Athletics career
Guy Learmonth's first major athletics competition was the 2011 European Athletics Junior Championships. He competed in the 800 metres event, winning his heat. [4] In his semi-final, he finished fifth. He also competed at the BUCS Indoor Championships that year, winning the 800 metres by over a second and setting a new championships best performance. [5] He won his first national senior medal in 2011, taking a bronze at the British Indoor Athletics Championships. [6] It would be the first of 13 National Indoor medals.
In 2012, he competed at his first Diamond League meeting at the Bislett Games in Oslo, setting a new personal best in the 800 metres finishing second. [7] He also retained his 800 metres title in 2012 at the BUCS Indoor Championships, winning by over a second, like the previous year. [8] On his debut at the BUCS Outdoor Championships he won gold in the 800 metres, in a competition that took place at the Olympic Stadium. [9] He improved on his result from the 2011 British Indoor Championships by winning a silver medal in 2012 championships in the 800 metres at the EIS Sheffield. [10]
In 2013, he chose not to defend his 800 metres titles at either the indoor or outdoor BUCS Championships, and attempted the 1500 metres at the outdoor championships, the only times he raced over the distance that year. He won both his heat and his semi-final, but finished a tenth of a second outside the medals, in fourth place. [11] He competed in the British Indoor Championships, winning a bronze medal. [12]
In 2014, he moved back down to the 800 metres at the BUCS Indoor Championships, winning his third 800 metres title. [13] He won the Indoor Glasgow International Match winning over a rarely run 600m race in a time of 1:16:48 and in the process broke the Scottish National 600m record which has been held for 40 years, at the same time, breaking the British U23 600m Indoor record and going to number 3 on the UK All Time rankings. Learmonth competed in the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow achieving 6th place in the 800 metres final with a personal best time of 1:46.69. [14] He got there by qualifying from the heats, and securing the third automatic qualifying spot in his semi-final by two hundredths of a second [15]
In 2015, Learmonth was crowned British Indoor Champion in the 800 metres. [16] He also won both his heat and semi-final of the 800 metres before going on to finishing 6th in the final at the European Indoor Championships in Prague, Czech Republic. [17]
In 2016, he won a bronze medal, coming third at the British Indoor Championships in the 800 metres. [16] Similarly, in 2017 Learmonth was crowned British Indoor Champion, and also won a silver medal in the British Outdoor Championships. Shortly after, Learmonth competed in the London Anniversary Games where he achieved a lifetime beat of 1:45.77 and the qualifying standard for the London World Championships in August 2017 where he reached the semi-final.
In 2018, he set his lifetime best over the 800m with a time of 1:44.73 at the London Diamond League ahead of the European Championships in Berlin, Germany where he reached the semi-final.
At the 2019 Indoor European Championships, Glasgow, Learmonth was named GB & NI Team Captain and the following year picked up his third National 800m British Indoor Title in 2020, with his fourth British Title coming in 2023 ahead of the European Indoor Championships in Istanbul, Turkey where he finished 6th in the final.
In 2022, Learmonth also made his third Commonwealth Games Team in Birmingham, England representing Team Scotland where he finished 6th in the final.
Learmonth is the third fastest Scottish athlete of all time over the 800m and the second fastest Scottish athlete Indoors of all time.
