Morgan Lake on Tokyo 2020, Black Lives Matter and juggling high jump with university

The uncertainty of the pandemic threw Britain’s leading high jumper out of kilter but she has found stability and focus once more as the Games finally loom into view

‘I always want to be busy, always want to be pushing myself' (Red Bull)

Energy is a finite thing in each of us, and since March it feels like we have expended more than we have had to give. Even at a time when our respective worlds have come to a juddering halt.

Morgan Lake is no different, even though the outward persona of an engaging 23-year-old – and an Olympic high jumper, no less – suggests she has more energy than most.

In March, she was preparing for her second Olympics, the one that would announce her as another superstar of British athletics. Her 10th place finish in Rio had put people on notice four years earlier. Silver medals in the Athletics World Cup and Commonwealth Games that followed were further signposts on the way to 2020.

There was also the matter of her second-year psychology exams at Loughborough University. Juggling has never been a problem, and even with a potentially career-defining Games on the horizon, her focus was never clouded. Her energy split appropriately and exactly where it needed to be.

But as the summer turned out differently, goalposts not just shifted but removed outright, Lake struggled. Not for the first time in her life, but certainly the first time she was left anxious of the world around her. Tokyo was no longer 2020, though the uncertainty of whether it might go ahead while Lake and her fellow athletes were in lockdown merely added to the crushing uncertainty for those few weeks before it was officially postponed.

And then, amid the coronavirus pandemic, the country began to ask itself tough questions about race. Lake, as a young black woman, had to deal with the duality of the situation: of seeing difficult conversations finally being had out in the open but still having to be a key part of carrying those conversations forwards.

“It took a lot out of me,” Lake tells The Independent. “It took a lot out of other people, too.

“The height of the Black Lives Matter movement, especially around George Floyd, happened during the height of lockdown. People had a lot more time at home to research and really go in-depth to find out what they can do to help and the problems as well. Having so much time to be able to invest in one thing is great. But it’s obviously very draining on mental health as well because you have to constantly access that side to you. Especially as it was the same time as my exams as well!”

The exams were fine, by the way. Lake has already begun her final year, amid winter training and those rescheduled Tokyo Games. She’ll be a year older, but, like the rest of us, feels she has aged a greater deal this time. Thankfully, there is no greater cynicism, but a sense of hope around social change.

“The main stresses for me I think… well, it was great there was so much activism and work around equality. But I did wonder if this was going to be a movement which people are going to forget about.

“I feel like it definitely has and people are still having the conversations, so that’s been great. It’s been tough but at the end of the day, it’s about raising awareness and hopefully things are going to change.”

They have to a point in Lake’s professional world. The International Olympic Committee rowed back on prohibiting athletes from taking the knee at the podium, or other forms of peaceful protest, because of objections from its members. British Athletics followed that lead to lend support to athletes wishing to show support to the Black Lives Matter movement at the British Championships last month. In a statement released ahead of the competition, the governing body did not shirk their part in the pursuit of equality: “We are not perfect and steps are being taken to ensure we live by what we say we will do.”

For Lake, the British Championships meant something different. Not just an opportunity to continue her rise, though she did that with a fifth successive title. But to get back to who she was before the world caved in on itself.

“I know I wasn’t in the exact form I wanted to be in. I mean, how could I with training in my back garden for most of the season, and little access to high jump facilities. I just had it in my head for the last few months: ‘I want to get out there and compete’. I just had to get out there and do something that felt familiar."

The frustrations from a professional point of view were manyfold, as you would expect for a high jumper. You can’t just chuck a mattress down and practice jumping over the neighbours' fence. Creativity only goes so far, and the limits certainly come before trespassing.

A lot of her training was plyometrics – explosive, “jump” exercises – combined with work in the park which she regards as “random” given they were not particularly reflective of her primary craft.

“It was funny,” she says, “there were so many middle-distance and long-distance runners PB-ing (achieving personal bests) and getting Olympic-qualifying standard this summer. People were like ‘Wow how have they done it, they couldn’t train!’ And I’m there like, ‘well… they could!’. You could literally go for a run whenever you wanted!”

Even when access to facilities was granted, there were stumbling blocks. While all equipment was sanitised, there was a fear that the product used was too strong and would damage the landing bed. Lake and her fellow jumpers suggested alternatives, such as individual sheets to place on top of the beds, but even that fell on deaf ears.

Now, things are better. Lake is part of a four-person “jump bubble” at Loughborough. Usually, the groups are bigger but the mini-group still creates a competitive edge to training while adhering to the strict training protocols.

Medical questionnaires and temperature checks are in play. A minor inconvenience but also peace of mind for athletes in Loughborough who will also find themselves in the midst of rising Covid-19 cases across the country’s student population.

Indeed, Lake is one of many in her generation who have had their youth clipped by the pandemic. Her time at university has perhaps more structured and less raucous than most, but finding out about yourself is as much about regular human interaction as it is about socialising. The positive, she says, is that this is her final year. But she does feel the current situation threatens further division at an institute like Loughborough, where the proximity of public to elite athlete is much closer and, thus, carries risk.

“Everyone’s hearing the news of university cases rising so there’s a bit of worry among athletes as well being at a university campus for training, even if they don’t study here.

“I’m in my final year. It’s a bit of a different final year, but that’s how it is, and lectures are all available online for all courses. But it’s weird because there are a lot of freshers who have just got into halls, and the halls are on campus. You’ve got British Swimming here, British Athletics so there is quite a lot of mixing. But it seems to be OK so far, touch wood.”

The next (new) steps to Tokyo for Lake are intense training ahead of what should hopefully he a programme of indoor competitions. That will include re-qualifying for the Olympics which requires her to clear 1.96m - one centimetre below her personal best. “You know, it’s not guaranteed?!” she jokes when The Independent offers a “you’ll be fine”. Not that she needs the reassurance.

The athlete now back on the path to Tokyo is more rounded. One who has managed to improve during this period when merely existing should be considered a success. It feels, certainly to the layman, that she has a more personal grasp on Psychology. She has, through her academic learnings, honed her sporting routines to include more visualisation and counter-acting general performance anxiety through identifying her subconscious ticks.

She has also been working with a mindset coach and now regards the delay of Olympics as an extra year to get fitter, stronger, faster and springier. The physical work she let slide in the past, such as stretching and yoga, has also been worked on.

Most importantly, she has squared it with herself that after next summer, she will redouble her efforts to throw herself back into heptathlon - the event that brought her into athletics. It was Lake’s first love, inspired by Jessica Ennis-Hill who she watched claim Gold in 2012, albeit intermittently as she was also competing at a national event, aged 15.

An abductor injury prevented her from competing in the seven-sport event (high jump is one of them) in 2016. Then a change of scenery from home in Buckinghamshire to Loughborough delayed it for another year. The 2020 Olympics was then the official line in the sand. More than another challenge, this will be about Lake keeping a promise to herself.

“It was the thing that got me into athletics in the first place. It feels like ‘me’. I always want to be busy, always want to be pushing myself. I know I have more strengths than just high-jumping.”

It’s at this point it is put to Lake that with the injury, delays and a global pandemic, perhaps, the universe is trying to tell her something. Unsurprisingly for a woman who has been through the last few months, that doesn’t fly.

“I want to show what I can do and what I am capable of,” she replies. “I feel like I can do more.” 

For more information on Morgan, visit her athlete profile on redbull.com