TOPICS:
Montell is a former Sprinter for Great Britain and the current leading Brakewoman for the Great Britain Bobsleigh Team.
After transitioning out of Athletics, after 20 years at a World Class level, at the age of 31, Montell quickly became a huge asset, achieving a Europe Gold for GB and reaching top 10 ranking in the World.
Her first bobsleigh race for GB came in mid-January 2017, just a few days after first taking to the ice in a sled.
A top-10 finish on her World Cup debut was followed by seventh in St Moritz and then an excellent Europa Cup victory before the end of the month. That success was GB’s first EC gold in seven years and it came just a fortnight after Montell’s international bow.
Montell went on to add a Winter Olympic involvement to her summer appearance after she was selected as the reserve athlete for the 2018 Games in PyeongChang, just 6 months after having surgery from a hamstring injury.
She has since recorded a career high 4th in the World Cup race in Altenberg in January 2019 and now has two World Championship appearances to her name.
Montell is currently training for the Beijing 2022 Olympic Games, with aspirations of becoming the first British woman, Summer-Winter Olympian.
Montell was born in South East London and stood at 5’8” by the age of 13. Her height lent her much success in the high jump where she cruised through to county standard without ever having any training. But soon after, Montell acquired a serious spinal disc injury, forcing her to quit jumping for good.
With her coach keen on developing her running ability, she began taking sprinting more seriously, proving a rewarding move when she became National Double Sprint Champion as an U17 in both the 100m and 200m.
Montell topped the national junior rankings at 21 and made a giant performance leap, from 11.52 seconds to 11.28 seconds in the 100m. This resulted in a silver medal at the European U23 Championships and qualification to represent Great Britain at the IAAF World Championships in Osaka, Japan.
2008 was a hugely significant year for Montell as she broke the 27 year old 100m British record, previously set by Kathy Cook and secured her place in the Team GB squad for the Beijing Olympics, where she made the final in the 4x100m relay, but a turbulent two years was to follow.
Montell was told she would never run again after undergoing serious knee surgery, however both Montell and her team put together a comeback plan and lots of determination saw her make a return 11 months later to achieve her first international medal at the 2010 Commonwealth Games, a Gold for England in the 4x100m relay.
With her athletics coaching qualification, Montell often works with a variety of schools and the local community from all ages and puts on sporting holiday schemes to help maintain the motivation and attitudes towards sports. Montell feels that to inspire others towards belief that anything is impossible is her duty to athletics and she relishes in any opportunity she has to continue to give back to her community, sport and country.
With her athletics coaching qualifications, Montell often works with a variety of schools from all ages and puts on sporting holiday schemes to help maintain the motivation and attitudes towards sports.
Montell feels that to empower and inspire others towards belief that anything is impossible is her duty to athletics and she relishes in any opportunity she has to continue to give back to her community, sport and country.
She has a great passion about using the skills gained from her experiences to help empower and encourage others to see their potential to achieve things beyond their wildest dreams.
TOPIC’S MONTELL SPEAKS ON:
Mental Wellbeing,
High Performance,
Goal Setting,
Raising Aspirations,
Resilience
Montell was absolutely brilliant in the lead up to the event and at the event itself. Nothing was too much trouble and she inspired not only the young people but the staff and parents too. Montell was extremely popular with the young people and engaged with them brilliantly, signing loads of autographs and having pictures taken. She was very patient and left no requests for autographs or pictures unanswered, which is a credit to her especially as she had another engagement to get to after ours.
Josh Lenthall, Oxspa
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