Callum Hawkins

Callum Hawkins (born 22 June 1992) is a British distance runner, who has been selected to compete in the marathon at the 2016 Summer Olympics.

Personal life

Hawkins was born on 22 June 1992 in Elderslie near Paisley. His older brother Derek is also a long-distance runner. He studied mechanical engineering at the University of the West of Scotland.

Athletics

At the 2010 IAAF World Cross Country Championships held in Bydgoszcz, Poland, Hawkins finished 47th in the junior men's race in a time of 24 minutes and 21 seconds.

In 2013 he finished seventh in the men's under-23's race at the European Cross Country Championships. At the 2014 European Cross Country Championships he improved to a fifth-place finish in the under-23's race.

Hawkins competed at the 2014 Commonwealth Games held in Glasgow, Scotland, representing the host nation in the men's 10,000 metres, finishing 20th.

In October 2015 he finished the Great Scottish Run in a time of one hour two minutes and 42 seconds, setting a personal best to in second place overall behind Uganda's Moses Kipsiro and winning the gold medal for Scottish athletes. Later that month he competed in his first marathon in Frankfurt, finishing twelfth in two hours 12 minutes and 17 seconds, in a race won by Ethiopia's Sisay Lemma.

At the 2016 London Marathon, his second event over the distance, Hawkins finished eighth overall, and was the first British-qualified athlete to finish, in a time of two hours 10 minutes and 52 seconds. This time was inside the qualifying time of two hours 14 minutes needed to earn him a place in the Great Britain team for the 2016 Summer Olympics to be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He will be joined in the men's marathon by fellow British athletes, Tsegai Tewelde and his brother Derek Hawkins.