A year after suffering a seizure at the European Championships, Jess Warner-Judd talks about its lasting effects – her brain would effectively shut down to protect her when she attempted to run on the track again – and how the roads have given her the space to regain strength and enjoy running again.
Fifteen months after a traumatic summer that ended with a seizure-induced withdrawal from the European Championships and an eventual diagnosis of epilepsy, Jess Warner-Judd’s victory in the Big Half was exactly the confidence boost she needed.
“It felt really good,” he says. “For the first time in a long time, my race reflected how I had felt in training and I felt very strong.”
They were welcome words from the former world age group 800m medalist who finished eighth in the 10,000m at the 2023 senior World Championships and represented Team GB at the 2021 Olympic Games in Tokyo.
His experience in Rome last year (he barely remembers the 10,000m race, other than a feeling of disconnection from his body once he started) and in the months since has been well documented; the emotional rollercoaster of early 2025 that led to goal changes and a pending marathon debut in New York City, not so much.
Despite an incredibly challenging 2024, Warner-Judd, who had started the year with a half-marathon personal best of 67:06, finished the year with enjoyable outings representing the Blackburn Harriers on the road and cross-country (“…so grateful to be happy, healthy, seizure-free and loving my running again,” she wrote on Instagram at the time).
In 2025, he regained his fitness: half marathons in Houston (69:07), Barcelona (69:35) and Berlin (70:24) assured him he was making good progress, as was his ambition. “At first I thought it would take a long time. [to get my fitness back]But that’s the thing, as soon as I started getting in shape I thought, ‘Oh, maybe [qualifying for the] world champions [is possible]’.
Ironically, his original goal had been to run a marathon this year. Warner-Judd told The Guardian in March that her intention had been to move up to 42 kilometers in 2025 if she had competed as planned at the Paris Olympics. The fallout from Rome made that task impossible, and the task at hand forced her to do it: “I want to finish my track career on my terms, not the epilepsy’s,” she said at the time.
The turning point, which ultimately led back to ‘plan A’, came at a low-key track meet in California in early May.
“The sessions I was doing at that time were really good, better than the ones I had done before Budapest. [the 2023 World Championships]”, he remembers. “I thought about going to the United States, running the 10 km [Save the 10,000m with Des and Kara] then build from there, do about 5km and aim for the British Championships.”
He remembers the starting line of that 10,000m race, but the rest is a blur. With her husband Rob watching, she began hyperventilating and panicking, eventually having to lie on her back to control her breathing. “I completely disengaged,” he says.
In many ways it was déjà vu: a flashback to that horrible night in Rome last June. This time, however, his abandonment was not caused directly by his epilepsy, but indirectly through a trauma-induced psychological response. Warner-Judd recovered quickly and warmed up normally.
“I think the difficult thing at the beginning [going back to 2024] “There were a lot of things to figure out,” he says, reflecting on his initial diagnosis. “We got the epilepsy thing right, then we worked on my confidence – that’s why I started seeing a psychologist at the beginning, to manage my confidence and my anxiety getting back on the track, and we thought we’d done it too, until that race in the US and then the FAST5000m in Paris.” [in June]. It was so strange.
“After America, everyone thought it was just because I’d gotten too anxious; lining up for 25 laps made me realize how important the mental side of the sport can be, but after Paris they realized there was a natural response to trauma. It was like, ‘Oh, this is what’s happening,’ and it took a while for it to click.
“I think when we found out about that in June [of this year] It was actually a big relief because I realized that it wasn’t because I was training badly or running badly, there was actually a reason for it and when explained it made sense; As soon as the gun went off it was like everything became heavy, I couldn’t run and then I couldn’t remember anything about it.
“In Paris I was trying to think what I did wrong in the race, I was looking at the time [15:55.26] and thinking, ‘That’s really slow,’ but then I thought, ‘What did I do?’, and I had no memory of it.
I was doing all these really good sessions and even though I ended up in Paris, I couldn’t remember what happened. It turned out that I was disengaging from it because of the trauma of Rome. “It was something completely new for us and in some ways I think it was harder to deal with than a real injury.”
Frustratingly, Warner-Judd knew he would not be able to demonstrate his fitness on the track. This opinion was shared by expert professionals; In fact, his own psychologist, as well as the UK Athletics medical team, recommended that he stay away from track competition completely.
“They told me I had to separate [from it]” she explains. “They described it to me… it’s like every time I run I get a stamp, and before I know it my body won’t be able to take any more stamps and then I’ll probably end up wanting to quit because I’ll be so disappointed and discouraged by all of this.”
The move to road racing has eliminated the risk of the trauma response associated with track racing. It also presents an opportunity to run fit, rather than having your excellent training sessions not translate into races. A less intense environment (more space, fewer flashing lights, no pyrotechnics) will also contribute to a better overall experience.
The TCS New York Marathon City on November 2, a distance that had been scheduled for 2025 long before his epilepsy diagnosis and the associated challenges, will provide the perfect backdrop.
Warner-Judd’s 16-week training block began in early July, coinciding with a move from Loughborough (where she graduated with a PhD in Regenerative Medicine in December 2024) to the Lancashire town of Clitheroe and fittingly marking a new beginning in both life and athletics.
She’s raced twice since then: a nice seven-plus mile outing in Falmouth, Massachusetts, where she finished tenth in a field packed with talent in 37:21, and most recently in London, where she won the aforementioned Big Half in 70:35. Together, they provided welcome validation to his decision to return to the roads.
Warner-Judd also enjoys marathon training: Long run sessions, double session days and the new fall goal distract from the action on the Tokyo track and welcome the “What ifs?”
“I love it,” says the three-time London Mini Marathon winner, coached by her father. “The training is hard so I only want to do it a week at a time, but there’s something about doing long stuff that feels really rewarding.
“The Sunday races are some of the toughest,” he admits, but the mountainous landscape around Clitheroe should provide the perfect stimulus for New York’s notoriously undulating circuit.
“I always thought that Chicago [one of the fastest marathon courses in the world] Or somewhere like that would be my first marathon, but when I had this opportunity I thought that time doesn’t really matter, it’s a pretty big field and it will be more of a race than maybe an all-out effort, so it takes the pressure off.
“I think that’s the thing, I wanted something where I wasn’t totally focused on timing or having to do certain splits, I’d rather just watch it play out, and this fits the bill perfectly.”
Perspectives change, and after track blackouts and forgotten turns, the streets of New York will provide completely new experiences and memorable moments. It’s been a long road back for the 30-year-old, but there’s no rush for this one. After all, it’s a marathon, not a sprint.
