Jonathan Bigg is one of those figures in British athletics who has spent most of his career just outside the spotlight, shaping other people’s success while the medals and headlines went elsewhere. Most casual sports fans know him as Sally Gunnell’s husband, and that label is accurate enough, but it sells him short. Before he was a household name by association, he was a talented international 800m runner in his own right, and long after his competitive days ended he built a second career as one of the most respected middle-distance coaches in the country.
Who Is Jonathan Bigg?
Jonathan Bigg, known to most people simply as Jon, is a former British 800m runner turned elite endurance coach based in Sussex. He represented England on the track as a young man and later founded a coaching operation that has guided a string of national champions and international competitors. He is married to Olympic and world gold medallist Sally Gunnell, and together they have raised three sons while running their coaching and wellbeing business from the South of England. The one-line version is simple: an athlete who became a coach, a husband who became a business partner, and a father who has passed some serious running genes on to at least one of his kids.
Jonathan Bigg’s Early Athletics Career
Bigg’s own running story is more impressive than many people realise, largely because his wife’s achievements tend to overshadow everything else in the household. He came through as a promising middle-distance athlete and earned international vests for England over 800m, clocking a personal best in the region of 1:48 — a quick time that placed him among the elite British half-milers of his era. That is not the mark of a club runner making up the numbers; it belongs to someone competing at the top of the domestic scene and holding his own internationally.
What makes his early career even more interesting is who he trained with. As a teenager, still only around sixteen, Bigg caught the eye of Steve Ovett, the Brighton-born Olympic 800m champion and one of the most iconic British runners in history. Training alongside a figure of that stature at such a formative age left a mark, and Bigg even spent a couple of years working for Ovett’s sports clothing business to help fund his own training. That proximity to greatness, and the willingness to graft behind the scenes to keep the dream alive, tells you plenty about the athlete he was. Then, as it does to so many promising careers, injury intervened before he could take his talent as far as it might have gone. An injury-shortened career is something many runners never recover from emotionally, but Bigg channelled it into something lasting.
How Jonathan Bigg Met Sally Gunnell
The love story here is pure athletics, which feels fitting given how central the sport has been to both of their lives. Jonathan Bigg and Sally Gunnell met as teenagers on an international trip to Australia, when both were around eighteen or nineteen and travelling with a young British athletics squad. They were barely more than kids at the time, chasing the same dream in the same sport, and the bond they formed on that trip has lasted ever since. There is something lovely about two future partners finding each other not at a party or through friends, but on a plane full of young runners heading to the other side of the world.
Both were connected to the Brighton Phoenix club, which anchored them in the Sussex athletics community that would come to define so much of their adult lives. From that first meeting grew a relationship, then a marriage, and eventually a family and a business built almost entirely around the sport that brought them together. It is rare to see two elite athletes not only stay together but build such an intertwined life, and the durability of their relationship is one of the more heartwarming footnotes in modern British athletics.
Sally Gunnell’s Husband: A Partnership On and Off the Track
Being described as Sally Gunnell’s husband might sound reductive, but Bigg played a real and active part in his wife’s success rather than simply cheering from the stands. When his own career was cut short, he redirected that energy and knowledge into supporting Sally, and he has spoken openly about how much he learned from watching her legendary coach, Bruce Longden, at work. That front-row seat to elite coaching, paired with his own athletic understanding, gave Bigg a foundation most aspiring coaches could only dream of.
Sally Gunnell, for context, ranks among the greatest British athletes of any generation. She won Olympic gold in the 400m hurdles in Barcelona in 1992, added a world championship gold and world record in Stuttgart in 1993, and remains the only British woman to hold the Olympic, world, European and Commonwealth titles at the same time. Building a life alongside that kind of pedigree could easily create a lopsided dynamic, yet by every account the two have worked as equal partners, both in raising a family and in running their businesses. Bigg has credited some of Sally’s mental refinement in her championship years to work they did together, which shows how collaborative the relationship was even at her competitive peak.
