Morgan Lake admits complacency got the better of her in premature Paris 2024 exit

By Will Jennings at Stade de France

Morgan Lake admits complacency may have got the better of her after crashing out of the Olympics at the first hurdle.

The Loughborough University graduate, 27, was unable to leap into Sunday’s final as a jump of 1.88m proved insufficient to progress in Paris.

Eight years ago at the age of just 19, Lake became the first British woman to compete in an Olympic high jump final since 1992 before a foot injury suffered in Tokyo scuppered her hopes of doing the same last time out.

She harboured significant hopes of challenging for a medal in Paris but her third Games campaign fell flat as she finished 0.04m off the qualification spots at the Stade de France.

And she reckons looking too far ahead towards the final may have cost her dear.

“It’s not at all what I wanted,” said Lake, who featured in Path to Paris: The Hunt for Gold - a new documentary, supported by The National Lottery, in the build-up to the Games.

“It’s not been the best season after last year, and I’m still not quite sure what went on.

“I was maybe thinking ahead to Sunday too much, focusing on the final before I even got through qualifying.

“It’s something I should be used to. This is my third Olympics now and every round matters, and you can’t take any round for granted.

“I think I was playing a bit of maths, working out how many people had cleared, and if I was still through.

“I thought I was on my last attempt, but turned out I wasn’t.”

Lake is one of over 1,000 elite athletes on UK Sport’s National Lottery-funded World Class Programme, allowing her to train full time, have access to the world’s best coaches and benefit from pioneering medical support.

Lake became a six-time British champion by the age of 24 and away from the sport, has used her platform to raise awareness of issues including women’s body positivity and racial justice.

And away from that, she has also juggled her sporting commitments with studying for a degree in psychology at Loughborough University.

Despite a topsy-turvy season, she came into Paris feeling strong and was left with more questions than answers as her wait for an Olympic medal went on.

“I felt really good coming into today – I jumped 1.95m the week before this and have been clearing 90s in training quite comfortably,” she added.

“I knew it would take probably about 1.95m to qualify, so I was definitely ready to jump that today.

“I’ve still not processed what quite went wrong, so we’ll see.”

With more than £30M a week raised for Good Causes, including vital funding into elite and grassroots sport, National Lottery players support our Olympic and Paralympic athletes to live their dreams and make the nation proud, as well as providing more opportunities for people to take part in sport. To find out more visit: www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk