Nethaneel Joseph Mitchell-Blake (born 2 April 1994,

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

) is a British sprinter who specialises in the

200 metres The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400-metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run the race. A slight ...

and the 4 × 100 metre relay. He was the 2013 European Junior Champion and his personal best of 19.95 seconds ranks him as the second-fastest in Britain of all-time in the individual event. He is only the second Briton, after

Adam Gemili Adam Ahmed Gemili (born 6 October 1993) is a British sprinter. He is the 2014 European champion at 200 metres, three-time European champion in the 4 × 100 metres relay, and part of the Great Britain team that won gold at the 2017 World Cham ...

to break both 10 seconds for

100 metres The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been contested at ...

and 20 seconds for 200 metres. Part of the

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

4 × 100-metre relay team that won the World title in 2017, he won his first major individual honour, a silver medal, in the individual 200 metres at the

2018 European Athletics Championships The 2018 European Athletics Championships were held in Berlin, Germany, from 6 to 12 August 2018. The championships were part of the first European Championships with other events happening in the United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Grea ...

before claiming another relay title running for Great Britain, the eventual gold medalists, in the heats of the 4 × 100 metres. On 18 February 2022 it was announced that Nethaneel and his teammates CJ Ujah,

Zharnel Hughes Zharnel Hughes (born 13 July 1995) is an Anguilla-born British Sprint (running), sprinter who specialises in the 100 metres and 200 metres. Born and raised in the British Overseas Territory of Anguilla, he has competed internationally for Great ...

and

Richard Kilty Richard Kilty (born 2 September 1989, Middlesbrough) is a British sprinter who competes both Indoor and Outdoor across all the sprint events including 60 metres, 100 metres, 150 metres, and 200 metres. An exceptional starter, and consider ...

would be stripped of their

4 × 100 metres relay The 4 × 100 metres relay or sprint relay is an athletics track event run in lanes over one lap of the track with four runners completing 100 metres each. The first runners must begin in the same stagger as for the indiv ...

2020 Summer Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

silver medals after the

Court of Arbitration for Sport The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS; , TAS) is an international body established in 1984 to settle disputes related to sport through arbitration. Its headquarters are in Lausanne, Switzerland, and its courts are located in New York City, Sy ...

found CJ Ujah guilty of a doping violation. Four years later, Mitchell-Blake regained an Olympic medal when Great Britain won the bronze medal in the same event at the

2024 Summer Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...

, along with Hughes and Kilty, in addition to debutants Jeremiah Azu and Louie Hinchliffe.

Early life and career

He was born to Joseph Blake and Audrey Mitchell-Blake in

Newham The London Borough of Newham () is a London boroughs, London borough created in 1965 by the London Government Act 1963. It covers an area previously administered by the Essex county boroughs of County Borough of West Ham, West Ham and County ...

, London,Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake
. LSUSports. Retrieved on 30 May 2016. and is of Jamaican descent. His family relocated to

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

when he was age thirteen. Having already competed extensively as a child in the UK,Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake
Power of 10. Retrieved on 30 May 2016. his talent for sprinting was recognised by Jamaica College, who took him on, and he competed at the Inter-Secondary Schools Boys and Girls Championships.Bloom, Ben (19 May 2016)
Rio Olympics 2016: Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake – from unknown student to Great Britain's new sprint hope
''

Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was foun ...

''. Retrieved on 30 May 2016. After a 200 m win at the 2011 Jamaican junior championships in a personal best of 21.54 seconds, he was selected to compete for Great Britain at the

2011 World Youth Championships in Athletics The 2011 World Youth Championships in Athletics were the seventh edition of the World Youth Championships in Athletics. They were held in Lille Métropole, France, with stadium-based events at Stadium Lille Métropole in Villeneuve-d'Ascq, on 6� ...

and finished fifth in his semi-final. Mitchell-Blake was recruited by

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as Louisiana State University (LSU), is an American Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louis ...

