Two months ago, former British 200-metre champion Hannah Williams revealed she had retired from athletics at the age of 25, after being diagnosed with a rare kidney condition: anaerobic exercise-induced kidney failure.

Her story is both shocking and heartbreaking — but it also offers insight into a little-known health risk for high-performance athletes.

Early Career and Rise to Prominence

Hannah Williams was widely regarded as one of Britain’s brightest sprinting talents.

As the younger sister of Olympic and Commonwealth medallist Jodie Williams, she grew up in a very athletic family.

Early on, she exhibited her speed over 400 m and later specialized in the 200 m. (athleticsweekly.com)

She climbed quickly through the ranks, earning the British 200 m title in 2020, and representing her country in major championships, including indoor worlds. (athleticsweekly.com)

The Onset of Illness

The turning point came during the 2023 UK Indoor Championships.

After placing third in the 200 m in Birmingham, Williams returned home feeling very unwell.

She described being “so weak I couldn’t eat or drink …

I was just sick all the time, and I struggled to get downstairs because of the pain.” (EssentiallySports)

She spent three days in hospital, but despite obvious kidney damage, she left with no definitive diagnosis.

Doctors initially blamed severe dehydration — a diagnosis that didn’t feel right to her.

“They were like, ‘The only possible reason … is that you were severely dehydrated, but … I wasn’t,” she recalled. (athleticsweekly.com)

Frustrated but determined, she pressed on, reaching out to UK Athletics’ sports medicine consultant John Rogers.

At the same time, she sought a second medical opinion.

Eventually, those efforts paid off: she was diagnosed with anaerobic exercise-induced kidney failure, a very rare condition not even listed on the NHS website. (athleticsweekly.com)

Understanding the Diagnosis

According to Williams, her body struggles to clear lactic acid effectively, especially after anaerobic exertion (like sprinting).

This leads to abnormally high levels of creatinine, a muscle breakdown by-product usually filtered by the kidneys.

Over time, this creates stress and damage in her renal system. (athleticsweekly.com)

She also described a startling physical mechanism: “The veins in my kidney essentially spasmed after competitions …

If something like that continues … you may even need a kidney transplant.” (athleticsweekly.com)

Medical literature does provide precedent — there are documented cases of acute renal failure in athletes after intense anaerobic exercise.

In one 400 m runner, for example, dehydration, acidosis, and significantly reduced renal blood flow were implicated. (PubMed)

The Decision to Retire

After receiving the diagnosis, Williams understood that continuing at the highest level in sprinting would be too risky. She made several attempts to adapt.

First, she switched from the 200 m to the 100 m in the hope that shorter, more intense races might reduce lactic acid build-up. (athleticsweekly.com)

She even trained in the long jump and high jump, searching for events that might be more compatible with her health.

But none of these alternatives worked out in a sustainable way.

By March 2024, she announced her retirement from elite athletics. (EssentiallySports)

In Williams’s own words, she had “already come to the realisation that I couldn’t keep on doing the 200m or 400m.” (athleticsweekly.com)

After Athletics: Life Beyond the Track

The news of her retirement came quietly at first; she only publicly revealed her health condition in September 2025, via a video on Instagram explaining her journey. (athleticsweekly.com)

In the months after retiring, she admitted she “lost all joy … in all exercise and any training” — for six to eight months, she barely moved. (EssentiallySports)

However, over time she rediscovered her love for movement.

She’s started doing gentler forms of running, including 10 km races, and she’s even contemplating a half-marathon. (athleticsweekly.com)

Williams has also found a new passion: modelling. She now works full-time as a model, traveling regularly for photo shoots.

Despite the dramatic change of direction, she says she’s embracing this new chapter with purpose. (EssentiallySports)

Reflections, Impact, and Legacy

For Williams, the diagnosis was, paradoxically, a kind of relief.

She said it was hard to live with uncertainty, and finally having an explanation made it easier to accept that her elite-sport days were over. (athleticsweekly.com)

She also hopes that by sharing her story, she can help others.

In her Instagram post, she noted that people with similar conditions reached out to her — some from as far away as Canada. (athleticsweekly.com)

Williams now takes a philosophical view of her career: “It was like an incredible chapter … but it had a sad ending.” (EssentiallySports)

She encourages others, especially athletes, to focus not just on setbacks but on what they have achieved, and to trust themselves in the face of a diagnosis. (athleticsweekly.com)

Hannah Williams’s story is a powerful reminder of the hidden health risks of elite sport.

Her diagnosis of anaerobic exercise-induced kidney failure forced her to step away from athletics at an age when most sprinters are still building their careers.

Yet despite this setback, she has found a way to rebuild her life — first through the pain of illness, and now through the new joy of movement, modeling, and purpose outside the track.

Her courage in speaking out may help others facing rare medical challenges, showing that an athlete’s legacy can transcend personal records.

In sharing her journey, she not only closes a difficult chapter but opens the door to greater awareness and support for conditions that remain little understood.