Abigail Irozuru (born 3 January 1990, in Manchester) is an English track and field athlete, specialising in long jump.[1] She was sponsored by Virgin Trains West Coast and had a Class 390 Pendolino train named after her in September 2011.[2]
 Irozuru at the 2020 Gyulai Memorial | ||
| Medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
Representing  Great Britain
| ||
| Women's athletics | ||
| Commonwealth Youth Games | ||
 |
2008 Pune | Long jump |
She competed for the Sale Harriers, the same club as former Great Britain athletes Diane Modahl and Darren Campbell.[3]
Early life
editIrozuru was born in Manchester. Both of her parents are from the Igbo people of Nigeria.[4]
Career
editIrozuru began participating in athletics as a 14-year-old after she excelled at a youth athletics match by winning the 100 m, 200 m, 4 × 100 m and the long jump.[citation needed] This led to an invitation by Ian Wiltshire to start training at the City of Manchester Stadium before its conversion to a full football stadium.[citation needed] Her talent quickly shone through and in 2006 Irozuru won Silver at both the English Schools Championships and British Schools Championships competing against highly accomplished young jumpers.[citation needed]
After establishing herself as an elite junior athlete, Irozuru moved to London to study for a law degree at University College London where she firstly worked with UK Athletics head long and triple jumps coach John Herbert who also coached Jade Johnson to the 2008 Summer Olympics.[citation needed] Her current coach is Larry Achike who helped her achieve 2012 National Indoor Long Jump Silver and Gold in her first senior international in Bratislava. On Saturday 9 June 2012 at the Georgi Pavlov International Athletics Meeting in Sofia, Bulgaria Irozuru jumped 6.80m in the sixth round, setting a new personal best and meeting the Olympic A Qualifying distance for the 2012 Summer Olympics.[5] On the 24 June 2012 at the Aviva Olympic Trials & UK Championships in Birmingham she was disappointed to jump 6.48[6] which meant she had to compete at the 2012 European Athletics Championships in Helsinki, Finland.
After retiring in 2016, she made a comeback in 2019,[7] improving her personal best to 6.86 m, and reaching the final (placing seventh) at the World Championships in Doha.
Personal life
editIrozuru is a Christian. When asked in an interview with Christian magazine Woman Alive how she would choose to label herself, she remarked 'I always try to start with being a daughter of the Almighty God - my dad calls me that. And an athlete for sure, and a speaker. I'm a coach and a daughter, a sister... so much'.[4]
References
edit- ^ "Athlete Profile".
- ^ Athletes given helping hand by Virgin Trains: Long Jumper Abigail Irozuru gets Virgin Pendolino train named after her Virgin Trains 28 September 2011
- ^ "Rankings and Records". Archived from the original on 20 March 2012. Retrieved 27 March 2012.
- ^ a b Fisher, Toya-Doll (1 September 2023). "Jesus first, Olympics second". Woman Alive. Retrieved 3 September 2023.
- ^ "ABIGAIL IROZURU Long Jump 6m80 - Sofia, Bulgaria". YouTube.
- ^ "Aviva 2012 Trials - Abigail Irozuru Long Jump Women's Final". YouTube.
- ^ Meet Abigail Irozuru, the once retired long-jumper, businesswoman and World Championships debutant The Daily Telegraph 22 September 2019
