SportSpiel

On the final episode of this series of SportSpiel we cross into the world of Muay Thai and speak to recently-crowned WBC world champion Ellie Harber. That victory was the 12th title claimed by the 18-year-old from Watford in a variety of martial art disciplines and was her first success in an adult tournament, which saw her win four fights in four days as she went on to secure gold in her maiden s...

This episode of SportSpiel is a very special one, as we delve into an important subject that is still in its infancy in terms of understanding – becoming a mum during your athletic career. Taking part in the discussion is long-time friend of the podcast , British Trampolinist Laura Gallagher, as well as England and GB Hockey star Jo Pinner who have both done just that, given birth to their first c...

Scotland Rugby’s vice-captain Helen Nelson is one of the most crucial individuals in the squad. With 55 appearances for the national team to her name she’s been a vital cog as the team looks to progress and improve – striving for bigger goals each time. With the latest edition of the Women’s Six Nations soon to get underway – with Scotland playing Wales on March 23rd – it’s another opportunity to...

Aged just 20, Lilli Ives Campion is widely regarded as one of the brightest prospects in English women’s rugby. And if it hadn’t been for one seemingly innocuous moment, she might never have even tried the sport to start with. Ever since then Lilli has gone from strength to strength within the game, making her Premiership Women’s Rugby debut for Loughborough Lightning at just 17 years old. Now her...

Despite being in her early 20s, Liv Thomas has already experienced a lot in her sporting career. The GB and England lacrosse midfielder had to wait two years for her England debut, thanks to the Covid pandemic, but after finally earning that first cap she would go on to win a World Cup bronze in triple overtime. But the difficulties would rear their head again, with Liv rupturing her ACL and teari...

Don’t die wondering – that’s Laura Siddall’s motto – and it’s a phrase you can see applied to so much of her life as a pro athlete. Laura now is a hugely successful British triathlete but her path into professional sport came relatively late in life. While sport was always important growing up she would go on to do a degree in Mechanical Engineering before taking a gap year as an officer in the Br...

Isla Mackenzie is on a mission – to inspire the next generation as she chases her dream of being a racing driver. Her early life is world’s away from what it looks like now. She grew up on a dairy farm on the Isle of Lewis, in the Scottish Outer Hebrides and she was driving anything she could as soon as she was old enough to reach the pedals – be it quad bikes or tractors, and she drove a car for...

Ben Gallagher is a remarkable individual. After serving in the British Army for over 16 years, his life was turned upside down in 2019 when he was shot numerous times on active duty. Ben would sustain blast and fragmentation injuries to his upper torso and arms as a result of that incident – and without a doubt his body armour saved his life. What followed was a number of operations and extensive...

Beth Gill is one of Britain’s – and the world’s – leading canoeists. In 2022 she became C1 short course Marathon World Champion and she’s hoping to qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in the C2 500m Sprint. Remember, while there’s been women’s kayak events, women’s canoeing events only first arrived at the Olympics for Tokyo 2020. But there’s much more to Beth than just her sport as she has b...

British weightlifter Mercy Brown has been on an extensive journey in her sporting career. But the comeback is very much on. The 26-year-old Londoner is an exciting talent and secured gold in the 2022 British Weightlifting Championships. But, unfortunately, her year didn’t pan out as expected despite that promising start and indication that the potential is very much there. Throughout her rollercoa...

Brendan Creed has discovered a lot about himself since he first represented his country back in 2017. By his own admission he is a massive perfectionist, but he used to let it ruin his game. Dealing with mistakes has been a key change in the England and GB Hockey star and he has worked closely with his team psychologist on his journey. But that has also come at the same time as having to deal with...

After leaving school at the age of 18, Lauren Torley had barely touched a rugby ball. But fast-forward to now and things are very different. Few will have predicted that just five years later she would have represented England at a home Commonwealth Games and been named as one of the most exciting prospects around – but that’s exactly what has happened. It has been a whirlwind career so far for th...

Netball used to be one of the most important things in Nat Panagarry’s life – but that has all changed. Last year Nat’s wife Katie was diagnosed with stage four clear cell cancer and life as they knew it was turned upside down. Suddenly playing netball for England and Loughborough Lightening paled into insignificance for Nat compared to what she and her wife were facing. Unsurprisingly it has been...

