THE HEADLINE writers will not need to think too hard if Hannah England sweeps to Olympic glory at London 2012. For the moment, “England expects” would be sufficient billing for a talent still on the promising side of fulfilment.

Nobody, in truth, will expect more than England herself as she swaps the hectic life of a university student for the altogether more fragile and unforgiving existence of a professional athlete. The 22-year-old from Oxford City Athletic Club this month advertised her potential by claiming the scalp of the Olympic champion, Kenya’s Nancy Jebet Langat, while running a personal best time for the 1500m at a meeting in Hengelo, Holland. If England can produce form like that just two weeks after completing her finals in biochemistry at Birmingham University, just think what might be possible given a proper rest and a full training load.

There is little doubt that with England, Lisa Dobriskey, Steph Twell and Susan Scott, Britain is starting to fill the void in women’s middle-distance running. “Maybe it’s the Kelly [Holmes] factor but it’s partly London 2012,” says England. “I can remember the moment we won the bid and thinking how amazing it would be to compete. It’s a thought that drives you on every day.”

Late last week, England could be found in a nondescript park in Derby training on her own. No track, no lines, no equipment, just an acre or two of green grass, a few bemused schoolchildren and a stopwatch. If the image of Chariots of Fire comes to mind, it is not entirely misplaced. England was brought up beneath the dreaming spires of Oxford, where her father is a professor of geology. She prefers riding a bike to driving a car and spent some of her formative years at the Iffley Road track made famous by Roger Bannister.

“There are loads of photographs of him breaking the four-minute mile,” she says, “but I remember particularly a quote from him about the St George’s flag flying from a nearby church and how he knew he could break the record when the flag stopped blowing. I used to think of that every time I ran past it. I really felt the history of the place. I ran in the race to mark the 50th anniversary and met Roger Bannister. I liked the balance the Oxford athletes had in their lives.”

Less Corinthian was the attitude of the student athletes at Florida State University during England’s year out in the United States. Brought up to respect opponents in the strict hierarchy of the junior ranks, England found a rather different etiquette in the National Collegiate Athletic Association meetings. “They’re really aggressive in their running,” she recalls. “The first couple of races I got shoved all over the place. In England everyone tends to know each other, but in the US no-one cares who you are. I had to start using my elbows a bit.”

The apprenticeship has only just begun. Having narrowly missed out on selection for Beijing, England was taken to the Games as a paid reserve, partly to act as cover, mostly to give her experience of major competition. “Seeing so many people watching athletics made you nervous,” she says. “But I also felt how cool it would be to perform in front of that many people. The racing was so intense. I was absolutely gutted not to be there racing, but I knew I’d done well even to get as close as I did.”

Back in winter training, forever having to miss her post-session stretching and ice baths because of work commitments, England was selected for this year’s European Indoor Championships in Turin, her first major competition. By her own admission, she ran like a novice. “Tactically I didn’t know what I was doing,” she says. “I had a plan and I stuck to it. Unfortunately, it was the wrong plan. It was really disappointing because I felt in good shape.”

She was not alone in betraying her inexperience, but that barely eased England’s frustration and certainly did not exempt her from the general criticism of the team’s performance by Charles van Commenee, the new head coach of UK Athletics. “I like his straight talking,” she says. “I know people think he’s a bit brash, but he means what he says.”

The key for England and her coach, Bud Baldaro, is to transform youthful promise into solid professional performances. Increasing the workload — and the periods of rest — is easier than instilling an understanding of percentages and tactics into an athlete used to running on instinct. A healthy suspicion of the clock is one reason England often prefers to train away from the track, either on the pitches beside the university track in Birmingham or on her own in Derby’s Markeaton Park.

“It’s not so exact if you are running in the park but I can run with a sense of freedom and I find that helps,” she says. “It’s good to listen to what you’re body is telling you. If I’m ready to do lots, I’ll do lots. If I’m not, I won’t.

“I’m also learning that doing nothing might sometimes be the right thing to do too. It’s boring but I’ve got enough friends who want to be boring as well. It’s a very easy life really, you get up, train, eat, sleep and train again.”

In Holmes, England has had an ideal mentor for the past five years, but, with the world championships beckoning at the end of the summer, this needs to be a season of graduation on the track. “It’s six weeks until the trials and then another month to the world championships and I haven’t done a lot of speed work yet,” she says. “So I know there’s a lot more to come.” A distant prospect at present, but “Gold for Britain and England” has a decent ring to it.