way short of the expectations of an athlete who had only just missed out on a medal at the Tokyo Games three years previously.
“I think we had a lot of positives from 2024 and we learned a lot but it was still hard not achieving what I wanted to achieve,” she says. “Paris was really hard. It was my second Olympics and the second Olympics I went to when a medal would have been a realistic goal. Not even making the final was a really tricky one but it’s something that my whole team and myself have learned from.
“It’s only been a year working with Jon and we’ve got so much to look forward to. I’ve shown physically that I can do what we need to do and more. It’s just like I need more time.”
Jemma Reekie (Getty)
There have indeed been big signs that the training work is paying off. After a difficult split from long-time mentor Andy Young, Reekie moved south in 2023 and is relishing the chance to revolutionise how she goes about her work.
“Joining Jon has been amazing,” she says. “We do a lot more speed work, a lot more technical work and I’ve changed my running technique. I used to heel strike and, looking at the way I used to run, it’s crazy how much heel strikes are basically putting on the brakes for the whole race. We’ve changed that to now running on the front of my foot most of the time. It’s still far from perfect, but if I wanted to be able to compete with the girls that are running crazily fast then I had to change that running technique because it was just slowing me down and you can only get so much faster with it.
“Hopefully I’ll keep progressing a bit better again this year, but we’ve only had a year to do all this stuff, and it’s been hard work, but I think it’ll be worth it in the long run.”
Jemma Reekie (Getty)
She adds: “I am still doing 1500m training, but more specifically 800m training, and I’m doing more gym work than ever. I feel like I’m training more and more often, but I’m getting really good quality stuff done and the set-up they have down here has just been really good.
“The group that Jon has created is great to work with – training with the likes of Elliot Giles, who’s so experienced in what he’s doing and he’s been through injuries. It is inspiring to see these people and I think that’s what I’ve got from this group – so much inspiration and so much joy out of training.
“Jon’s just got so much time for his athletes and he’s got the perfect size of group so that we get the right amount of time and attention. Jon won’t let you down. He’s always working on how to make you better. He’s always there and trying his hardest to make you the best that you can be. He gives me so much confidence because what we’re doing is working. He explains everything to me and I’m learning so much.”
Keely Hodgkinson and Jemma Reekie (Jan Figueroa)
That personal best at the London Diamond League, coming second to Keely Hodgkinson’s British record, meant a great deal to Reekie for a number of reasons. Her previous best had been the 1:56.90 that had seen her finish just 0.09 seconds away from bronze in Tokyo but, in the intervening time, illness had stopped her in her tracks.
“It was really exciting to get a PB and a relief as well because I actually hadn’t run one since I got glandular fever a few years ago,” she says. “It was a big confidence boost and because we’ve been doing so much new training it was like: ‘Okay, this is working, we’re going the right direction’. That was a big breakthrough and confirmation we’re doing the right thing.”
Reekie is a former British record-holder herself and she has been given enough reminders in recent months that she belongs at the elite level.
“The level of 800m running just now is insane,” she admits. “1:57 now is like a new two-minute barrier so my 1:55 this year shows I’m still up there with those times. Now it’s going to be about getting more consistency and performing at those big races the way I need to.”
Jemma Reekie (Getty)
At the time of writing Reekie was still deciding on whether or not to do an indoor season.
With the outdoor World Championships taking place in mid-September, there is a wariness about competing in February while aiming to peak seven months later.
There is certainty, though, about which distance she will be fully focused on for the coming year. While she competed in the 1500m at the 2024 European Championships, the 26-year-old says: “I will still be running 1500m races as I really do think it helps my 800m and maybe later I could be doing the 1500m as well as 800m, but I still think I have so much to give in the 800m and so much to improve on that I’m definitely going to focus on the 800m for the next Olympic cycle.”
» Subscribe to AW magazine here, check out our new podcast here or sign up to our digital archive of back issues from 1945 to the present day here
