Laura leaps to gold
Wymondham athlete Laura McDonald was leaping for joy when she landed a gold medal to add to her growing collection.She won her first-ever U17 triple jump event competition at the South of England Indoor Championships at the Lee Valley Stadium.
Wymondham athlete Laura McDonald was leaping for joy when she landed a gold medal to add to her growing collection.
She won her first-ever U17 triple jump event competition at the South of England Indoor Championships at the Lee Valley Stadium.
Many well-known competitors attended the event in order to gain qualifying times and distances ready for national and international competitions later in the season.
Athletes who won their events included Olympian and World Championship gold medallist Phillips Idowu who won the senior men's triple jump.
The Wymondham High School athlete was last year's top U15 girl in the UK for both javelin and triple jump.
She added nearly half a metre to her triple jump personal best to win the event with 11.4m - a distance that would have placed her second in the U20 Ladies' event.
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Laura succeeded in exceeding qualifying standards for the Aviva England athletics open indoor championships to be held in the National indoor arena in Birmingham at the end of February.
Her success last season and at this event was highlighted in highly-respected national magazine Athletics Weekly recently with an in-depth article.
It explains how Laura benefits from the close co-operation of Wymondham High School and her coach working closely together.
The article even suggests that this is a model that could even be adopted on a national level, to benefit other young athletes trying to juggle a sporting talent with academic demands.
Laura receives support from the Norfolk Sporting and Cultural Foundation Fund, and is sponsored by the Norse Group based in Norwich.
