Authored by Debra Booker
A second visit in a month to the Sheffield Institute of Sport stadium saw Leila take another gold medal. After topping the podium in the triple jump in February, she overcame the UK’s top combined event athletes to win the under 17 Pentathlon gold.
A field of 29 athletes started the day with the 60m hurdles, an event which laid the foundations for Leila’s success with a personal best of 9.16 seconds. That time set a new ESM club record, and put her in 5th place overall. A nerve-jangling start to the high jump, in which she only cleared her opening height at the 3rd and final attempt, eventually saw her gain top spot overall despite being 11cm short of her season’s best with 1m57. Shot Put followed, the event that Leila has found most challenging. But a second personal best of the day helped her limit her points loss to her rivals, meaning she started the long jump, her strongest event, in 4th place. The first round of jumps saw seven athletes surpass the 5m mark, and the overall lead change hands several times. But Leila’s 2nd round leap of 5m60 propelled her to the top of the leaderboard, with only the 800m to go. Smart tactics and maximum effort would be required for Leila to hang on to her slender lead of 30 points. But despite a final heat packed with strong runners, Leila more than held her own, coming in 3rd and extending her overall lead to take Gold!
Leila’s points total of 3459 was her third personal best of the day and another ESM record. And this national victory, as a first year U17, marks the end of a super-successful indoor season. Sights are now set on competing across both individual and combined events for ESM this summer.
Follow Leila on Insta: @leilanewth_
Read more here: https://www.englandathletics.org/news/u15-u17-indoor-combined-event-championships-and-indoor-junior-para-championships-superb-season-finale/