Leon Baptiste

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Leon Baptiste
Personal information
Nationality British
Born (1985-05-23) 23 May 1985 (age 38)
Sport
SportRunning
Event200 metres
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)100m: 10.26 s (Geneva 2008)
200m: 20.45 s (Delhi 2010)[1]
Medal record
Men’s
Athletics
Representing  England
Commonwealth Games
Gold medal – first place 2010 Delhi 200 m
Gold medal – first place 2010 Delhi
4x100 m relay
Representing  Great Britain
European Junior Championships
Gold medal – first place 2003 Tampere 100 m

Leon Baptiste (born 23 May 1985) is a retired English

European junior champion in 2004 and won his first major title six years later by taking the 200 m gold medal at the 2010 Commonwealth Games held in Delhi. He competes domestically for Enfield and Haringey Athletic Club[2] and is coached by Michael Khmel at Loughborough University alongside the likes of Harry Aikines-Aryeetey, Tim Abeyu and James Dasaolu.[3]

Athletics career

Junior career

Baptiste chose

4x100 metres relay team to win his second gold of the competition.[5] As a result, he was named junior male athlete of the year by the British Athletics Writers' Association.[6] At the annual UK AAA Junior championships Baptiste won the 200 m title for three years in a row in 2002, 2003 and 2004 and the 100 m title twice in 2003 and 2004.[7]

In 2004 he improved his 100 m best to 10.33 sec with a run in Watford.[1] Aiming to build upon his European junior title, he ran at the 2004 World Junior Championships. However, in the 100 m semi-finals he was eliminated after finishing third, beaten out of qualification by James Ellington.[8]

Senior competition

His progress in the 100 metres stalled as he moved into the senior ranks and it was not until 2008, when he ran 10.26 sec in Geneva, that he improved upon his 2004 performance.[1] He began to focus on running the 200 metres instead and finished sixth in the event final at the 2007 European Athletics U23 Championships. The next year he set a 200 m best of 20.76 sec to take third place in the British Olympic Trials.[2] Baptiste won consecutive UK indoor titles over 200 m in 2009 and 2010,[9] which included an indoor best of 20.90 sec to become the third fastest European that year.[10][11]

2010 Commonwealth Games

On 10 October 2010 Baptiste won the 200 m gold medal at the

Ryan Scott, Mark Lewis-Francis and Marlon Devonish, Baptiste picked up his second gold medal of the games as the relay team finished with a time of 38.75 sec pipping the Jamaicans.[14]
On 12 May 2014 Baptiste announced his retirement from competitive sport but will concentrate on his coaching career. (Source, "Athletics Weekly")http://www.athleticsweekly.com/featured/leon-baptiste-retirement-2800/

References

  1. ^
    International Association of Athletics Federations
    (2010). Retrieved 13 October 2010.
  2. ^ a b Leon Baptiste at Power of 10
  3. ^ Dasaolu, James; "Midweek Speak", UK Athletics, 13 May 2009. Retrieved 13 October 2010.
  4. ^ "One for the future: Leon Baptiste, 18-year-old European junior 100m champion", The Sunday Times, 28 March 2004. Retrieved 13 October 2010.
  5. IAAF
    . Retrieved on 2010-10-17.
  6. ^ Radcliffe lands award. BBC Sport (2003-10-18). Retrieved on 2010-10-16.
  7. ^ "Results: AAA Junior championships", GBRAthletics.com. Retrieved 13 October 2010.
  8. IAAF
    (2004-07-13). Retrieved on 2010-10-17.
  9. IAAF
    . Retrieved on 2010-10-17.
  10. IAAF
    . Retrieved on 2010-10-17.
  11. IAAF
    (2010-05-21). Retrieved on 2010-10-17.
  12. ^ "Commonwealth Games - Athletics: Sprint gold for Baptiste", Yahoo! News, 10 October 2010. Retrieved 13 October 2010.
  13. ^ "Baptiste roars to gold in Delhi", Sportsbeat, 10 October 2010. Retrieved 13 October 2010.
  14. ^ Morethanthegames | Lewis Francis anchors sprint relay team for gold
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