Website fastrunning.com has written a fantastic article on GLL Sport Foundation supported athlete Imani Lansiquot. Imani is the second fastest British junior of all time, being only behind GSF ambassador Dina Asher-Smith. She has a bright future ahead of her, but also has the ambition to inspire young women and become a psychologist. Read more below from Niall Hugh’s article.
Born and raised in Peckham and now living in Croydon, sport, and in particular sprinting, was where she first discovered her talents and potential from a young age.
“Growing up in an inner-city area, going to an inner city primary and secondary school, it’s really important to me to inspire young women. I want to be that encouragement and show that there is more to life than where you are from, your background or who you are. You can fulfil your potential in any area you choose and sport was that for me. It let me magnify my confidence and that then flowed out into all other areas of my life,” says the 19-year-old.
The captain of the Great Britain team at the World U20 Championships in 2016, Lansiquot became the second fastest ever British teenager, behind Dina-Asher Smith, clocking 11.17 in her 100m heat. She has also won relay gold at the European U20 Championships in 2015 and has consistently performed at the English School Championships.
In September, she was announced as one of 10 to win a place on the coveted Sky Sports Scholarship programme, and over the next four years, she will be financially supported as an athlete as she targets the Tokyo Olympics in 2020 and beyond. The scholarship also offers sporting and business mentorship, personal development and work experience, and Lansiquot hopes the network of people she meets along the way can help assist with her aim to inspire other young women.
“I want to do a lot of work to help young women from my area get involved in sport, and I think Sky has all the connections that can help me put that into action,” says the ambitious young sprinter.
Lansiquot won’t face the financial burden experienced by many aspiring young athletes who train full-time and dream of performing on the world stage, but initially she was event hesitant about applying, unsure if she was the right fit, but after getting advice from sprint great Darren Campbell, she decided to go ahead with her application.
“Darren has been a Sky mentor to scholars, so his opinion was important and it helped convince me to apply,” she says. “The application asked me about who I am, why I wanted the scholarship, what I have achieved to date, what I think I can achieve in the future and my interests outside of athletics.”