College staff and students help Team GB bring home World Championship medals

Loughborough College played a crucial role in helping Team GB bring home a haul of medals from the World Athletics Championship in Oregon, USA.

College alumni were involved in four of Britain’s seven medals including a silver for former learner and Olympic medallist Keely Hodgkinson in the Women’s 800m.

Former student Matt Hudson-Smith won bronze in the Men’s 400m while former learner Reece Prescod and current staff member Jona Efoloko won bronze as part of the Men’s 4x 100m relay team.

Staff member and former Olympic medallist Martyn Rooney, who heads the College’s elite athletics academy, coached the Women’s 4 x 400m relay team which won bronze. Meanwhile, elite sport curriculum manager Alison Wyeth worked as a coach with Team GB’s middle and long distance runners.

The championships ran for nine days between 15^th-24^th July 2022.

Matt O’Dowd, who heads elite sport at Loughborough College, said:

“It is such a privilege for Loughborough College to be able to offer a curriculum that helps the country’s most promising sportspeople develop and fulfil their potential.

“The latest group of medal winners have done exceptionally well to win medals in an extremely competitive field and we are so delighted and proud to have played a part in their story.

“It is also fantastic to recognise the major contribution of our talented staff members who were called up to support the athletes behind the scenes. They are the unsung heroes during major championships, providing emotional and psychological support and motivation to help our athletes perform at their best.”

Matt and Reece both completed the AASE Level 3 Advanced Apprenticeship at Loughborough College while Keely studied Diplomas in Sporting Excellence.