Jonathan Bigg’s Career as a Coach
If Bigg’s running career was a strong first act, his coaching is arguably the more significant chapter. He turned to it once his competitive days were behind him, and the origin story is charmingly low-key: an athlete named Tim Baylie asked Bigg to coach him as he moved up from the 400m to the 800m, and that single request set everything in motion. From there, Bigg built an elite middle-distance training group in Sussex, operating under names like PHX/TRK and Bigg Performance, and turned coaching into a full vocation rather than a hobby.
His coaching philosophy is grounded and quotable. He talks about middle-distance athletes needing the armoury of a sprinter, the engine to grind out miles, and the tactical intelligence to read a race, arguing that a runner can never drift too far from any of those three. He believes in altitude training, in mixing up sessions so the body never quite knows what is coming, and in long-term, year-on-year development over quick fixes. He has also qualified as a neuro-linguistic programming practitioner, which he uses to help athletes organise their thinking and sharpen their focus, and he holds coaching qualifications across athletics and even triathlon. The approach blends old-school hard work with a thoughtful, individualised method, and the results speak for themselves. The recognition has followed, too: he has been named Coach of the Year in his region for developing young athletes and raising the profile of the sport across Sussex.
The Athletes Jonathan Bigg Has Shaped
A coach is ultimately judged by the athletes he produces, and on that measure Bigg has an impressive résumé. His standout success is Charlie Grice, whom Bigg guided from a promising local talent into a senior national champion and a Commonwealth Games competitor over 1500m. Grice running around 3:30 for the distance is the kind of result that puts a coach firmly on the map, and Bigg has spoken candidly about how gutting it was to watch Grice miss out on a world championship team despite that level of form.
His training group has featured a host of high-calibre names over the years. Shelayna Oskan-Clarke, a European indoor 800m silver medallist, has trained under him, as has the experienced 800m runner Michael Rimmer. He has developed a steady stream of talented juniors too, including Robbie Fitzgibbon, Spencer Thomas and sprinter Toby Harries, and he had a hand in the early development of George Mills, the middle-distance runner who went on to reach the Olympics and break British records. That is a remarkable spread of talent for one coach to have touched, from sprints through to distance and from juniors through to seasoned internationals. The through-line is his knack for tailoring training to the individual rather than pushing everyone through the same programme, whether he is working with a 200m specialist or a 5000m runner.
Jonathan Bigg’s Family: Finley Bigg, Luca Bigg and Marley Bigg
The Bigg household is, no surprise, a sporty one. Jonathan Bigg and Sally Gunnell have three sons: Finley, Luca and Marley. The eldest, Finley Bigg, is the one who most obviously followed the family trade, growing into a strong middle-distance runner. He became an English Schools 800m champion and progressed to running the distance in around 1:49 — a serious time that, neatly, sits right in the ballpark of his father’s own personal best. There is a pleasing symmetry in a son matching his dad over the very same event, especially with an Olympic champion for a mother.
Both parents, tellingly, have let Finley find his own way in the sport rather than pushing him into it — a mature approach, given how much pressure the child of two elite athletes could otherwise feel. Less is publicly known about Luca Bigg and Marley Bigg, and that looks like a deliberate choice, as the family has kept a private, grounded home life away from constant media attention. What is clear is that Jonathan Bigg’s family has always been built around sport, health and the outdoors, from the acres around their Sussex home to the training culture that runs through their daily lives. The whole clan has been photographed together only rarely — Sally herself has called a full family group shot a rare thing — which tells you how much they value their privacy.
Jonathan Bigg Age and Personal Life
One of the most common searches around Jonathan Bigg concerns his age, and here a little detective work is needed, because his exact date of birth is not widely published. What we do know is that he and Sally Gunnell met as teenagers of a similar age, and Sally was born in July 1966. That strongly suggests Bigg was born around the same time, which would place him in his late fifties as of 2026. So while there is no official, confirmed figure in circulation, it is reasonable to estimate that Jonathan Bigg’s age is around fifty-nine or sixty. If anyone quotes a precise birthday with total confidence, treat it with a little caution, because it simply is not something he has made public.
