Background
Dunn was born in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England and was a member of the Trafford Athletics Club (formerly Stretford).
Dunn was born in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England and was a member of the Trafford Athletics Club (formerly Stretford).
She finished sixth in the 100 metres at the 1985 AAAs National Championships, before making rapid progress in 1986, improving her 100 m PB from 11.67 to 11.25 secs (she also ran a wind-assisted 1114), winning both the AAAs and United Kingdom National 100 metres titles.
She represented Great Britain in all three events at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul. Her personal bests of 11.15 secs in the 100 metres and 22.69 secs in the 200 metres, were the fastest times run by a British female sprinter during the 1990s. Later that year she placed seventh in the 100 metres final at the European Championships in Stuttgart.
In 1987, Dunn competed at the World Championships in Rome, reaching the semi-finals in the 100 metres.
At the 1988 Seoul Olympics, she reached the semi-finals of the 200 metres, and also competed in the 100 metres and 4x100 metres relay. She placed fourth in the 60 metres final at the 1989 European Indoor Championships, before going on to finish second at both 100 & 200 metres at the 1989 European Cup in Gateshead, finishing behind the East Germans Katrin Krabbe and Silke Moller respectively.
Between August 1986 and January 1990, Dunn was unbeaten at 100 metres by another British woman. She competed at the 1991 and 1993 World Championships.
In 1992, she had missed the entire year due to pregnancy.
In the 200 metres, she narrowly missed a medal running another lifetime best of 22.69 secretaries These times would remain the best sprint times of the decade by a British woman. She added another bronze in the sprint relay.
In 1995, she competed at her fourth World Championships in Gothenburg, reaching the semi-finals in the 200 metres.
She earned selection for the 1996 Olympic Games, but was forced to withdraw due to illness. As of 2015, Dunn ranks sixth on the United Kingdom all-time list at 100 m and ninth at 200 m.
Dunn began working for United Kingdom Athletics in 2001 and was appointed Paralympic performance manager in 2009. After London 2012, she was promoted to the position of Paralympic head coach, replacing Peter Eriksson.
She is the first female head coach appointed by United Kingdom Athletics.
6 Times AAAs National Champion – 100 metres (1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1995) 200 metres (1989).
