St Mary’s Athletes Selected for World Athletics Championships

Four St Mary’s University and Endurance Performance Centre (EPC) alumni and one EPC associate have been selected to compete at the upcoming World Athletics Championships in Tokyo.

This comes after five St Mary’s athletes made the podium at the UK Championships held in August this year.

St Mary’s is renowned for its elite sporting performance, with athletes, alumni, and students having won a Gold medal at every Games since Beijing 2008. In total the University has seen 51 athletes take part in the last four Olympic and Paralympic Games, with some representing multiple events, winning 15 medals for their nations.

Former students Revee Walcott-Nolan, Elliot Giles and Emile Cairess will be representing Great Britain & Northern Ireland alongside EPC associate Jake Wightman. Alumna Adelle Tracey will be representing Jamaica.

At the UK Championships earlier this year Elliot Giles placed second in the Men’s 1500m, while Revee Walcott-Nolan came third in the Women’s 1500m race.

All five of the athletes were selected to compete at the Paris 2024 Olympics, with Emile Cairess placing fourth in the men’s marathon and becoming Team GB’s best Olympic marathon finisher in 20 years.

The World Athletics Championships will take place from 13-21^st September 2025, and will see the St Mary’s athletes compete in the following events:

• Adelle Tracey: Women’s 800m and 1500m
• Elliot Giles: Men’s 1500m
• Emile Cairess: Men’s marathon
• Jake Wightman: Men’s 1500m
• Revee Walcott-Nolan: Women’s 1500m.

Speaking on these selections, EPC Coordinator and Performance Coach at St Mary’s Craig Winrow said: “Great to see so many EPC alumni competing at the World Champs. Everyone has been having a excellent season and all at St Mary's are looking forward to watching them compete to their best at the Champs."

The Endurance Performance Centre (EPC) is an internationally renowned running programme at St Mary’s University, with one of the best training setups in the world. The EPC and its coaches provide an endurance performance environment that supports, challenges, and develops elite runners.

In other international sporting success, St Mary’s currently has four alumnae competing for England at the Women’s Rugby World Cup also being hosted in England. World Player of the year Ellie Kildunne scored in the opening match against USA, whilst Jess Breach scored a hattrick of tries against Samoa placing her second on the top scorer list for the tournament. Abi Burton, who recently spoke to the BBC about her recovery from encephalitis to feature at Paris 2024, also featured in the second match against Samoa as a full back. Rosie Galligan has played for both Harlequins and Saracens, and made her international debut in 2019 during the Six Nations.