Lyla Belshaw
British athlete (born 2007)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lyla Belshaw (born 16 December 2007) is a British middle-distance runner. She was the gold medalist in her specialist event, the 1500 metres, at the 2024 European Athletics U18 Championships and the 2025 European Athletics U20 Championships.[1]
1500m: 4:09.13 (Watford, 2025)
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Born | 16 December 2007 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Athletics | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Event | Middle distance running | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Achievements and titles | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal bests | 800m: 2:02.01 (Luzern, 2025) 1500m: 4:09.13 (Watford, 2025) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Early life
From Colchester in Essex, she attended Colchester County High School for Girls.[2][3]
Career
A member of the Colchester Harriers, she won her age-group Mini London Marathon in April 2023 as a 15 year-old.[4] She was a bronze medalist in the 1500 metres at the 2023 Commonwealth Youth Games in Trinidad and Tobago with a personal best time of 4:16.37.[5][6]
She won the gold medal in the 1500 metres at the 2024 European Athletics U18 Championships in Slovakia.[7] In October 2024, she was nominated by Athletics Weekly for best British female junior.[8]
On 25 July, she won the England Athletics U20 Championships title over 1500 metres with 4:18.19.[9] She was named in the British team for the 1500 metres at the 2025 European Athletics U20 Championships in Tampere.[10] She subsequently won the 1500 metres gold medal in Tampere, her second age-grade European title in two years, winning ahead of Carmen Cernjul of Sweden and compatriot Isobelle Jones in a time of 4:14.59.[11][12] In October 2025, she was named on the British Athletics Olympic Futures Programme for 2025/26.[13] She was again nominated for British under-20 female athlete of the year by Athletics Weekly in November 2025.[14] Belshaw ran 2:04.85 indoors at Lee Valley in February 2026.[15] In July, Belshaw finished runner-up to Phoebe Gill in the 800 metres final at the 2026 England Athletics U20 Championships.[16] She was selected as part of the Great Britain team to compete at the 2026 World Athletics U20 Championships.[17]
