17-year-old heptathlon star Morgan Lake has withdrawn from the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in order to participate in the World Junior Championships this month. Her place on the English team will be taken by Grace Clements, who won a bronze medal at the Delhi Commonwealth Games in 2010.
Lake said: “This has been an extremely difficult decision for me to take as I was honoured to be selected to Team England, but ultimately it’s right for me and my development to focus on the World Juniors. I want to wish Grace and the rest of Team England all the very best and I’ll be cheering them all on.”
The teen star has already broken Katarina Johnson-Thompson’s British junior heptathlon record and is also second behind Johnson-Thompson on the Under 20s all-time list after scoring 6,081points in Gotzis last month.
The controversial decision to pull out of the high-profile games has raised questions over the athlete’s motives, with some critics claiming it is because her coach and father, Eldon Lake, cannot stay with her in the athletes village.
Morgan has since taken to twitter to deny these rumours saying: “My Dad’s access to the Games Village was definitely not the reason for my withdrawal. So I hope that people don’t read into that story, sorry for the confusion. I wish the whole of England team the best of luck at CWG.”
Chaperones are provided for all athletes under 18 taking part in the games, but parents or guardians are not permitted to stay in the complex and will only be granted day passes into the athletes village.
Grace Clements will join gold medal contender Katarina Johnson-Thompson and Yorkshire’s Jessica Taylor in the England heptathlon team and sees it as a great opportunity to end her career on.
She said: “It is great to be back on the team having medalled four years ago. I have been through a tough four years, so this is like a dream come true – a fairytale ending to my career. I’m very grateful for this opportunity to compete in the Commonwealth Games”
