“That was quite tough to take,” says Amber Anning, thinking back to the selection process for the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. She finished eighth – “dead last” – in the 400m at the British championships and was the only woman in the relay pool not to go to the Games. “But Tokyo’s always been on my list, even outside of track. The blossom trees are something I’ve always wanted to go see.”
For this weekend’s British trials in Birmingham, where spots for September’s world championships in the Japanese capital are up for grabs, Anning is the favourite and defending champion, not to mention the world indoor title holder. “It comes with a little pressure but nothing I’m not used to,” says the 24-year-old who, having been based in the US since 2020, is itching to race in front of a home crowd – “the best track-and-field supporters in the world”.
Anning did not compete in this month’s London Diamond League – her event was not included – but she was one of more than 100 British athletes to sign a letter asking the UK government to back the bid to host the world outdoors in 2029, which was taken up by the prime minister, Keir Starmer. When London last hosted, in 2017, a teenage Anning was in the stands, as well as at the Olympics. “London 2012 was particularly special for me,” she says. “That solidified my mindset that I want to be an Olympian.”
That came to fruition in Paris last year when she came fifth in the 400m final, three-tenths of a second off a medal, before picking up two bronzes in the relays. When it comes to Tokyo, her first crack at an individual world outdoor title, Anning has tunnel vision: “The gold is always the goal. We get to that final and then whatever happens, happens. Me and coach [Chris Johnson] are very aligned in my goals. I’ve written these down from the beginning of the year. I sat in his office and said: ‘Look, these are the times I want to run this year, these are the medals I want to get. And, like, let’s go. I’m trusting you to get me there.’”
Christine Ohuruogu is her idol and mentor. The pair have been in regular contact during Anning’s first couple of years on the professional circuit. “I want to achieve what she achieved,” she says of the former Olympic and two-time world champion. “We have so many connections.” Perhaps the strongest of those is the coach Lloyd Cowan, who died aged 58 in 2021 due to complications from Covid.
“He was such a charismatic man, just so caring, so loving,” says Anning, who worked with Cowan from the age of 16. “It was a hard pill to take, particularly being in America and not being able to go to his funeral. It took me a long time to recover.” Anning’s mother, Melanie, is a founding trustee of the Lloyd Cowan Bursary, which provides funding for young athletes and coaches, and into which Amber is able to contribute through her contract with Nike. “It’s in honour of him and all his work,” she says.
Anning’s parents were supportive of her decision to join the collegiate system in the US, where she has competed for Louisiana State and Arkansas, where she is still based. The former Brighton and Hove AC junior talks of needing to leave her comfort zone and expand her horizons but underpinning it all is an ambition to reach the top. “I think I wanted to be the best of the best and I want to be the best in the world – and the times that America are running are world class. I knew it was going to take time, going from being a big fish to a small fish over there.”
Indoor tracks are very much a feature of the collegiate system, giving Anning an edge going into the European championships in March of this year. Her disqualification for a lane infringement in the heats was “heartbreaking” and “a shock to the system”, but it prompted her to decide with her coach to go to the world indoors in China two weeks later. “The aim was never really to go to worlds,” she says. “I had set my sights on Europeans and coming back and prepping for the outdoor season.”
In pipping Alexis Holmes on the line in Nanjing, Anning became the first British woman to win an individual world indoor sprint title. “It was a really great experience,” she says. “It made me trust a lot about the programme of coaching, how we’re moving in the right direction for outdoors.” And outdoors is where it’s at. The additions of Michael Johnson’s Grand Slam Track – despite its financial difficulties – and the all-female Athlos League set up by Alexis Ohanian, the husband of Serena Williams, to the calendar are welcome.
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Anning talks of the importance of building momentum, using all available means to raise profiles. “We had people running with cameras while we were warming up to get our content,” she says of May’s Grand Slam meeting in Miami. “It’s what people want to see. They don’t want to see just the bog standard track-and-field scenario. They want to see more personality.”
Alongside her training in the US, Anning completed a degree in advertising and PR – “as an athlete, branding is everything” – and a minor in psychology. “I actually originally wanted to come and do neuroscience,” she says. “I’ve always loved how the brain works and understanding it on a deeper level.” She has read mindset books but right now is hooked on fantasy – “dragons and fighting and kingdoms and all of that”.
Anning plans to take a few books with her to Tokyo, where the main focus will be a first individual medal outdoors. There is no hiding her excitement for the relays, though, with the team spirit fostered in her time on the England netball pathway shining through. But before all that, there is a job to be done this weekend in Birmingham.
