| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nationality | British | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 13 February 2001 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Athletics | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Event(s) | 10,000 metres, cross country | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Club | Morpeth Harriers | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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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]
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]
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]
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. [7] In April 2024, he lowered that personal best to 13:29.54 in Battersea. [8] He ran a 10,000 metres personal best on the track in London in May 2024, running 27:38.39. [9] That month, he was selected to run the 10,000 metres for Britain at the 2024 European Athletics Championships in Rome. [10]
The 10,000 metres or the 10,000-metre run is a common long-distance track running event. The event is part of the athletics programme at the Olympic Games and the World Athletics Championships, and is common at championship-level events. The race consists of 25 laps around an Olympic-sized track. It is less commonly held at track and field meetings due to its duration. The 10,000-metre track race is usually distinguished from its road running counterpart, the 10K run, by referring to the distance in metres rather than kilometres.
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