Personal tragedy inspires college high jumper to achieve her personal best

Emily Borthwick, 24, was heartbroken when her brother Connor tragically died in November 2021. She said losing him has put life’s challenged into perspective and that she’s now fearless in competition.

She now considers fear as a myth and that she is determined to make her wildest dreams a reality. Speaking to the BBC, she said: “I’m no longer worried about the little things now that I have been through something so traumatic. It’s the worst thing I’ll ever experience in life so why be afraid of a high bar or those world-class girls?”

Emily has a new outlook on life and has dedicated her career to her brother by taking his spirit to every competition.

“The only way is up,” she said. “I’ve felt everything really click and it’s so nice to be in real business now, proving to myself that I deserve to be competing against the best in the world.

“The consistency of my jumps has shown I’m ready to go higher. I’ve dreamed about getting close to the magical two-metre mark for so long, and I know a big one will hopefully creep up on me.”

Emily finally jumped in front of a home crowd on 19th February 2022, with her parents able to support from the stands for the first time in two years.

She added: “In my career I’d love the medals, the records and the consistency, but more than anything my goals are to inspire others – to help people believe that they can achieve.”

Emily has dedication her life to training since being at the College in 2015 and she went on to compete in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics last year, achieving 1.93m.

Over the past two years, Emily has turned heads with her outstanding performances and has gained over 11cm in height on her high jump.

This year, Emily has won three events and impressed herself by setting her new personal best of 1.95m in Czech Republic, which isn’t far off the British record of 1.98m by Katarina Johnson-Thompson.

See the full BBC article.