The Peckham-born athlete regularly won the sprint events at her school’s sports day, but when teachers decided to hold a 100m contest between the fastest students in Years 7, 8, 9 and 10, they were astounded when Imani-Lara hit the finish line first.

Her father, Richard, said, “It was something the school had never done before but she won that as a Year 7 student. At that point I felt the talent was enough to start pushing her more so we sent her to get coached.”

Now, as a Team GB member, Imani-Lara has the backing of National Lottery funding which allows her to train full-time and have access to world-class coaches, facilities and medical support. When it comes to elite athletes, your ticket is their ticket to Paris.

While 26-year-old Imani-Lara is undoubtedly one of the best athletes to emerge from Peckham, she faces a battle to be South London’s premier sprinter. Ever since she came into the sport she has been following in the footsteps of Orpington’s Dina Asher-Smith, the fastest British woman in history.

They first met in 2014 on the other side of the world, having both been selected for the World Junior Championships in Oregon. Imani-Lara, who is two years younger than Dina, cheered her compatriot on as she won the 100m title.

While her admiration for Dina is evident, Imani-Lara is keen to forge her own path. She said, “I want to have my own journey and story. I’m sure our paths will be very different in sport as we get older.”

For the moment, the two sprinters’ stories are still intertwined as they have shared the podium at European, Commonwealth, World and Olympic level.

A breakthrough for Imani-Lara’s career came in 2020 when she won her first ever national medal – a gold one at that. It was her first and so far only individual title, with her international success coming in relay events.

But there are clear signs she is still building in the run-up to Paris 2024. In September last year she ran the 100m in 10.99 seconds, becoming only the third British woman to post a sub-11 second time in the event. It underlined her ability to bounce back, having been disqualified from the 100m at the World Championships in Budapest just a couple of weeks earlier.

Her ability to move on quickly was honed at Tokyo 2020, her debut Olympic Games. Having arrived in Japan under strict Covid protocols, Imani-Lara was one of a number of athletes forced to isolate for 20 hours a day having shared a flight with someone who returned a positive Covid test.

She passed the time by writing a play about Peckham, the London suburb she called home until the age of 10. The play – Armour of Gaza – was performed just a few months after she returned from Tokyo with a bronze medal.

She said, “I didn’t tell anyone that I was writing it. I was really nervous it wasn’t going to be good and even though I really enjoyed it, you’re always apprehensive about people seeing you in a new light. I read it to my boyfriend and when he said it was really good I was like ‘OK, now I’ll tell everyone’.”

26th July 2024