Fresh from an outstanding 2017 in which she literally leapt to third on the UK all-time high jump list and finished 6^th in the world, Morgan Lake is hoping for much of the same as the 2018 season begins to kick into gear.

Relishing the prospect of a year in which there are three major championships at which to challenge for senior silverware, the 20-year-old has first set her sights on podium-topping antics at Birmingham’s SPAR British Athletics Indoor Championships on 17-18 February.

On competing at the Arena Birmingham for the first ever time come the women’s high jump final Sunday 18 February, the reigning British outdoor champion said:

“It’s a venue that both British legends and current athletes all talk up when it comes to competing there, so I’m really excited to see what the talk is about for myself and hopefully come away with the win.”

Joining the British Indoor Championships in returning to Birmingham for the first time in 15 years, Lake was beyond sure of her thoughts when it came to discussing the upcoming IAAF World Indoors (1-4 March), saying the 17th edition of the championships is something she “absolutely wants to be at” having sampled the advantage of a home crowd last August.

Casting her mind back to last summer’s IAAF World Championships high jump final, Lake reminisced:

“At the beginning of the 2017 I’d been training as a heptathlete until the last couple of months going into the world championships, so it was something of a surprise to even be in the team (in the high jump).”

“To come sixth with my second best ever result was pretty cool, especially as jumping a personal best a few weeks before at the British Championships was a big high too.”

Modest though the remarks may be, her presence in the 87-strong British team for London 2017 would have been of little surprise to athletics fans, especially given Lake’s ability to produce clutch clearances saw her claim Olympic Games finalist status back in 2016, going on to finish in a highly commendably tenth.

Now with the experience of three global championships at senior level under her belt and having revised her best to 1.96m following a couple of “frustrating” years at 1.94m, Lake also offered her thoughts on the probability of British fans seeing her attempt to crack Katarina Johnson-Thompson’s British record of 1.98m.

“I jumped 1.94m in 2014 and have had quite a few years of being around the same height, so when I cleared 1.96m (at the British Championships last July) – as great as it was – I knew that I was still better than that.

“It was amazing to get 1.96m, but the British record height (1.98m) is something I’m definitely still looking at – we’ll just have to see.”

Morgan will open her season this weekend in Hustopeče, Czech Republic, while tickets to see Morgan in action at the SPAR British Athletics Indoor Championships are available here.