Beyond the Sand Pit

By Armen Kanikanian

Long before British records and competitions, family visits to Leila’s grandparents in Bournemouth usually included one tradition. No visit was complete without a trip to the beach.

While most children would have been building sandcastles, Leila and her older sister, Zairah, preferred to create a makeshift long jump runway, seeing who could jump the furthest. At the time, it was simply childhood.

Today, 15-year-old Leila Newth is one of Britain’s brightest young triple jumpers. There are some athletes who announce themselves with noise. Others simply let their performances do the talking. Leila falls firmly into the second category. She has never sought the spotlight. Instead, she has quietly earned it – winning 13 national championship titles across the long jump, triple jump and combined events, while earning selection to represent both English Schools and Great Britain.

Away from athletics, Leila is much like any other teenager from West London. Having recently finished her GCSEs at Elthorne Park High School, she describes herself as friendly, easy-going and confident.

She enjoys spending time with friends, listening to music, discovering new places to eat and admits sushi is a particular favourite.

She’s also a fan of The Office, which she first watched with her family during lockdown and has happily watched all over again.

Had athletics not found her, Leila says she would probably have thrown herself into singing and acting instead.

She also has a talent that surprises plenty of people. Leila can name all 197 countries in the world and knows exactly where they are. It may not help her jump further, but if geography ever appears in a pub quiz, everyone else may as well put their pens down.

Looking back, the first person to recognise Leila’s natural ability wasn’t a coach at all. It was her dad, Martin, who realised she had a knack for jumping long before athletics became part of her life.

When Leila joined ESM in 2021, she trained in Tim Hannah’s sprint group, developing her speed while building a strong foundation in hurdles. As her all-round athletic ability became increasingly apparent, working with Debra Booker in the long jump and Bob Densley in the high jump made combined events a natural direction for her development, a discipline she continues to compete in today. Later, Debra recognised Leila’s natural aptitude for the triple jump and encouraged her to give the event a try. She took to it immediately.

The more she practised it, the more she enjoyed its technical challenge. She competed in the Southern Counties Championships at Horspath in 2023, won the competition with a jump of over 11 metres and never looked back.

As Leila puts it:

“They say you don’t pick your event — your event picks you.”

Today, she trains under specialist coach Dave Johnson, who continues to guide her development.

One thing quickly becomes clear: Leila loves to compete, not because she has to, but because she genuinely enjoys it.

“I love getting the crowd involved during the competition,” she says. “I can start a clap and it really helps me feel energised and ready to jump.”

For Leila, the atmosphere is all part of the occasion. It’s not just about the jump itself; it’s about sharing the moment with everyone watching.

Then there’s the story of her hairstyle.

Most athletes worry about fouls.

Leila worries about her hair.

She laughs as she remembers one competition where her ponytail left a mark in the sand behind where she had actually landed, leaving the officials to measure from the mark her hair had made instead.

These days, the ponytail has been replaced by a bun.

Problem solved.

On 19 July 2026, at the European Championships in Rieti, Italy, Leila broke the British Under-18 record with a jump of 13.16 metres. At the time, she didn’t even realise what she had achieved.

“I was just thinking about trying to jump over 13 metres,” she says. “I hadn’t realised no British Under-18 athlete had done that before.”

Despite everything she has already achieved, Leila remains remarkably grounded. She dreams of representing Great Britain at the Olympic Games one day, but speaks with the patience of someone happy to let the future arrive in its own time.

“I’m just taking things one step at a time.”

Her father, Martin, perhaps sums her up best.

“We’ve never had to drag Leila to training. Even when it’s dark, cold and raining sideways, she’s always keen to go.

More than anything, I’m proud of the person she is. She’s thoughtful, kind and always makes time for other people, even when she has a lot going on herself.”

Years from now there will almost certainly be more championships, more medals and even greater distances. Perhaps one day, when the time is right, Leila will return to that beach in Bournemouth and recreate the photograph taken all those years ago. And somewhere between those two photographs will be the story of a little girl who loved to jump… and the athlete she became.

The distance she jumps may be very different.

The smile, hopefully, will be exactly the same.

After all, some journeys are remembered not for where they ended, but for where they began.