Organisers of the Women In Meat Industry Awards have announced that the 2026 dinner and ceremony will be hosted by Olympic gold medallist Sally Gunnell.
This year’s Women In Meat Industry Awards ceremony will take place on Friday 20th November at the 5-star Royal Lancaster Hotel in London, where the meat industry will come together to celebrate the work of women in the sector.
Launched in 2018 to great acclaim, the annual Women In Meat Industry Awards highlights outstanding female talent and role models across a range of categories, culminating in the overall Meat Businesswoman of the Year being announced at the prestigious ceremony.
The 2026 host Sally Gunnell started athletics life as a pentathlete and long jumper with the Essex Ladies’ Club. Her explosive power made her a decent junior sprinter, and she soon began to concentrate on the 100m hurdles. Gold at the Edinburgh Commonwealth Games of 1986 seemed to confirm Gunnell’s prowess at sprint hurdling, but by 1987 she was being encouraged to look at longer distances.
In 1989, she took Gold at the European Cup 400m flat race in Gateshead, and then went on to win the 1990 Commonwealth Games 400m hurdles title in Auckland; Gunnell had found her perfect event and grew rapidly in stature.
Making history
At the Tokyo 1991 World Championships, Gunnell took second place, before returning to the track for the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. She progressed to the 400m hurdles final, achieving Olympic Gold and a place in history.
Gunnell worked even harder during the off-season of 1992/3, building in a raft of changes to her nutrition, physical and technical training, but on arrival to the World Championships in Stuttgart, Germany, Gunnell developed a heavy cold. She managed to battle through qualifying and make the final. Such was her state of illness, the night before the race that she called a press conference to announce her withdrawal. At the last minute, she had a change of heart and pulled the conference, and although feeling well below par, Sally stormed to the Gold, setting a new World Record in the process.
No other woman has held Commonwealth, European, World and Olympic track titles concurrently and although her world record has since been broken, she is recognised as an icon of British sport.
Sally was part of the BBC Sport team until 2006, interviewing athletes on the finish line and bringing the trackside atmosphere into millions of living rooms across the UK. She has appeared in numerous TV shows including A Question of Sport and Total Wipeout, and is a regular on TV breakfast news sofas and radio interviews. Now, she promotes health and wellbeing across the UK, and is a passionate supporter of initiatives that encourage families to be more active.
Gwen Mostyn, editor of Meat Management magazine, commented: “We are absolutely thrilled that Sally Gunnell will be with us as our host on Friday 20th November, and once again we look forward to another fantastic evening at the 5-star Royal Lancaster Hotel to celebrate brilliant talent and achievement right across the UK and Irish meat industry.”
Early bird table discount: Booking a table now will save £155 compared to the normal price. Click here to learn more.
Partnership opportunity: Very limited availability remains for partnership participation; click here for details or email michelle.i@yandellmedia.com.
Visit the official website: www.womeninmeatawards.com.
With thanks to the 2026 WIMIA partners:
