Fresh from earning World Championship gold in a thrilling relay final, Adam Gemili was happy to set a slower pace on Saturday as part of the nationwide parkrun initiative.

Following on from the UK’s biggest ever sports participation event I Am Team GB, #teamparkrun saw 100 of UK Sport’s National Lottery funded Olympic and Paralympic athletes involved in 5km parkrun events across the country.

Olympic sprinter Gemili laced up his running shoes and headed to Birmingham, joining his fellow athletes in showing their thanks for all the support they receive from the public through The National Lottery.

Instead of leading from the front, Gemili took on the role of a tail walker, ensuring he, like the other athletes, brought up the rear in last place.

A week before participating in parkrun, the 23-year-old had been preparing to take gold in London Stadium, but was glad to be able to give something back to those who had helped him get there.

“It’s nice to get out here and meet people and say thank you for all the support they’ve given us,” he said.

“It’s been brilliant meeting so many people, I’ve met people who have been to 100 Park Runs – the commitment level here is nuts.

“It’s my way of saying thank you to all the National Lottery players for all they’ve done for us, all the support they’ve given us and the funding we take from that.

“It does so much for athletes so a lot of us around the country have been tail walkers for these events to make sure nobody finishes last, we’re the ones finishing last.

“It’s important for me to come down and try and encourage everyone to get active although most of these guys didn’t need any encouragement, there were 700-800 people here.”

Parkrun takes place every Saturday at 9am in England and Wales and 9.30am in Scotland and Northern Ireland and offers a free and easy way to take your first steps into becoming more active.

Gemili believes it is his responsibility as a sports star to encourage the nation to get involved in sport and inspire the next generation.

It was a turbulent road to the World Championship for the three-time European gold medallist as he missed out on selection for the 200m after struggling with a leg injury.

But Gemili successfully proved himself on the world stage once more and was glad for the opportunity to step out in front of a London crowd.

“There’s nothing like a home World Championships, the buzz you get from a home crowd is brilliant and there’s no feeling like competing in a home stadium,” he said.

“British people always get behind their athletes and it gives you that extra percent to go out and make everyone proud, not just your family and friends, you want to make the nation proud.

“National Lottery funding is massively important, it provides us with a lot of stuff that people don’t realise we need.

“It helps with medical things, if you get injured it supports you that way, or when we go away on a holding camp or warm weather training it’s used for that as well - it helps in so many different ways.

“Everyone who buys a ticket, they may not realise they’re contributing directly, but it does really help so I’m here to say thank you for all the support.”

The National Lottery players have been supporting sport since the very beginning. From thousands of community sports and fitness projects, right through to elite training and a whopping 848 Olympic and Paralympic medals - by playing, you’ve made it all possible.