I loved ballet more than athletics

In the latest in our series focusing on athletes’ interests away from the track, spikesmag.com puts on a tutu and speaks to the rising British 1500m star Hannah England. Turns out her passion for ballet has helped her athletics career...

“I took ballet really seriously between the ages of 13 and 17 and I loved it more than athletics. I reached grade eight and I remember every 18 months or so going for try-outs at London (ballet) schools. I never got in – I was always so upset.

One day I was flying back from a cross country meeting in Edinburgh to do an evening ballet exam and thought “this isn’t going to work”. I couldn’t do athletics and ballet at the same time. It was a really hard decision to make.

But at university I took up ballet again, once a week. My Mondays were so hectic because I would go for a run in the morning, I would do weights at 4pm (followed by another run) and then go for my ballet lesson at 7pm.

I think ballet has been good for my running and I find that I’m quite good at drills and co-ordination exercises. I pick them up easily because of my body awareness from a young age. I’ve been able to transfer that from ballet into my track career.

I haven’t done any ballet this year because it's been the last year of my degree in biochemistry but I hope to find a ballet class after the season has finished. It complements my running. Another of the runners at Birmingham University, Hannah Brooks, also does ballet.

I love watching it and I’ve made a decision that this year I want to go and watch it again. I think it's really graceful – the opposite of athletics, which is all power.

My favourite dancer is Margot Fonteyn.”

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