John Nuttall

By winning the English Schools 3000m title in 1985, John Nuttall earned himself a trip to the European Junior Championships, where he won a bronze medal, and this contributed to him gaining a scholarship to Iowa State University. After competing at the World Junior Championships on the track and in the junior race at the World Cross Country Championships, he headed for America but struggled with injuries in his first two years of collegiate competition.

Nuttall regained full fitness in 1989 and won the NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships both individually and as part of the Iowa State team. He also finished second over 3000m at the NCAA Indoor Championships and missed a medal at the Universiade in Duisburg by just .3 of a second. He made his senior Great Britain debut at the 1991 World Cross Country Championships and two years later won his first national title over 3000m. This meant he was chosen for the 1993 World Championships in Stuttgart where he was eliminated in the heats.

The best year of his career turned out to be 1994 as he won a bronze medal at the Commonwealth Games, was runner-up at both the European Cup and World Cup and placed 5th at the European Championships. All these performances came at 5000m. He also competed at the 1995 World Championships. Nuttall made his only Olympic appearance in Atlanta. Nuttall qualified comfortably enough from his heat but was eliminated in a slow semi-final which came down to a final sprint. Barring a final appearance at the World Cross Country Championships, this was the end of his career as a top flight international athlete although he competed in lower level races well into his forties.

He embarked on a career as a coach and worked with elite British distance runners for a decade prior to the London 2012 Olympics. Later he head athletics coach at the Aspire Institute in Doha, Qatar. Nuttall was married twice, firstly to Alison Wyeth, a two-time Olympian, and, after they divorced, to Olympic medallist Liz McColgan in 2016. From his first marriage he was the father of Paralympian Luke Nuttall and European Cross Country gold medallist Hannah Nuttall. He also became stepfather to Eilish McColgan. He died suddenly and unexpectedly of a heart attack in November 2023.

Personal Best: 5000 – 13:16.70 (1995).