Guy Learmonth

Early career: Commonwealth Games debut

Guy Learmonth's first major athletics competition was the 2011 European Athletics Junior Championships. He competed in the 800 metres event, winning his heat.^[10] In his semi-final, he finished fifth. He also competed at the BUCS Indoor Championships that year, winning the 800 metres by over a second and setting a new championships best performance.^[11] He won his first national senior medal in 2011, taking a bronze at the British Indoor Athletics Championships.^[12] It would be the first of 13 National Indoor medals.

In 2012, he competed at his first Diamond League meeting at the Bislett Games in Oslo, setting a new personal best in the 800 metres finishing second.^[13] He also retained his 800 metres title in 2012 at the BUCS Indoor Championships, winning by over a second, like the previous year.^[14] On his debut at the BUCS Outdoor Championships he won gold in the 800 metres, in a competition that took place at the Olympic Stadium.^[15] He improved on his result from the 2011 British Indoor Championships by winning a silver medal in 2012 championships in the 800 metres at the EIS Sheffield.^[16]

In 2013, he chose not to defend his 800 metres titles at either the indoor or outdoor BUCS Championships, and attempted the 1500 metres at the outdoor championships, the only times he raced over the distance that year. He won both his heat and his semi-final, but finished a tenth of a second outside the medals, in fourth place.^[17] He competed in the British Indoor Championships, winning a bronze medal.^[18]

In 2014, he moved back down to the 800 metres at the BUCS Indoor Championships, winning his third 800 metres title.^[19] He won the Indoor Glasgow International Match winning over a rarely run 600m race in a time of 1:16:48 and in the process broke the Scottish National 600m record which has been held for 40 years, at the same time, breaking the British U23 600m Indoor record and going to number 3 on the UK All Time rankings. Learmonth competed in the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow achieving 6th place in the 800 metres final with a personal best time of 1:46.69.^[20] He got there by qualifying from the heats, and securing the third automatic qualifying spot in his semi-final by two hundredths of a second.^[21] He was slated to also run the 4 x 400 metres relay at the Games, but left the team due to the death of his grandfather.^[22]

2018-2021: Multiple UK Indoor titles, World Championship debut

In 2015, Learmonth was crowned British Indoor Champion in the 800 metres.^[23] He also won both his heat and semi-final of the 800 metres before going on to finish sixth in the final at the European Indoor Championships in Prague, Czech Republic.^[24]

In 2016, he won a bronze medal, coming third at the British Indoor Championships in the 800 metres.^[23] Similarly, in 2017 Learmonth was crowned British Indoor Champion, and competed at the 2017 European Athletics Indoor Championships.^[25][22] He also won a silver medal in the British Outdoor Championships. Shortly after, Learmonth competed in the London Anniversary Games where he achieved a lifetime beat of 1:45.77 and the qualifying standard for the London World Championships in August 2017 where he reached the semi-final.^[26][27]

In 2018, he set his lifetime best over the 800m with a time of 1:44.73 at the London Diamond League to place third on the Scottish all-time lists behind Tom McKean and Jake Wightman.^[8] In 2019, he began to train under Australia based coach Justin Rinaldi.^[28] At the 2019 Indoor European Championships, Glasgow, Learmonth was named GB & NI Team Captain and qualified for the semi-finals of the 800 metres but had a fall during his semi-final and was unable to reach the final.^[28] The following year, he won his third British Indoor Championships title.^[3]

2022-present: Third Commonwealth Games, fourth British Indoor title

Runner-up to Elliot Giles at the 2022 Indoor Championships, he was selected for the 2022 World Athletics Indoor Championships in Belgrade.^[29][30] In 2022, Learmonth also made his third consecutive Scottish team at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England, where he finished sixth in the final.^[31]

In February 2023, he ran an indoor personal best of 1:46.36 in Germany, 0.10 seconds behind Tom McKean's longstanding 1:46.26 Scottish Record, set before Learmonth’a birth.^[28] His fourth British Indoor Championships title came in 2023,^[32] ahead of the 2023 European Athletics Indoor Championships in Istanbul, Turkey where he finished sixth in the final of the 800 metres.^[33]

In February 2024, he was runner-up by 0.001 seconds in the 800 metres to Jack Higgins at the 2024 British Indoor Athletics Championships in Birmingham.^[34][35] He qualified via his world ranking to compete at the subsequent World Indoor Championships in Glasgow but was not selected, with British Athletics choosing not to send an athlete in his event. Learmonth publicly criticised the decision.^[36][37] In 2024, Learmonth moved to train with Bruno Gajer in France, the coach of his girlfriend and fellow runner Renelle Lamote, and split with his long time coach Justin Rinaldi. However, a succession of injuries prevented a full 2025 season. He returned to racing at the Glasgow EAP in February 2026.^[38][39]