About

Charles Lawrence Somerset Clarke

Born in Westminster, London in 1990, Lawrence was a professional 110m hurdler representing Great Britain. He has competed at Olympic, World, European and Commonwealth Championships around the world since 2008. He trained originally in Bath with Malcolm Arnold OBE then in Paris, France with Giscard Samba-Koundys. He has Captained both the British Senior and British U23 Teams.

His most notable performances are:
Olympic Games 2012 (Final, 4th Place)
Commonwealth Games 2010 (Final, Bronze Medal)
Commonwealth Games 2014 (Final, 8th Place)
European Championships 2014 (Final, DNS)
European Indoor Championships 2015(Final, 5th Place)
European Junior Championships 2009 (Final, Gold Medal)
Commonwealth Youth Games 2008 (Final, 4th Place)
European U23 Championships (Final, Bronze Medal)
World Indoor Championships 2015 (10th Place)
World Championships 2011 (Heats)
World Championships 2015 (Semi-Final)
World Indoor Championships 2016 (Semi-Final)
Olympic Games 2016 (11th, Semi-Finals)

Career

Taking up athletics rather late in comparison to most elite athletes, Lawrence began training at the age of 18 having been introduced to Coach Malcolm Arnold by Olympic Gold Medallist Jason Gardener MBE. When he joined the elite training group at Bath University’s training facility in November 2008 he was ranked 63rd in the UK with a personal best of 15.3 seconds for the 110m hurdles. Shortly Arnold had turned the relative athletic sapling into a mature and proficient hurdler. In the summer of 2009 Lawrence made a break through by winning the European Junior Championships in Novi Sad, Serbia. Since then his career has been on a steady progression with Lawrence winning Bronze at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi. Late 2010 and most of 2011 were plagued by injuries to his hamstrings and hip-flexor muscles, resulting in limited performances in the summer of 2011.

Despite these setbacks Lawrence won the Aviva World Trials and UK Championships to gain selection for the World Championships in Daegu, South Korea in 2011. He also won a Bronze medal at the European Under 23 Championships in Ostrava, Czech Republic, where he was Captain of the Great Britain team.

2012 was a new dawn for Lawrence after the existentially challenging setbacks of the 2011 season. He opened his outdoor season with the Olympic A Qualification standard and quickly improved even further to top the British Rankings with a personal best of 13.33 seconds. The Olympic Trials loomed in late June and preparation went well. Lawrence achieved his goal there in Birmingham and ran into an automatic qualification place to the XXX Olympiad in London in August 2012. 

On the 7th August 2012 Lawrence successfully made it through the first round of the Olympic Games, securing a place in the Olympic Semi-Final. This was his goal but in the Semi-Final he exceeded all expectations by running a personal best and making it into the Olympic Final. Lining up on the evening of the 8th August 2012 in the Olympic 110m Hurdles Final Lawrence had little expectation. However, he produced another superlative performance to come fourth in the Games. He was the number one European at the Olympics and demonstrated a steady head and competitive approach to the highest level of competition, where he ultimately did his country proud.

In December 2012 Lawrence broke his left wrist in a hurdling accident. Following 3 months in a cast his problems seemed to be behind him. However, in April 2013 he sustained a tear in his left hamstring whilst training in the USA. Shortly after he tore his hamstring in the same leg, though in a different place. Months of rehab meant that the Outdoor season was a non-starter and after some very disappointing results in July 2013 the season was called to an end.

The winter of 2013 was all about rehab and restrengthening the hamstrings that had suffered over the summer. Passing over the chance to run indoors due to lack of competitive fitness Lawrence targeted the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and the European Championships in Zurich.

Training was solid but still building on a weak base. Competition began in May after a stint of warm weather training in Barcelona. All seemed to go well with consistent times and selection for both of the major championships. The Commonwealth Games loomed in the end of July but the competitive fitness needed for a medal was not quite there following the hardships of 2013. Making the final, Lawrence finished a disappointing 8th.

Ont0 Zurich for the European Championships and some adjustments to technique and refocus brought some hope. In the first round Lawrence ran 13.46, a time that would have won bronze in Glasgow! In the semi finals he produced a similar time and made the final by a couple of hundredths of a second - his first European Final. However, in the strain of pulling those performances, Lawrence torn his left hamstring and had to pull out of the final. A further blow to a hard recovery.

Into the winter of 2014, following a long rehab in Europe, Lawrence came back to full winter training with the intention of competing indoors in 2015. After what had seemed too long out of the top of the event, Lawrence began his season in January 2015 with 3 personal bests of 7.63 in the 60m hurdles in German. Beating the 2008 Olympic Champion in Dusseldorf by 0.01 of a second put Lawrence back within reach of the elite form he had shown in 2012.

He successfully competed in the 2015 indoor season with a place in the Final of the European Indoor Championships in Prague, having further improved his personal best prior to this with 7.59 in Mondeville, France. He Captained the British Team at the Championships in Prague, seeing the team have its most successful indoor Europeans ever.

In the Summer of 2015 he saw his season's best back to 13.39 and competed at the 2015 World Championships in the Bird's Nest Stadium. A technical error in the semi final saw him eliminated. Following this disappointment Lawrence decided to leave Malcolm Arnold and move to Paris where he trained with Coach Giscard Samba-Koudys and hurdler Dimitri Bascou until summer 2016.

He competed at the World Indoor Championships in Portland Oregon in March 2016. During the 2016 summer season he was selected to represent Great Britain as his second Olympic Games, this time in Rio de Janeiro. He competed at Rio and finished 11th in the Games overall. Following the Olympic Games, he retired from professional track and field. He now works in Capital Markets at the investment bank Citigroup in London.

Background

Lawrence was brought up between Kensington, London and the village of Bibury in the Gloucestershire Cotswolds. From a young age he took a keen interest in outdoor activities: going to the Alps on climbing trips where he indulged his passion for ice and rock climbing, horse-riding at home in the Cotswolds and the Chilterns.

Not many people in his family have had a sporting background. The only notable sportsman that Lawrence is related to is the 1952 Olympic Sailing Gold Medallist Julian Roosevelt (November 14, 1924 – March 1986).