Raising her game

STEPHANIE DAVIS HAS COME A LONG WAY IN A VERY SHORT TIME. JESSICA WHITTINGTON SPEAKS WITH A PART-TIME ATHLETE LOOKING TO TAKE ANOTHER HUGE STRIDE FORWARD IN LONDON

- JESSICA WHITTINGTON

WHEN it comes to marathon running, Stephanie Davis has excelled in every event she has encountered. However, the 29-year-old knows that this year’s Virgin Money London Marathon will take things up another notch.

Davis has already made huge strides in the sport, despite only taking her running seriously in the past couple of years, and now finds herself well and truly among the frontrunners in the British race to this summer’s Olympics.

A 2:41:16 marathon debut in Berlin in 2018 was followed by an impressive 2:32:38 off the mass start in London before another improvement – to 2:27:40 in Valencia in December – catapulted her into the spotlight and put her among the top 10 on the UK all-time rankings.

Never before has Davis lined up in an elite field rather than with the masses but, on April 26, she will do so with realistic ambitions of reaching Japan.

“It has still not fully sunk in because it has all come around so quickly,” says Davis, who juggles training and racing with a full-time job in finance in the UK capital.

“I didn’t really believe that I would run 2:27 in Valencia. With some hiccups in training I thought that 2:29:30 (the Olympic qualifying standard) was definitely possible but I didn’t know what side of that I would be on or how close.

“It has really shaken things up. I haven’t had an international vest yet, so potentially the first one I get could be going to the Olympics, which is quite crazy!”

Davis is well aware that competition will be fierce, however. Domestically, women’s marathon running has never been stronger and joining Davis on the start line in London, which is the GB Olympic trial race, will be three other Britons who have also achieved the required standard – Jess Piasecki, Charlotte Purdue and Steph Twell.