Jemma Reekie has been backed by athletics royalty to sneak onto the World Championship podium after overcoming a turbulent year both on and off the track.  

The 25-year-old Scot will compete in the women's 800m in Budapest alongside Keely Hodgkinson and has been tipped for a potential medal by former Olympic and world champion Sally Gunnell.

Reekie has endured a dramatic journey over the past 12 months, separating from her long-time coach Andy Young alongside Laura Muir and starting a new training programme under Gunnell's husband, Jon Bigg.

But despite those changes, Reekie has stormed into red-hot form heading into the Hungarian showpiece with a high-profile recent win at last month’s Diamond League event in London.

And Gunnell, who grabbed 400m hurdles Olympic glory at Barcelona 1992, believes that performance can help lay the foundations for a memorable world medal with under one year to go until Paris 2024.

Gunnell, 57, said: “Jemma's had a very up and down year with some real changes going on. 

"But she's been here, she's moved down, and she's settled well into the group, she seems happy, and I think that's reflecting in how she's racing.

"Having the London Athletics meet and then three good weeks of training has put her in a great position, but she's still had to come a long way.

"How she was feeling at the beginning of the year, that just doesn't go away overnight, so this year and next year are really, really key for her.

"Everyone will be looking at the two fastest competitors with our own Keely in there but Jemma can sneak through.

"I'd like to think that there's an opportunity there of a medal and I know that that's what she'd be aiming for, but let's see."

Gunnell is still the only female athlete in track and field to have won gold at all four major championships - Olympic, World, European and Commonwealth.

But with 800m golden girl Hodgkinson on the hunt to improve on her world silver last year, the potential for that statistic to change is taking shape.

Hodgkinson, who stormed to European glory in Munich last summer, will be one of the favourites ahead of the 800m final - heightened by the probable absence of Olympic and world champion Athing Mu.

Gunnell added: "The 800m rounds are going to be tough because they've obviously changed and we no longer have the fastest losers. 

"It's really exciting, we have two strong British athletes in there that are capable of getting medals with Jemma and Keely.

"Keely has got that opportunity for gold. She's hungry, you know, silver and bronze in the past is not going to make her happy.

"She's hungry for victory and that's all she wants.

"It's going to be a very tactical race because of that and she will have sat down with her team to discuss how she can win that race."

More than 300 million pounds has been invested in athletics at all levels since National Lottery funding began, helping the team to win over 600 global medals.

National Lottery investment has also supported junior athletes as they transition through the performance pathway (known as the Talented Athlete Scholarship Scheme), including the likes of Hodgkinson and Dina Asher-Smith. Since 2011, £764,220 has been invested into these initiatives.

And with Budapest looming, Gunnell - who grabbed global glory in Stuttgart in 1993 - is excited to see the British medal count increase. 

"We've had an amazing summer of sport and now here we go with the athletics," she added.

"I think it's going to a be an exciting one, Britain have got some really great people who could come away with medals and hopefully, maybe a couple of golds in there.

"It certainly doesn't feel like 30 years since I broke the world record at my 1993 Worlds.

"I wasn't the most confident of athletes and everybody was expecting me to win so I was dealing with a lot of pressure and wasn't feeling brilliant.

"So, to go and win the gold and break a world record was a real feeling of shock and relief and that World Championships was probably my favourite race of all the races that I did."

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