Leon Baptiste (born 23 May 1985) is a retired English sprint runner who specialises in the 100 metres and 200 metres events. On the 4th of November 2021 he visited Rood End Primary School for the morning. He became the 100 m European junior champion in 2004 and won his first major title six years later by taking the 200 m gold medal at the 2010 Commonwealth Games held in Delhi. He competes domestically for Enfield and Haringey Athletic Club and is coached by Michael Khmel at Loughborough University alongside the likes of Harry Aikines Aryeetey, Tim Abeyu and James Dasaolu. Athletics career Junior career Baptiste chose athletics over football when a ligament injury whilst only 14 ruled him out of the sport. Speaking of the injury Baptiste said "My main passion was football, but I saw the talent I had in athletics. I was playing for a Sunday League team in the Enfield area and I tore ligaments in my knee during a game. I was 14 at the time...I carried on playing and made it worse. I still can’t kick a football. Amazingly, the injury does not affect my running. When I kick a ball, my knee goes out of place, but when I run, it is fine." As a result of the injury Baptiste focused his attention on sprint running and he won the gold medal in the 100 metres at the European Junior Championships in Finland when only 18. He also anchored the 4x100 metres relay team to win his second gold of the competition. As a result, he was named junior male athlete of the year by the British Athletics Writers' Association. At the annual UK AAA Junior championships Baptiste won the 200 m title for three years in a row in 2002, 2003 and 2004 and the 100 m title twice in 2003 and 2004. In 2004 he improved his 100 m best to 10.33 sec with a run in Watford. Aiming to build upon his European junior title, he ran at the 2004 World Junior Championships. However, in the 100 m semi-finals he was eliminated after finishing third, beaten out of qualification by James Ellington. Senior competition His progress in the 100 metres stalled as he moved into the senior ranks and it was not until 2008, when he ran 10.26 sec in Geneva, that he improved upon his 2004 performance. He began