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 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 ...

Early and personal life

From

Ampleforth Ampleforth is a village and civil parish in the Ryedale district of North Yorkshire, England, north of York. The village is situated on the edge of the North York Moors National Park. The parish has a population of 883 according to the 2001 ...

, in Yorkshire, he attended

The King Edward VI School, Morpeth King Edward VI School, Morpeth is a voluntary controlled academy high school in Morpeth, Northumberland, England. It was established by a royal charter as Morpeth Grammar School and later as King Edward VI Grammar School. The school became a comp ...

. Leonard competed at the

European Youth Olympics The European Youth Olympic Festival (EYOF) is a biennial multi-sport event for youth (14 to 18 years old) athletes from the 50 member countries of the association of European Olympic Committees. The festival has a summer edition, held for the fir ...

in 2018. From 2021, he attended Oklahoma State University where he studied English literature and philosophy. He runs for Morpeth Harriers. 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.

Career

In 2019, he was English National under-20 cross country champion and subsequently raced for Great Britain at the

World Cross Country Championships World Athletics Cross Country Championships is the most important competition in international cross country running. Formerly held annually and organised by World Athletics (formerly the IAAF), it was inaugurated in 1973, when it replaced the Int ...

Aarhus Aarhus (, , ; officially spelled Århus from 1948 until 1 January 2011) is the second-largest city in Denmark and the seat of Aarhus Municipality. It is located on the eastern shore of Jutland in the Kattegat sea and approximately northwest ...

. He finished 16th in 2021 and 11th in 2022 at the

European Cross Country Championships The European Cross Country Championships is an annual international cross country running competition. Organised by the European Athletic Association, it is the area championships for the region and is held in December each year. The championships ...

. In 2023, he set personal best times over 3000m indoors (8:07.97) and 10,000m (28:21.30). That year, he won gold at the

2023 European Athletics U23 Championships The 2023 European Athletics U23 Championships were the 14th edition of the biennial athletics competition between European athletes under the age of twenty three. The event was organized by European Athletics Association and held from 13–16 Ju ...

over

in Espoo. 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. In April 2024, he lowered that personal best to 13:29.54 in

Battersea Battersea is a large district in south London, part of the London Borough of Wandsworth, England. It is centred southwest of Charing Cross and extends along the south bank of the River Thames. It includes the Battersea Park. History Batter ...

. He ran a 10,000 metres personal best on the track in London in May 2024, running 27:38.39. That month, he was selected to run the 10,000 metres for Britain at the

2024 European Athletics Championships The 26th European Athletics Championships will be held from 7 to 12 June 2024 at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome, Italy. It will be the third time Italy has staged this sporting the event after the inaugural 1934 edition in Turin, for men only, and t ...

in Rome.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leonard, Rory 2001 births Living people British male middle-distance runners English male cross country runners British male cross country runners 21st-century English sportspeople Sportspeople from North Yorkshire Athletes from Yorkshire English male middle-distance runners