At the 2009 IAAF World Cross Country Championships, she came fourteenth in the junior race and helped the British girls to fourth in the team rankings. She secured her first international track medal at the 2009 European Athletics Junior Championships by winning the 5000 m silver in Novi Sad. She also began to prove herself in the senior ranks that year – at the national championships she took the runner-up spot in the 5000 m behind Freya Murray and came fourth at the Great Yorkshire Run in September with a 10K best of 33:07 minutes. The 18-year-old suffered an injury in November (a knee stress fracture) which ruled her out until the middle of 2010. This meant she missed both the European and World Cross Country Championships, as well as the 2010 World Junior Championships in Athletics.