Recent Loughborough graduate Ben Pattison following his bronze medal win in the 800m meters. Image provided by PA / Alamy.

Recent Loughborough graduate Ben Pattison following his bronze medal win in the 800m meters. Image provided by PA / Alamy.

World Championships sees incredible success for Loughborough University athletes

Loughborough University athletes are returning home as heroes after producing some extraordinary performances at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest.

Loughborough athletes recorded a mammoth medal haul of three golds, one silver, and two bronze after nine days of thrilling competition in Hungary’s capital city. 

Among the astounding highlights at a raucous National Athletics Centre, recent Business Analytics graduate Ben Pattison won a shock 800m bronze, university-based Katarina Johnson-Thompson secured a stunning heptathlon gold, and Great Britain’s men claimed a brilliant 4x400m relay bronze.

In the 800m, Pattison, 21, produced a sensational performance to claim a podium place on his World Championships debut, just three years after being diagnosed with a potentially life-threatening heart condition.

Timing his run to perfection, he moved through the field and looked shell-shocked as he crossed the line in 1:44.83 for a brilliant bronze.

Elsewhere, Great Britain’s men’s 4x400m relay bronze medal winners featured three Loughborough athletes – alumni pair Rio Mitcham and Charlie Dobson, and current PhD student Alex Haydock-Wilson.

The trio combined brilliantly alongside teammate Lewis Davey to hold off a strong challenge from Jamaica to medal behind eventual winners USA and silver-winners France.

It proved to be alumnus Rio Mitcham’s second medal of the Championships after he helped Great Britain to a dramatic mixed 4x400m relay silver on the opening day in Budapest.

Alumnus Rio Mitcham with his 2023 World Championships silver medal

I‌mage caption: Alumnus Rio Mitcham with his mixed 4x400m relay silver medal. Image provided by Loughborough University. 

In the heptathlon, Katarina Johnson-Thompson won her second world title in exhilarating circumstances, defending a narrow lead over American favourite Anna Hall.

Loughborough’s medal contribution ensured that Great Britain finished seventh in the overall table with ten medals – equalling their best-ever record at the Worlds from 1993.

Elsewhere, the University also contributed to international medals as USA and Loughborough-based Chase Ealey defended her Worlds title to secure back-to-back gold medals in the shot-put with a huge throw of 20.43.

Staying in the field, Neeraj Chopra – who used the University as his winter training base – made history by winning India’s first-ever gold medal at a World Championships with a throw of 88.17m in the javelin.

There were also further performances to be proud of as current PhD student Jessica Warner-Judd recorded an excellent top-eight finish in the women’s 10,000m final, alumna Molly Caudery landed an incredible lifetime best of 4.75m in the women’s pole vault final, and alumna Morgan Lake finished a brilliant fourth in the high jump with an outdoor personal best of 1.97m.

molly caudery clears the pole vault.

Image caption: Alumna Molly Caudery cleared a lifetime best of 4.75m in the women's pole vault final. Image provided by Loughborough University. 

The Championships marked a special occasion for the University as stakeholders, partners, sport administration professionals, alumni, coaches, and current and former athletes all gathered at a key event to celebrate the institution’s long-standing success in the sport.

Seb Coe main

Image caption: Lord Seb Coe, Chancellor, Loughborough University and President of World Athletics, addresses the crowd at the University's special celebration event. Image provided by Loughborough University. 

For more information on athletics at Loughborough University, visit: https://www.lboro.ac.uk/sport/sports/athletics/

Notes for editors

Press release reference number: 23/127

Loughborough is one of the country’s leading universities, with an international reputation for research that matters, excellence in teaching, strong links with industry, and unrivalled achievement in sport and its underpinning academic disciplines.

It has been awarded five stars in the independent QS Stars university rating scheme, named the best university in the world for sports-related subjects in the 2023 QS World University Rankings – the seventh year running – and University of the Year for Sport by The Times and Sunday Times University Guide 2022.

Loughborough is ranked 7th in The UK Complete University Guide 2023, 10th in the Guardian University League Table 2023 and 11th in the Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2023.
Loughborough is consistently ranked in the top twenty of UK universities in the Times Higher Education’s ‘table of tables’, and in the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2021 over 90% of its research was rated as ‘world-leading’ or ‘internationally-excellent’. In recognition of its contribution to the sector, Loughborough has been awarded seven Queen's Anniversary Prizes.

The Loughborough University London campus is based on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and offers postgraduate and executive-level education, as well as research and enterprise opportunities. It is home to influential thought leaders, pioneering researchers and creative innovators who provide students with the highest quality of teaching and the very latest in modern thinking.

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