Julia Bleasdale
Bleasdale (right) in the 5000 m final at the 2012 European Athletics Championships
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| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | 9 September 1981 |
| Sport | |
| Country |
 Germany
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| Sport | Athletics |
| Event(s) | 5000 metres, 10,000 metres |
Julia Bleasdale (born 9 September 1981) is a British-born long-distance runner, currently representing Germany internationally, who competes in the 5000 metres and 10,000 metres. She represented Great Britain at both distances in the London Olympics, placing eighth in both finals with a personal best time of 30:55.63 in the longer distance.
She also competed for Great Britain in cross country running and won the team gold at the 2011 European Cross Country Championships. She placed fourth in the 5000 m at the 2012 European Athletics Championships.
Born in Hillingdon, she competed in middle-distance events in her early years. Bleasdale began studying a degree in engineering at Cambridge University and it was during her time there that she gradually started to focus on longer distance races. In 2004, her final year at Cambridge, she won the British 10 km in London and represented Great Britain for the first time at the Chiba International Ekiden, where she ran a 5K leg of the relay.
She placed fourth at the Cursa Bombers in Spain in 2005 but competed infrequently in the following three years. She returned to the sport in 2009 and came 15th at the Great Manchester Run. In 2010, she focused on cross country instead. The move paid of in 2011 as she came fifth at the Inter-Counties Championships and gained selection for the 2011 IAAF World Cross Country Championships, where she placed 59th overall. She won the 5000 metres trials for the 2011 World Championships in Athletics, but was not selected as she had not achieved the qualifying time. She returned to international action at the 2011 European Cross Country Championships, where her eleventh-place finish brought her the team gold alongside Gemma Steel and Freya Murray.
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