by Stuart Weir
Jemma Reekie, photo by Getty Images / British Athletics
This 1/2 pieces by Stuart Weir on Jemma Reekie.
Jemma Reekie reflections on her development as an athlete
Jemma Reekie takes Lieven, photo by Lieven France 2020
Jemma Reekie reflections on her development as an athlete
When I spoke to Jemma Reekie after her win in Lieven, France in February, her last words to me were that she was going back for a block of heavy training to get ready for the summer. (you can watch the interview at https://youtu.be/0epNa6LeooU .) Little did Jemma, or any of us, know that there would not be a summer in the sense that we expected.
Jemma Reekie takes Lieven, photo by Lieven France 2020
Still only 22, Jemma has made steady progress from being seen as “Laura Muir’s training partner” to a top athlete in her own right. She had an excellent season in 2019, winning both the 800m and the 1500m in the European Under 23s and recording a PR of 4:02.09 in the Anniversary Games in London.
She was selected for the British team for the World Championships in Doha but was 10th in her prelim in 4:12.51. She commented at the time: “It was tough, but at a championship it is always going to be tough. It is a new experience as well and I am just taking it all in. I will need to speak to Andy [Young, her coach] and see where it went wrong. I should be running a lot better than I was there based on my training. It wasn’t meant to be today but it has still been a great year”.
Reflecting on it, a year later she said: “It was hard because I’d had a great season and had done so well to win both events at the European Under 23 championships and then, the same week, to run the Olympic standard with the big PB. Looking back, it was a great season but I was so disappointed with Doha because I knew that I could do better”.
Andy Young saw it just as part of her development: “She was in great shape in Doha but just didn’t get it right. People think it was a long season for her and she had a busy season but actually when it came to October she was in great shape. But it was her first World Championship and she is very young. She just didn’t get it right on the day”.
Jemma Reekie, Ellie Purrier and Gabriella Debues Stafford, Millrose Games, photo by Cortney White
For Jemma Reekie, 2020 could hardly have started better. She had 4 indoor races, winning three of them. She ran a big PR in the 800m of 1:57.91 and another in the 1500m at the Millrose Games in New York, where she ran 4:00.52.
Jemma Reekie, Glasgow 2020, photo by Getty Images / British Athletics
Andy Young’s assessment of her 2020 indoor season was: “For Jemma to run sub two for 800m didn’t surprise me; I saw that coming. And then to run 1500m in four minutes – [4:00.52 at the Millrose Games, February 2020]. But to run 1:57 [1:57.91 Glasgow, 1 February 2020] and the fastest time in the world for 15 years did surprise me. I’ll give you that. I didn’t see that coming so quickly. And then to run 1500m [4:00.52 at the Millrose Games, 8 February 2020] in a time faster than Laura and Kelly Holmes in the space of about 7 days. I didn’t see that coming. And to see her finish it off by winning the Glasgow Grand Prix. Probably by then I wasn’t as surprised but it was great to see her against a high-quality field, finding her feet”.
Jemma Reekie, Glasgow 2020, photo by Getty Images / British Athletics
Jemma’s sees her progress as a result of hard work, good coaching, an excellent training group and increased self-belief. She says of her coach: “When I first started working with Andy, he believed that I could do it. He is so good at planning everything and holding you back at the right time. He really loves the sport. You can tell that he does his job because he loves it. He gives his time and everything to the sport. Everyone is so different as an athlete and he’s able to work out what training suits each one. He seems to put all his time into it; I don’t know when he’s not working. He is so supportive on and off the track”.
Jemma Reekie, Glasgow 2020, photo by Getty Images / British Athletics
She continues: “I think my confidence has got better over the past year through doing well. After Doha, I was so determined I was going to come out and run well and I just got myself in a really good mindset. I was just thinking ‘why can’t I be up there winning races?’ and it’s been like that in training. The last couple of years had been frustrating because nobody sees what’s happening behind the scenes and how fast you are running in training. Over the winter I really stepped up in training and you could really see that I was hanging on to other girls, even challenging them in sessions or helping them out. I gained a lot of confidence from that, thinking ‘if I can train with them, why can’t I race with them?’ So I think it was a mixture of everything”.
Jemma Reekie, 2019 Birmingham DL, photo by Getty Images / British Athletics
Having started 2020 so well, Jemma had every right to think about making an impact at the World Indoors, the European Indoors, the Olympics or the European (outdoor) Championships. But as we know, one by one, they disappeared from the schedule.
Jemma Reekie, 2019 British Championships, photo by Getty Images / British Athletics
Jemma moved in with Laura to form one household – at a time when Covid 19 regulations restricted contacts with other households. They ran together, worked out in Laura’s makeshift home gym and on occasions had online consultations with physios – as face to face contact was banned. After a quick training camp at altitude in Font Romeu in the French Pyrenees, there were finally some races. Her season comprised nine races in eight countries in seven weeks – five 800s, three 1500s and one at 1000m. She finished with six wins in nine races including the 800m at the Stockholm and Rome Diamond Leagues.
Jemma Reekie, 2020 Bauhaus Galan/Stockholm DL, photo by Getty Images / British Athletics
Her own assessment was: “The indoors was amazing. And outdoors as well because I won two Diamond Leagues. I never done that before and was really only getting into British ones before this year. I had a few good races. I was pretty happy with it. I wanted to run a bit faster outdoors, over both distances, but I wasn’t kicking myself because I know everything will come with the right time”.
Jemma Reekie, 2020 Bauhaus Galan/Stockholm DL, photo by Getty Images / British Athletics
In 2019 Jemma ran seven 800m races, never getting under 2:01. Then in 2020 she runs 1:57.91 indoors and in six outdoor races her worst time was 1:59.7. She saw the funny side of it: “last year it was all about trying to run sub 2! Now 1:59 is a bad race! I found myself thinking ‘I hate 1:59 – I want to run faster’. It’s crazy how much your mindset changes from where you’re at”.
This year Laura and Jemma rarely ran in the same race but that wasn’t something that concerned Jemma – either way: “I think the first few races were the same but then we changed. I don’t know if Andy planned it that way but I suppose I was doing a lot of 800s and she was doing a good mixture but we’re also doing completely different races. I guess it depended what the goal was. For me it was about getting as many races as I could go out and run in and some races where I could try new things in. I don’t know the complete answer its more up to Andy and Steffen [Keil], our race agent. We just do it”.
Andy Young and Jemma Reekie, photo by British Athletics
In December 2020 readers of AW magazine voted Jemma their female athlete of the year. It was a thoroughly deserved accolade.
I enjoyed talking to Jemma and look forward to seeing her run next year.
