A University of Greenwich student and star athlete is hoping to qualify for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo and compete in the 110m hurdles.
Khai Riley Laborde, who is in the third year of his media and communications undergraduate degree, is a talented hurdler and rising sports star.
After an outstanding performance, Khai won second place in the European Championships, and has been undefeated three times in the British University Championships.
Dedicated to developing sporting talent, the university has awarded Khai the prestigious Ann Packer Sports Scholarship – named after world record-breaking and Olympic medal-winning alumna Ann Packer.
Speaking about the Olympic qualifiers and training at the university’s Avery Hill campus, Khai said:“I’m currently training for the qualifiers for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. The standard is 13.4 seconds and I’ve run 13.5 seconds, but I feel like with help from my coach and the university, I’ll be able to achieve that.
“I’m blown away by the facilities they’ve got here. Just from testing my leg that has been injured from the summer, and getting some results to find out where it is compared to my other leg and comparing their strengths. I’ve noticed there’s a pod calibrating system which measures accurate BMIs and a specialised treadmill, which is very rare to find in this country. I think I’ve come across it only twice, so all that can benefit me and is what I need in order to progress in my sport, so yeah, I’m very impressed.”
“The lecturers are always there to help, not to mention everyone that’s helping me on my way to reaching the Olympic Games.”
Head of Sport Strategy Marianne Boyle said, ‘We are delighted to have an athlete the standard of Khai receive the Ann Packer Sports Scholarships in its first year and hope it will provide some support to enable him to keep up his demanding training schedule whilst he studies at the university. The university scholarship scheme caters for athletes competing at county/regional level right up to international so if you are thinking of coming to university and can demonstrate sporting prowess be sure to check it out.’
To find out more about studying at the university and the sport facilities available at the Avery Hill campus, attend an Open Day on Saturday, 23 November 2019.
For more information: https://www.gre.ac.uk/events/opendays?c=opendays
University of Greenwich has been providing higher education for over 125 years. It has over 20,000 UK and international students studying at three campuses in the UK, and an additional 17,000 students studying overseas.