It’s been a pretty good year for Leicester’s triple-jump star, Laura Samuel. The 19-year-old has claimed a silver medal in the World Junior Championships in Canada, leapt to a UK record jump at the British Senior Championships and cemented her place in the England squad for next month’s Commonwealth Games.

For someone that leaves the ground with such enthusiasm, Laura is incredibly down to earth, providing Soar Magazine with an honest appraisal of her year so far.

“It started out a bit sticky, actually. My aim was to qualify for the World Juniors and I found it a bit hard. I won my junior British Championships, but I still didn’t qualify for the World Juniors as I needed to jump 13.20m. I went to the Senior British Championships and got a personal best of 13.52m in my last jump, a British record. I went to the World Juniors ranked fifth and after two no-jumps I just scraped through jumping 12.98m. In the final I screwed my head on, really went for it and got a silver medal, which was another PB and British record.”

Laura explained how it felt to hit top form in Canada and admitted that she’s already excited about the Commonwealth Games taking place in India this October.

“It was a great feeling to win that medal, jumping in front of such a massive crowd. Going to the Commonwealth Games will top that and I can’t wait to go to Delhi. I was hoping to be included, but when I found out for definite I was just glad to get my place.”

A keen athlete from an early age, Samuel explained how she got into the sport and revealed that her coach, Glenys Morton, suggested the conversion to triple-jump.

“I was nine and someone came to my school to teach sprinting. I was always the fastest in the class and he said I should come down to the track. I joined one athletics club, but left when I was eleven because they didn’t take it as seriously and it was all about having fun. I wanted to do it seriously so I went to Leicester Coritanians and I’ve been there ever since.

“I did sprinting for six years, long jump for two years and this is my second year doing triple jump. It wasn’t a huge change from long jump to triple jump. I was English junior champion in long jump and my coach just said one day, ‘you’re doing triple jump today!’ In my second competition I became British Junior Champion and thought ‘I may as well carry on doing this.’ I enjoyed triple-jump straight away, it’s more exciting.”

Laura paid tribute to her coach and also revealed the other athletes that have inspired her.

“My coach has definitely been one of my main influences. I wouldn’t be where I was today without her. She motivates me. I train with Eden Francis, who’s a shot and discus thrower and two-years older than me. She’s travelled around the world since she was young and inspires me quite a lot. Looking at someone more famous, it would be triple-jumper, Phillips Idowu, who is also coming out to the Commonwealth Games.

“People like Phillips are really approachable for advice. We have a jumps camp every month in the winter and Phillips has been there once and he’s really nice. I also met Jonathan Edwards during a meal at Warwick Castle and we talked about triple-jump.”

The focused but extremely amiable Samuel gave us an idea of the dedication required in her training and also the sacrifices she has to make in terms of her social life.

“It depends on the time of the year, but winter training is six days a week and includes weight training, sprints, speed training, circuits, a lot of core, sand work and I even try and swim and jog to keep my fitness up.

“It can be quite hard to balance my social life and my athletics, but obviously it’s my dream and I want to do it, so it’s my choice. My friends are alright with it as they can see I’m doing well and I do try to fit them in somewhere!”

Laura ended by paying tribute to the funding provided by Go Gold, her sponsors, and also detailed her ambitions for the future.

“The Go Gold funding helps a lot with kit and travelling expenses. I get a lot of funding from Samworth brothers and they’re a great sponsor. I got a lot of kit from Go Gold and that comes in quarterly every year so it spreads out.

“To become a world class athlete is my true goal, but you’ve got to take stepping stones to get there, including the Commonwealths, then the European Under 23’s. Hopefully, then I can step to the World Championships and the Olympics in 2012.”

Laura is an ambassador for the Go Gold Talented Athlete Fund, which was set up by Leicester-Shire and Rutland Sport to provide local sports stars with substantial cash backing in their bid to become the best in their sport.

For more information on the Go Gold Talented Athlete Fund visit www.lrsport.org/gogold