British 1500m champion had humble beginnings in athletics but is now set to line up with the world’s best at the Olympic Games

Revée Walcott-Nolan’s talent as a teenage runner wasn’t immediately obvious to anybody apart from her grandmother. At her first English Schools Cross Country Championships in 2008 she finished 126th in the junior girls’ race, well over two minutes behind the winner Emelia Gorecka. One year later she fared even worse in 215th, again more than a couple of minutes behind winner Jess Judd.

“My nan thought I was good,” says Walcott-Nolan. “I don’t know whether I was, but she thought I was! She put me into the local athletics club in Luton and I stayed there until I left for uni.”

Her grandmother’s instinct proved correct as Walcott-Nolan, who is now 26, won the British 1500m title this summer and is representing her country at the Olympic Games in Tokyo.

“She’s my biggest fan,” says Walcott-Nolan. “She said she’s going to set an alarm so she’ll definitely be up watching me race. In fact I’ll probably be able to hear her on the start line in Tokyo!”

From those humble early races at the English Schools, Walcott-Nolan gradually began working her way up the ranks. In 2011 she won 1500m bronze at the English Schools and finished fourth in the 800m at the same championships in 2012.

After originally competing for Luton AC and then studying at St Mary’s in Twickenham, she continued to improve as a senior under the guidance of former international runner Matt Yates and at the British trials for the Rio Olympics five years ago she placed fourth in the 800m.

In May this year – and now coached by Dale King-Clutterbuck – she won the 3000m at the European Team Championships in Poland. Then, last month at the Müller British Championships in Manchester, she captured 1500m gold after driving past Erin Wallace, Katie Snowden and Holly Archer in the closing stages. Still, with a time of 4:08.28 and a season’s best of 4:06.28 in Nice, she fell short of the 4:04.20 qualifying standard for Tokyo.

“I went into the trials with my sights set on running the standard and finishing in the top two,” she says. “My original plan was to front-run the heat and try to do the standard in the heat, but the weather was awful so we re-evaluated that.

“I reserved energy in the heat and then tried to go for it in the final. But in the final it was stressful to try to take the race out and to run a fast time but I think it paid off. I didn’t run the (qualifying) time but the fact it was quite a fast time and I still managed to win did me quite a big favour with my ranking points. So it all played into my hands that weekend.”

Ultimately, after an anxious wait, she was added to the British team due to her world rankings position. “There was no confidence that I’d make it!” she admits. “When I crossed the line at the British Champs I thought ‘okay, I’ve won but not got the standard so I’m just not going’. It wasn’t until I got a phone call from British Athletics and they said ‘if you get an invite, we’ll accept it’ and I was like ‘okay, I wonder what the likelihood  is of me getting that’.

“I had people trying to work out what my points would go up to and it was so stressful. My sleep was non-existent for a few days as I was so nervous. And then, when it was finally confirmed, I was crying. It was a really happy time.”

Speaking to AW from Tokyo, she says: “It’s surreal. It is but I’m trying to soak it all up.”

Whatever happens on the track, Walcott-Nolan has a modelling career that runs in parallel to her athletics. “It is my main source of income,” she explains, “so it’s my full time job but it’s not like a ‘normal full time job’.

“I fit it in around my training when I have time. So I don’t think I’ve done a (modelling) job now for about two months out of choice because it’s the track season. It generally complements my life style quite well.”

On her goals at the Games, she explains: “Just getting through the rounds (on August 2) is my main priority. I’d obviously really like to make the final but I’ll see how it goes. I’m quite confident and I’m in good shape so hopefully I can do myself justice out there.”