Young long jumper and sprinter has a promising future, predicts Herne Hill coach

Ore Adamson, the youngest athlete to be featured in our ‘Young Athlete’ profiles, has not been competing for long, writes Steve Roe.

But the 12-year-old has a bright future and Les Johnson, Ore s coach at Herne Hill Harriers, is as convinced of that now as he was when they got together just about a year ago.

I run a squad called Premier Track and Field, which consists of a number of gifted athletes,” he explains. When Ore joined it was immediately obvious that this pleasant young lady was a star in the making.

Now when I watch her performing I think ‘We have a phenomenal talent here .”

Such praise from a coach is to be expected, of course, but Johnson s part in Ore s success cannot be understated. Under his guidance, the south London born athlete topped the UK rankings this summer as an under-13 long jumper, and, when sprinting, was the second-best in her age-group for 150m.

There is no doubt in Ore s mind as to which event she prefers. Unequivocally, she states, it s the long jump. The reasoning behind the choice is easy to see. At the close of the 2013 season she had a PB of 4.78m. Now it s 5.23m; no wonder then that both the athlete and her coach believe next year s English Schools title when Ore will be a first-year under-15 is a realistic target.

Holly Mills of Andover was the 2014 Schools winner with 5.76m. Ore, says Johnson, can certainly get close to that mark and, to stress the point, he regularly brings out a tape measure to show her the difference in the personal bests of the two girls.

If Johnson s thoroughness is one thing, Ore also has training partners who have been there, done it and definitely got the proverbial T-shirt. They include Natasha Alfred an English Schools under-15 relay gold medallist this year as well as Marvin Popoola, who won the senior boys 200m title at the same meeting and later competed in the World Junior Championships.

Another role model for the Streatham & Clapham High School pupil is also a member of Herne Hill, Jade Johnson, who twice competed in the long jump for Britain at the Olympic Games.

Ore says: I think she is a very inspirational person, also an incredible long jumper. And I would like to be as good or even better!”

Even if Ore doesn t reach such heights there are other strings to her sporting bow; she competes for the Chelsea Fencing Club and is a member of Crystal Palace Netball Club.

It would seem, too, that Ore s talents are inherited, for her mum was an athlete also a sprinter and long jumper when with a club in Essex.

Nowadays Bola Adamsom is a proud spectator to Ore s success and would have felt particularly pleased with her daughter s performance during last month s Surrey Relay Championships.

Then, at Carshalton, Herne Hill were trailing at the final changeover of the under-13 4x100m, only for Ore to thrill spectators with a storming last leg, which not only snatched victory but enabled her club to break a long-standing championship best performance.

It is not the only time Ore has been involved in breaking a meeting record. Her long jump PB, set at a Southern Inter-County match in July, bettered a mark set previously by Morgan Lake.

The progress of Lake to, among many things, the IAAF World Junior Championships has been remarkable. The question is: can Ore go that far as well?

You can find further performance stats on Ore on Power of 10 here.

Support young athletics via the Ron Pickering Memorial Fund, see rpmf.org.uk

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