and began to compete for them collegiately with the

LSU Tigers The LSU Tigers and Lady Tigers (also known as the Fighting Tigers) are the athletic teams representing Louisiana State University (LSU), a state university located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. LSU competes in Division I of the National Collegiat ...

team. In his first year in 2013 he was a 200 m semi-finalist at the NCAA Outdoor Championships and took fourth in the

there. In the relay he had top three finishes in the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central United States, South Central and Southeastern United States. Its 16 members in ...

in both the 4 × 100 metres relay and

4 × 400 metres relay The 4 × 400 metres relay or long relay is an athletics track and field, track event in which teams consist of four runners who each complete 400 metres or one lap, totaling 1600 meters. It is traditionally the final event of ...

. He represented Great Britain at the

2013 European Athletics Junior Championships The 2013 European Athletics Junior Championships was the 22nd edition of the biennial athletics competition between European athletes in under twenty. It was held in Rieti Rieti (; , Sabino: ) is a town and ''comune'' in Lazio, central Italy, ...

and was the 200 m champion, having set a best of 20.62 seconds. He also helped his country to fifth in the relay.Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake
Tilastopaja. Retrieved on 30 May 2016. In his second year at Louisiana he failed to improve after an injury-affected indoor season, having a best of 20.69 seconds. He was again a semi-finalist at the 2014 NCAA Outdoor Championships, though he claimed his first top three finish there with LSU in the 4 × 100 metres relay. Upon his return to competition in 2016, he set new bests. In the

60 metres 60 metres, or 60-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field. It is a championship event for indoor championships, normally dominated by the best outdoor 100 metres runners. At indoor events, the 60 metres is run on lanes set out in the mi ...

he ran 6.65 seconds and in the indoor 200 m he completed the distance in 20.57 seconds. At the Southeastern Conference (SEC) indoor championships he won the 200 m after another best of 20.51 and also placed seventh in the 60 m. He entered the longer event at the

2016 NCAA Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships The 2016 NCAA Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships was the 52nd NCAA Men's Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships and the 35th NCAA Women's Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships, held at the Birmingham CrossPlex in ...

and finished as runner-up. In the outdoor season, he ran 10.09 seconds for the

in April, putting him at the top of the seasonal British rankings. He marked a breakthrough at the SEC Outdoor Championships, coming within one hundredth of the British record for the 200 m with his winning time of 19.95 seconds. He completed a regional triple by taking the 100 m individual and relay events, too. Mitchell-Blake anchored the men's 4 × 100 m relay team to a gold medal at the

2017 World Championships in Athletics The 2017 IAAF World Championships, the sixteenth edition of the IAAF World Championships, were held from 4 to 13 August at London Stadium in London, United Kingdom. London was officially awarded the championships on 11 November 2011. Bidding p ...

. He ran the same leg at the

2019 World Athletics Championships The 2019 IAAF World Athletics Championships () was the seventeenth edition of the biennial, global sport of athletics, athletics competition organised by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), since renamed World Athleti ...

, with the team finishing in silver medal position with a new European record of 37.36 seconds. Mitchell-Blake won a bronze medal in the 4 × 100 metres relay at the

International competitions

References

External links

* * * * * * *
Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake
at the

Paris 2024 Summer Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mitchell-Blake, Nethaneel Living people 1995 births Athletes from the London Borough of Newham English male sprinters British male sprinters Olympic male sprinters Olympic athletes for Great Britain Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics World Athletics Championships athletes for Great Britain World Athletics Championships winners European Athletics Championships winners British Athletics Championships winners Louisiana State University alumni LSU Tigers track and field athletes English expatriates in Jamaica English expatriates in the United States Black British sportsmen 21st-century Black British people Olympic bronze medallists for Great Britain Olympic bronze medalists in athletics (track and field) Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2024 Summer Olympics Competitors stripped of Summer Olympics medals Commonwealth Games gold medallists for England Athletes (track and field) at the 2022 Commonwealth Games Medallists at the 2022 Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2024 Summer Olympics English people of Jamaican descent Sportspeople of Jamaican descent 21st-century English sportsmen Commonwealth Games gold medallists in athletics