FINAL preparations are taking place this week for Wilmslow’s Rio Olympics hope.

While the Games have been up and running for almost a week, Seren Bundy-Davies only starts racing on Saturday.

The 21-year-old former Wilmslow High School student will make her Olympics debut in the women’s 400m heats from 3pm UK time.

Bundy-Davies, who is joined in the 400m heats by London 2012 medallist and Beijing 2008 golden girl Christine Ohuruogu as well as British champion Emily Diamond, will return to the Engenhao Olympic Stadium at around 12.35am on Monday if she is successful in reaching the semi finals, and any appearance in the final would be around 26 hours later.

The Trafford Athletics Club runner only arrives in Rio this week, having been based at the Team GB training camp in Belo Horizonte – a city more than 200 miles south west of Rio de Janeiro – since Sunday, July 31.

There, Bundy-Davies and her Team GB colleagues have been able to tap into some of the best sporting facilities outside of the Olympics city thanks to £1.6m of National Lottery funding.


Moving into the Olympics Village ahead of race day will start to bring home the reality for the rising athletics star – that she is about to realise a dream and become an Olympian.

It will be an achievement in itself considering hockey and football were her sports of choice at an early age.

Her athletics journey only started properly five years ago, after finishing fourth in the English Schools’ Championships under 17s girls’ 300m in Gateshead.

At that time, she was putting her efforts into a broad spectrum of events, racing from 100m to 800m plus competing in long jump, shot put and discus.

The 400m talent became more apparent in 2012 when she finished second at under 20s level in the English Schools' Championships, while still 17.

It was two years later that 400m took up almost her entire athletics focus and she started testing herself outside of Britain.

Her international profile hit new heights when winning individual bronze and relay silver at the European Indoor Championships in 2015.

She also won a relay bronze medal in the IAAF World Athletics Championships in Beijing last summer, a success that followed her appearance in the European Under 23s Championships in Estonia.

Bundy-Davies sacrificed a shot at the World Indoor Championships at the start of this year in her bid to focus on being at her best in Rio.

After clinching second spot in the British Championships this summer gold was secured as the youngest member of the 4x400m team at the European Athletics Championships in Amsterdam last month.

And that showed she was maintaining form from twice recording lifetime best times in June, her 51.48 from the Anniversary Games in London last year being improved to 51.33 when finishing fourth at the Diamond League meeting in Birmingham only to be bettered six days later when winning at the AtletiCAGenève event in Switzerland.

Bundy-Davies is also set to be part of the Team GB women’s 4x400m relay team in Rio, with round one taking place from 3.20pm on Thursday, August 18.

Should the team make it to the final, it is scheduled for 2am on Sunday, August 21, the last day of Olympic competition.