Part of our Young Athlete series AW speaks with English Schools 100m champion Imani Lansiquot

Fuelled  by the disappointment of failing to get the baton around, yet motivated by the overall experience of being part of the 4x100m team at the IAAF World Junior Championships earlier this season, 16-year-old Imani Lansiquot hopes to take her sprinting to the next level as she moves up to the under-20 age group next year.

The Sutton athlete has won the English Schools and England Athletics under-17 100m titles this year and improved her PB to 11.60 to go eighth on the UK under-17 all-time list. But the highlight for her was not winning national titles, but pulling on the GB kit in Eugene.

“The World Juniors has really changed my life and mindset,” she says. “It was brilliant to spend two weeks with such amazing athletes. The experience with the 4x100m was disappointing, but has provided me with lessons to be learned and infinite motivation for next season.

“Our relay coach Dan Cossins reminded me that the feeling I felt after the baton was dropped is one that will make me a better athlete.”

Now, Imani hopes to channel that disappointment into helping her reach her target of making the 2015 European Junior Championships.

Imani first got into athletics when she was 11, after beating older girls at her school sports day. Athletics prowess was clearly in her blood though, as her parents had been to the English Schools and had met through the sport and her grandmother had been a good sprinter.

Fast forward five years and Imani now trains four times a week at Sutton Arena with Lorna Boothe and her strength and conditioning coach William Kwatia.

“This is the first season that I have prioritised strength and conditioning and I have found that it has had a profound effect,” reveals Imani. “Lorna works me hard every session, which in turn has helped me to become a stronger athlete mentally. I love my training group and I often turn to Tremayne Gilling for advice and support, as he is like an older brother to me. My favourite session has to be a short, speedy session, like flying 110s.”

Reflecting back on a career that has so far seen her place second in the English Schools as an under-15 two years ago and returning last year to win at under-17 level and gain selection to represent England in the SIAB Schools’ International, the talented teenager is quick to credit what is often the highlight of the athletics season for school athletes.

“I feel like my experiences of English Schools have been a representation of the journey I have made through athletics. Coming second the first year gave me the drive I needed to win the following year.

“Representing England was a truly unforgettable accomplishment. This year I just wanted to run even faster than last year,” she says.

Having just started studying French, psychology, biology and English literature at Trinity School in Croydon, Imani wants to go to university at Stanford in America and study forensic psychology. But first she wants to improve further on the track.

She added: “What I love so much about the sport, is that on a track you are solely represented by your hard work and what you can do. I’ve allowed athletics to become a lifestyle instead of a hobby, which I hope will bring me to the next level as I move up an age group next year.”

You can find further performance stats on Imani on Power of 10 here.

» Support young athletics via the Ron Pickering Memorial Fund, see rpmf.org.uk