British 800m star on how shes using Tokyo for motivation in Paris, the strength in depth of British middle-distance running and advice for Phoebe Gill

Jemma Reekie is not short of incentives ahead of the Paris Olympics.

The 26-year-old, who finished an agonising fourth at the Tokyo Games three years ago, is targeting a podium place in the French capital.

She goes into the Olympics in the form of her life, having run a personal best of 1:55.61 in finishing second at the London Diamond League to Keely Hodgkinson, who broke her own British 800m record with 1:54.61.

Those times make the pair the two fastest women in the world over 800m as they prepare to embark on this Olympic campaign.

Ive been waiting for a personal best for a long time and we all my team and I knew it was in me and its just nice to do it at the right time and see everything coming together, says Reekie, who is coached by Jon Bigg and former Olympic and world 400m hurdles champion Sally Gunnell.

I knew that it was definitely in me, but Id actually had COVID and I had a bit of a rough week running up into London. I had a couple of good sessions the week prior to London so I thought: Okay, Im going to run a solid race but I wasnt sure it was going to be a PB.

I came into London putting no pressure on myself and just saying: Lets see how we get on, okay, weve missed some training and weve had some time off. So well see how it is. [That all meant] it was nice to be go out and do it.

On the prospects of Hodgkinson being labelled the favourite at the Games, Reekie adds: I think Keely could come here and win and do incredibly well but its not fair to put every bit of pressure onto her. Just let her go and do her thing. Well be rooting for her and everyone in the team to do well.

The other member of the British womens 800m team in Paris is Phoebe Gill. The 17-year-old broke a 45-year-old European under-18 800m record in Belfast back in May, running 1:57.86 and making the top 10 on the UK all-time list. Gill then beat Reekie to become UK 800m champion in Manchester in June.

Although they are rivals on the track, Reekie is full of praise for the teenager.

Actually, just come and enjoy it and dont put pressure on yourself, says Reekie when asked what advice she would pass on. Just have fun with it and shes 17. She could go out there and do incredibly well, but also shell gain so much experience from being here.

Im sure well all try and support and help Phoebe as well when she comes because we all know how tough it was and being in the first Olympics and, yeah, we just want everyone to do well. I want myself, Keely and Phoebe to come out and enjoy it. So I think everyone in the team will be supporting her and helping her with our advice from our first Games.

Reekies first experience of an Olympics was the last edition in Tokyo, where she finished a narrow fourth and missed out on bronze by just nine hundredths of a second.

During the following indoor season, Reekie was diagnosed with glandular fever and that summer failed to make the final of the World Championships and the Commonwealth Games, while also finishing fifth at the European Championships.

She also, alongside Laura Muir, split from her long-time coach Andy Young, with Reekie moving  to the south coast to work with Bigg and Gunnell.

Her performances steadily improved and she finished fifth over 800m at last years World Championships in Budapest.

Then, at a home World Indoor Championships in Glasgow back in March, Reekie claimed 800m silver in front of a partisan Scottish crowd.

She now states that she is a completely different athlete to three years ago.

Oh, its been a horrible time, Reekie says. After Tokyo I had glandular fever, then made some changes and its been really exciting in the past year. Its incredible how quickly we got to where I am now and its just exciting. It was a rough couple of years, but Im happy to be where I am and I think itll make me a much stronger person in the long run.

I feel like Ive grown up a lot in that time and Im just so much more confident in myself and everything and I think it comes with age and it also just comes with being happy in your environment. Im really excited, enjoying it and having fun.

An Olympics in Paris also means that Reekie and here British team-mates will enjoy significant support, given the short travel distance between the two countries. She is hoping that extra noise from home fans could help make the difference.

Ive got a lot of family and friends heading out and, yeah, I know Ill have everyone at home as well, she says. Itll be so lovely to have everyone there. I think its so special to have my parents, brother, sister and fiancé out there. John [Reekies fiancé] is only headed out for the final, so hes got some confidence!

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