A YOUNG athlete from Wellington has been selected as an Everyone Active sporting champion for 2026 to 2027.

Bella Whitelaw has represented Great Britain in three World Championships and a European Championships in modern pentathlon bringing home an array of medals.

Being chosen as an Everyone Active Sporting Champion will given Bella access to valuable mentoring and guidance from an impressive panel of Elite athletes comprising Olympic and Paralympic medallists, world champions and Commonwealth champions.

She will also have free access to Everyone Active’s 250-plus leisure sites including Wellington Sports Centre run in partnership with Somerset Council.

The Sporting Champions Scheme has helped more than 6,000 athletes to achieve their sporting potential since it was established nine years ago.

In September 2025 Bella was selected for the GB Talent Development Programme at Bath Sports and Training centre. As part of the programme Bella took part in a number of ranking events for the five disciplines consisting of fencing, shooting, obstacle course racing, running and swimming. She was one of the top ranked athletes in the UK.

More recently the 13-year old brought home a silver medal for the U17 female Triathlete (shooting, running and open water swimming) in South Africa.

This April she was one of just five female U15 athletes to be selected to compete in the European Cup Tetrathlon in Barcelona. It was also her first major competition which included the new discipline of obstacle course racing.

Bella also earned herself a place in the U17 female European Championships in Triathle and laser run which takes place in Portugal in June. However she has had to decline her place due to training for a channel relay swim this summer.

Bella will be using the Everyone Active Wellington facilities to train for the pentathlon Olympic Hopes championships in Poland later in the year.