3 March 2015 

2015 has been a breakthrough year for the 400m star, Seren Bundy-Davies (coach: Stephen Ball). The Welsh athlete was a relatively unknown quantity prior to this year, but as we countdown to the first major championship of 2015, she has been sounded out as a medal contender at the European Indoor Championships in Prague.

The 20 year-old has enjoyed an upward curve in performances this year, peaking with a 51.72 clocking, and a European leading time this year, at the Sainsbury’s Indoor Grand Prix last month. She took the scalp of Olympic relay gold medallist Francena McCorory in Birmingham to claim one of the biggest wins of her career, and confirm her selection in the GB & NI team heading to the Czech Republic.

“I’m really happy at the age of 20 to have my first GB & NI individual vest. To have a senior one at this point of my career is really exciting and it will be good to see what I can do against a world class field (in Prague)”, said Bundy-Davies.

Bundy-Davies is keen to kick start her senior athletics career in fine style as she lines up against Europe’s best 400m athletes this weekend.

“I suspect a few will dip under 52 seconds this weekend. It’s meant to be a really fast track so it should be an exciting Championship. It’s given me a lot of confidence knowing I can run those times and I know I should really be aiming to get to the final and beyond.

“The main aim is to reach the final and anything can happen there. If I can reproduce the 51.72 time, then I will definitely be in with a shout of a medal. But as we saw in Sheffield, a lot of things can go wrong indoors when you don’t have your own lane. I’m just focusing on reaching the final at the moment.”

There was disappointment in Sheffield for the Trafford-athlete as she fell in the 400m final, on the final bend after a tangle with Margaret Adeoye (Linford Christie), which ended the race for both women. However, Bundy-Davies looks for the positives from the Sainsbury’s Indoor British Championships last month.

“I think I did everything I could have done in the race – in hindsight I can see that I went through in the time I had targeted and was in the lead at the bell. However, I was confident that I could back up my form. My coach and I just discussed it before Birmingham and said to do the same again and hopefully it would go my way this time.”

It certainly did go her way, and she was thrilled to celebrate the victory in Birmingham with Kirsten Mcaslan (Trevor Painter) and Laura Maddox (Colin Bovell) who both confirmed their places on the British team after earning the qualifying standards. The athletes were first and second in Sheffield and ran the races of their lives to book their ticket to Prague alongside Bundy-Davies.

“I know how hard they work; they’ve done a lot of training to get to that point. The fall in Sheffield really affected the others in the race as they had to go around us. I think it was pretty frustrating for them as they were so close to the qualifying standard.

“It means we are going to have a good relay team. We are definitely medal contenders, if not favourites to win it. It’s a good time for 400m running in Britain.”

2015 is a big year in the development of Bundy-Davies’s athletics career and she is focused on building upon her strong start to the year and translating it into good outdoor form this summer.

“A couple of people have asked me if my aims have changed – not really. I want to do an age-group championships before I go into senior events. I didn’t have a junior career so it would be nice to get that junior title. Hopefully I can make the World Championships (4x400m) relay team as well.”

With the Olympics in 2016 and the IAAF World Championships in London in 2017 on the horizon, there is plenty for the Welsh-record holder to look forward to, but she is remaining grounded and concentrating solely on her performance in the Czech capital.

“My coach isn’t letting me get too ahead of myself. It is important to have long term aims but it is more important to focus on the immediate future. There are a lot of things I want to achieve this year and hopefully I will stay injury free. But for now, I want to concentrate on the upcoming Championship and perform my best there.”

Seren Bundy-Davies is one of 34 athletes supported by British Athletics’ Futures Programme for 2014-15, which provides targeted support for young athletes and their coaches.”

You can follow Seren’s journey throughout the season on Twitter @serenbdavies