Georgia Hunter Bell’s Instagram username, @georgiabelltheduathlete, has been causing confusion among her followers. “I tried to change it the other day, actually,” she says. But Instagram informed her that, as a verified Olympic athlete, she’d need to contact the platform’s big bosses. The “duathlete” hints at a life beyond her running – although many fans assume it refers to her dual discipline versatility on the running track – she is an Olympic bronze medallist in the 1,500m and a World Championships silver medallist in the 800m. “That’s not quite what duathlete means, but I see where they’re going with it,” she concedes.
A scroll through the tiles of her profile starts to tell a more intriguing story. Between the running shots and celebrations beneath vast stadium crowds come flashes of something else: bicycles. There’s Hunter Bell on a Wattbike, a Zwift indoor trainer, and a deep blue Canyon road bike, descending a mountain on clear-skied Mallorca. “Once you delve into people’s stories, you usually find that they’re quite multi-layered,” the 32-year-old says.