Away from the track, Bigg lives a life many would envy for its simplicity and its closeness to nature. He and Sally have lived in Sussex for decades, first in the village of Steyning and later in the picturesque South Downs village of Fulking. Their homes have included a sixteenth-century farmhouse set across roughly twelve acres, where the couple grew their own fruit and vegetables and even used the space for grass training loops. It is a lifestyle that blends elite sport, rural living and family in a way that feels authentic rather than staged, and it suits them both.
Jonathan Bigg Net Worth
Questions about Jonathan Bigg’s net worth come up often, and the honest answer is that no reliable, verified public figure exists. Unlike celebrities whose finances get endlessly speculated over, Bigg works in the relatively modest world of athletics coaching, which is not a field that tends to generate huge personal fortunes. His income appears to come from his coaching business, the wider Bigg Performance operation he runs alongside Sally, and their combined work in health, wellbeing and corporate speaking.
It is worth being upfront: any specific net worth number you see quoted online for Jonathan Bigg is almost certainly guesswork rather than fact. Between the coaching enterprise, the property they have owned, and Sally Gunnell’s own long career as an Olympic champion turned broadcaster and wellbeing ambassador, the household is likely comfortable and secure. But pinning a precise figure on it would be irresponsible, and the couple have never disclosed their finances. The sensible takeaway is that the Biggs have built a stable, successful life around the sport they love, without turning their bank balance into a talking point.
Jonathan Bigg Latest News
Keeping up with the latest news on Jonathan Bigg means following the athletics and coaching world rather than the celebrity gossip columns, which is in character. Lately, his most visible activity has continued to centre on his coaching group and the Bigg Performance brand, where he remains busy developing endurance athletes in Sussex. He also keeps a presence on social media under the Bigg Performance banner, where updates on his training group and coaching work tend to surface.
Alongside the coaching, Jonathan and Sally have increasingly appeared together promoting health and wellbeing initiatives aimed at helping people stay fit as they age, tying into Sally’s broader work as a wellbeing ambassador and author. So if you are chasing the freshest developments, the best places to look are athletics coverage of his athletes’ results and the couple’s ongoing wellbeing projects. For anything truly up to the minute, it is worth checking his and Sally’s current social channels and recent athletics reporting, since the picture keeps evolving as new athletes come through his group and new projects launch.
Conclusion
Jonathan Bigg is a far more substantial figure than the “Sally Gunnell’s husband” tag suggests, even if that is how most people first meet his name. He was a quick international 800m runner who trained alongside a British legend, and when injury closed one door, he opened a bigger one by becoming one of the country’s most thoughtful and successful endurance coaches. Along the way he has shaped national champions, raised three sons with an Olympic gold medallist, and built a grounded, sport-centred life in the Sussex countryside. His age stays a little mysterious and his net worth is nobody’s business but his own, yet the shape of his legacy is clear. In a sport that loves to celebrate whoever crosses the line first, Jonathan Bigg is a reminder that some of the most important work happens quietly, in the background, over decades — and that it can be every bit as impressive as a gold medal.
FAQs
Who is Jonathan Bigg?
Jonathan Bigg is a former international 800m runner for England who became a respected middle-distance athletics coach based in Sussex. He is also the husband of Olympic and world champion Sally Gunnell.
Is Jonathan Bigg still married to Sally Gunnell?
Yes. Jonathan Bigg and Sally Gunnell have been together since meeting as teenagers and remain married, having built a long partnership around family, athletics and their shared wellbeing business.
How many children do Jonathan Bigg and Sally Gunnell have?
They have three sons: Finley, Luca and Marley. Their eldest, Finley Bigg, followed the family path into middle-distance running and became an English Schools 800m champion.
What is Jonathan Bigg’s coaching background?
He coaches an elite middle-distance group in Sussex and has developed national champions and internationals, most notably Charlie Grice. He is known for individualised training, a belief in altitude and mileage, and a strong focus on mental strength.
What is Jonathan Bigg’s net worth?
There is no reliable public figure for his net worth, and any specific number online is speculation. His income comes mainly from coaching and the wellbeing business he runs with Sally Gunnell.