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Rory Leonard (born 13 February 2001) is a British track and field athlete who competes as a long distance runner. In 2023, he won gold at the European U23 Athletics Championships over 10,000 metres.[1]
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | British |
| Born | 13 February 2001 |
| Sport | |
| Sport | Athletics |
| Event(s) | 10,000 metres, cross country |
| Club | Morpeth Harriers |
Medal record | |
Early and personal life
From Ampleforth, in Yorkshire,[2] he attended The King Edward VI School, Morpeth.[3] Leonard competed at the European Youth Olympics in 2018. From 2021, he attended Oklahoma State University where he studied English literature and philosophy. He runs for Morpeth Harriers.[4] He was coached by his father Tony as a youngster, and both his parents competed collegiately at the University of Arkansas, with his mother Sharon winning an English Schools silver medal in cross country in the 1980s.[5]
Career
Summarize
Perspective
In 2019, he was English National under-20 cross country champion and subsequently raced for Great Britain at the World Cross Country Championships in Aarhus.[6]
He finished 16th in 2021 and 11th in 2022 at the European Cross Country Championships. In 2023, he set personal best times over 3000m indoors (8:07.97) and 10,000m (28:21.30).[1] That year, he won gold at the 2023 European Athletics U23 Championships over 10,000 metres in Espoo.[3] He placed third in the 5lm race at the 2023 Great North Run in Newcastle upon Tyne in September 2023.[7]
In February 2024, he set a new personal best time of 13:31 in Monaco over 5km, which placed him seventh on the all time UK list.[8] In April 2024, he lowered that personal best to 13:29.54 in Battersea.[9] He ran a 10,000 metres personal best on the track in London in May 2024, running 27:38.39.[10] That month, he was selected to run the 10,000 metres for Britain at the 2024 European Athletics Championships in Rome.[11]
He was selected for the British team for the 2024 European Cross Country Championships in Antalya, Turkey where he finished ninth and won the bronze medal in the team race with Great Britain.[12][13]
Leonard broke the British men's 10km road race record at the 10K Valencia, Spain, on 12 January 2025, recording a time of 27 minutes 38 seconds, which took six seconds off the previous mark set by Mo Farah in 2010 and equalled by Emile Cairess in 2022.[14]
References
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