| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | British |
| Born | 14 July 2008 |
| Sport | |
| Sport | Athletics |
| Event | Middle distance running |
| Achievements and titles | |
| Personal best(s) | 800m: 2:00.95 (Watford, 2025) 1500m: 4:11.78 (Birmingham, 2025) One Mile: 4:43.23 (London, 2024) One Mile: (indoors) 4:43.23 (London, 2024) |
Shaikira King (born 14 July 2008) is a British middle-distance runner. [1]
From Loughborough, in Leicestershire, [2] she has a sister, Indienne, who also competes at athletics. They both attend Ratcliffe College. In 2021, both sisters won gold for the first time at the English Schools Championships, with Shaikira winning the junior 1500m title. [3] Both sisters won gold again at the 2022 English Schools Championship. [4]
In June 2023, King set a new personal best for 800m, running 2:04.47 in Loughborough. [5] In July 2023, in the heats of the senior girls' 800m at the English Schools Championships, and still aged 14 years-old, King took the 46-year-old championship record previously held by Jo White, before being edged out in the final by 16 year-old Phoebe Gill. [6]
In 2023 she won the under-17 English National Cross Country title, and was the first in her age group at the Liverpool Cross Challenge in November 2023. Her finish in joint third place overall would have qualified her for the British U20 team for the European Cross Country Championships, but she was still too young to compete in the event. [7]
In April 2024, King broke the UK age-15 800m record with 2:02.60 in Gillingham, Kent, which also put her third all-time among UK under-17s list. [8] In October 2024, she became the youngest athlete in the UK to secure a contract with sports brand Nike. [9]
In February 2025, she won the England Indoors U20 title over 800 metres, setting a championship record time of 2:04.34. [10] Later that month, she reached finished third in the final of the 800 metres at the 2025 British Indoor Athletics Championships, in Birmingham. [11] [12] In May 2025, she won the 800 metres at the Loughborough International running for England. [13] [14] The following month, she ran 4:11.78 for the 1500 metres at the BMC Grand Prix in Birmingham, and broke Phoebe Gill's UK age-16 record for the distance. [15] On 25 July, she ran a championship record by over a second to win the England Athletics U20 Championships title over 800 metres in 2:02.86. [16] She was named in the British team for the 800 metres at the 2025 European Athletics U20 Championships in Tampere, winning her semi-final in 2:04.48. [17] [18]