Jacob Paul (born 6 February 1995) is a British

hurdler Hurdling is the act of jumping over an obstacle at a high speed or in a sprint. In the early 19th century, hurdlers ran at and jumped over each hurdle (sometimes known as 'burgles'), landing on both feet and checking their forward motion. Today, ...

who won the 400 metres hurdles event at the

2019 British Athletics Championships The 2019 British Athletics Championships was the national championship in outdoor track and field for athletes in the United Kingdom, held from 24 to 25 August 2019 at Alexander Stadium in Birmingham. It was organised by UK Athletics. A full range ...

. He competed for England at the

2018 Commonwealth Games The 2018 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXI Commonwealth Games and also known as Gold Coast 2018, was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth that were held on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, bet ...

Gold Coast Gold Coast may refer to: Places Africa * Gold Coast (region), in West Africa, which was made up of the following colonies, before being established as the independent nation of Ghana: ** Portuguese Gold Coast (Portuguese, 1482–1642) ** Dutch G ...

, Australia.

Personal life

Paul is from

Banstead Banstead is a town in the borough of Reigate and Banstead in Surrey, England. It is south of Sutton, south-west of Croydon, south-east of Kingston-upon-Thames, and south of Central London. On the North Downs, it is on three of the four main ...

, Surrey. He studied at the

University of Bath (Virgil, Georgics II) , mottoeng = Learn the culture proper to each after its kind , established = 1886 (Merchant Venturers Technical College) 1960 (Bristol College of Science and Technology) 1966 (Bath University of Technology) 1971 (univ ...

, and graduated in 2016.

Career

In the 2010 season, he led the under-17

decathlon The decathlon is a combined event in Athletics (sport), athletics consisting of ten track and field events. The word "decathlon" was formed, in analogy to the word "pentathlon", from Greek language, Greek δέκα (''déka'', meaning "ten") and ...

rankings, before choosing to switch to

hurdling Hurdling is the act of jumping over an obstacle at a high speed or in a sprint. In the early 19th century, hurdlers ran at and jumped over each hurdle (sometimes known as 'burgles'), landing on both feet and checking their forward motion. Today, ...

. He competed at the

2011 Commonwealth Youth Games The 2011 Commonwealth Youth Games, officially known as the IV Commonwealth Youth Games, and commonly known as Isle Of Man 2011, is a multi-sport event which took place from 7 to 13 September 2011 in the British Crown Dependency of Isle of Man. As ...

on the

Isle of Man ) , anthem = "O Land of Our Birth" , image = Isle of Man by Sentinel-2.jpg , image_map = Europe-Isle_of_Man.svg , mapsize = , map_alt = Location of the Isle of Man in Europe , map_caption = Location of the Isle of Man (green) in Europe ...

, finishing fourth, and also the 2011 European Youth Summer Olympic Festival. at the

2013 European Athletics Junior Championships The 2013 European Athletics Junior Championships was the 22nd edition of the biennial athletics competition between European athletes in under twenty. It was held in Rieti, Italy from 18 to 21 July. The medal table was topped by Great Britain with ...

, Paul came third in the 400m hurdles event. He competed at the

2017 Summer Universiade The 2017 Summer Universiade (), officially known as the XXIX Summer Universiade ( zh, t=第二十九屆夏季世界大學運動會, p=Dì èrshíjiǔ jiè xiàjì shìjiè dàxué yùndònghuì) and commonly called Taipei 2017 ( zh, t=台北2 ...

, finishing third in his semi-final and missing out on the final by one place. In 2017, Paul came second in the British Championships, in a personal best time of 49.49, which was the first time he had run under 50 seconds. In the same year, he came fifth in the European U-23 Championships. Paul received a late call up to the

, Australia after

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

Greg Rutherford Gregory James Rutherford MBE (born 17 November 1986) is a retired British track and field athlete who specialised in the long jump. He represented Great Britain at the Olympics, World and European Championships, and England at the Commonwealth ...

withdrew from the Games. The Games were Paul's first major senior championship. In 2019, Paul won the 400 metres hurdles event at the

British Athletics Championships The British Athletics Championships is the premier national championship in track and field held in the United Kingdom, and are organised by British Athletics. The event has doubled as the main trials meet for international team selection for maj ...

. In 2021, Paul won the 400 metres hurdles event at the National Athletics League, and came third in the event at the

2021 British Athletics Championships The 2021 British Athletics Championships was the national championships in outdoor track and field for athletes in the United Kingdom, which also served as the main qualifying event for athletics competitors for the delayed 2020 Summer Olympics ...

. He was not selected for the delayed

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

. At the

2022 European Athletics Championships The 2022 European Athletics Championships were the 25th edition of the European Athletics Championships and were held in Munich, Germany, from 15 to 21 August 2022. They were part of the European Championships, a multi-sport tournament which brin ...

, Paul was eliminated in the semi-finals of the 400 metres hurdles event, after finishing fifth in his semi-final. He set personal best times in both the heats and semi-finals.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Paul, Jacob 1995 births Living people People from Banstead Athletes from London British hurdlers English hurdlers Commonwealth Games competitors for England Athletes (track and field) at the 2018 Commonwealth Games British Athletics Championships winners Alumni of the University of Bath