British track cyclist Milly Tanner has had a whirlwind last few years, and she’s determined to leave her mark. The 24-year-old switched from swimming to cycling back in 2017 through UK Sport’s talent transfer programme ‘Discover your Power’ – a gruelling process in itself as you’ll hear in this SportSpiel interview– but she hasn’t looked back since. A bronze medal at the 2021 World Championships i...

Cricketer Fi Morris has learned a lot at the age of 29. From making her county championship debut at the age of 14, to top scoring for her team in the first ever women’s Hundred final, there’s plenty to celebrate. But it has been far from an easy ride for the all-rounder. An incident in her early 20s led to a severe decline in her mental health and well-being, which she struggled to admit and acce...

London Dynasty Cheer has grown exponentially in a ridiculously short time, and Joanna Haeger and Grace Lowe are key parts of that. This week’s podcast guests are the directors of LDC, as well as being athletes and coaches at the cheerleading club, and what began as a project in 2020 is now unrecognisable. With the initial aim of recruiting 23 athletes the growth of LDC has rocketed and the club no...

Linn Sandstrom is one of the most determined individuals you will ever meet in sport. Currently ranked ninth by the WBA, the boxer has won three straight title fights – the WBC Australasia Title, WBA Asia Title and most recently the WBA inter-continental title won in October last year. In her words she is on a mission to never be “mediocre or average”. But it has been far from an easy – or convent...

British Olympic runner Amy-Eloise Markovc has plenty to be proud of over the last two years of her career. The 27-year-old became European indoor champion for the 3000m back in 2021, made her Olympic debut in Tokyo, came fourth in the 5000m at the 2022 Commonwealth Games and she also broke the British two mile record in 2021 too. That’s just a brief list of some of her achievements – there’s many...

The SportSpiel podcast is back with a brand new series of podcasts, starting from Tuesday, January 24, 2023. It’s been a busy last year for the pair of us, thanks to work, life and everything in between. But we’ve always wanted to get the podcast back up and running and now we have with a new schedule. Starting from January 24th we will be releasing a new podcast every week as part of a winter/spr...

Alasdair Hooper hosts the latest episode of SportSpiel with rising Scottish cycling star Anna Shackley. The 20-year-old seemingly came out of nowhere back in 2021 when – then aged 18 – she signed for esteemed cycling team SD Worx. Prior to that she had mostly been focusing on the track with the British national programme , winning multiple Scottish junior national titles before winning the elite B...

Alasdair Hooper and Will Moulton host SportSpiel’s Review of the Year 2021. The past 12 months have proven to be another turbulent year as we began 2021 in lockdown and end it with the emergence of Omicron. But from a sporting sense, there was so much to shout about with many fans being treated to moments of greatness. While many events were unrecognisable – a fan-less Olympic Games as an example...

Alasdair Hooper hosts the latest episode of SportSpiel featuring British kiteboarder Aaron Hadlow. While it may be a powerful description, it’s fair to say Aaron is something of a pioneer in his sport. The 33-year-old is a five-time world champion and has been dominant in kiteboarding since 2004. But the transformation the sport has experienced in that time has been massive and Aaron has played a...

Will Moulton hosts the latest episode of SportSpiel with returning guest - and Paralympic champion - Laura Sugar . For most people the chance to represent your country in just one sport would be enough.  But Laura has had the chance to do it across three different events. After playing hockey for Wales, and then transitioning into athletics where she represented Team GB at the Rio Paralympics, she...

Will Moulton hosts the latest episode of SportSpiel with Olympic gold medallist Kate French. The Modern Pentathlon star was part of a historic moment at Tokyo 2020 when her gold medal, along with fellow Brit Joe Choong’s own brilliant win, meant it was the first time a nation had claimed victory in both the men’s and women’s event. The fierce competitor is a humble individual however, in her words...

Modern pentathlete Joe Choong was one of the stars of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. The 26-year-old stormed to victory to become the first ever British man to win gold in the Modern Pentathlon.  It came after fellow Brit Kate French won gold in the women’s event to make it a truly historic moment – the first time a nation has won both. For Joe that completed a mammoth journey, from – in his words...