Fashion-designing, singing long jump star Jazmin Sawyers relishing chance to shine at this weekend’s Diamond League event at the London Stadium

Ten years ago, Jazmin Sawyers snuck into the London Stadium under false pretences. On Sunday, she will be very much there on her own merits.

The British long jumper is one of the star home athletes in action at this weekend’s Diamond League event, which is being held in Stratford.

And Sawyers is excited to return to a venue where she sat in the stands for London 2012’s Super Saturday — and then made up a story to gain entry 12 months later.

‘London is such a special stadium, I cannot believe it is that long since we have been in there,’ says the 29-year-old from Stoke, who will be competing in the Olympic Park for the fifth time. ‘I was in the stadium watching Greg Rutherford win his 2012 gold on that Super Saturday. It was such a mind-blowing thing.

‘I was a young athlete and it was a big inspirational moment for me. I remember being so obsessed with the stadium that the following year, when the Anniversary Games were there, I didn’t get a spot but I turned up anyway in my kit, and convinced them to give me accreditation.

Jazmin Sawyers is one of the star home athletes at this weekend’s Diamond League event

The 29-year-old is an expert singer-songwriter, appearing on ITV’s The Voice in 2017

Sawyers is a woman of many talents — not just limited to jumping and dressmaking

‘I told them I was the reserve for the long jump — there is no reserve — because I was just desperate to get in. It took a bit of convincing but someone gave me one. Now, I have earned my accreditation this time. People are expecting me to turn up. I will have a bib with my name on and everything.’

That bib, though, is far from the most exciting thing Sawyers will be wearing this weekend. She is also making her own outfit for the walk-in to the London Athletics meet, which is set to be the biggest one-day athletics event in the world this year, with ticket sales fast approaching the 50,000 capacity.

‘I love dressmaking and sewing at the minute,’ she explains. ‘I’ve only been at one of the Diamond Leagues so far where they have had the walk-in. For that, I found some fabric in a fabric shop that had someone doing long jump on it. Would you believe it? I thought, “I’ve got to buy this” and I made a little two-piece set.

‘I have got something else planned for this one. It’s going to be in keeping with pop culture. I’m going to lean into some stuff that’s going on this weekend. It will have very bright colours.’

Sawyers, whose mother Jane was a chief constable at Staffordshire Police, is a woman of many talents — and they are not just limited to jumping and dressmaking. She used to combine athletics with bobsleigh, winning a silver medal at the Winter Youth Olympics in 2012. Sawyers is also an expert singer-songwriter, appearing on ITV’s The Voice in 2017 and getting through her blind audition to be coached by will.i.am.

‘I am still singing, although I haven’t got any performances lined up,’ she says.

‘It is a lot more nerve-wracking than athletics because people get to decide whether it is good or not. When I do long jump, you can’t tell me I didn’t win if I did. Whereas I could go out on stage with a microphone and give what I think is the performance of a lifetime, and every member of the audience could think it was awful.

‘But it’s also not my first arena. I spend all day, every day training to be a long jumper, so I am much more comfortable on that runway than I am on stage with a mic.’

And it is on that runway that Sawyers made a name for herself earlier this year, when she won her first major senior title at the European Indoor Championships in Istanbul, Turkey in March. Her gold medal-winning leap of exactly seven metres — the distance which also won the women’s long jump at Tokyo 2020 — has given Sawyers the confidence that she can compete on the global stage.

Sawyers is targeting a medal at the World Championships and the 2024 Olympics in Paris

‘It’s definitely a turning point for me — out in the world but also me in my own jumping,’ she says. ‘Seven metres is like the magic number. It will almost always get you on a global podium.

‘It’s been a target I’ve had for so long and actually achieving it feels like I’ve stepped into a new zone. I now have the proof I’m good enough to win a global medal.’

That is what Sawyers is targeting at the World Championships in Budapest next month and at next year’s Olympics in Paris.

‘I would be disappointed if I don’t get a medal at the World Championships — that will be my goal,’ she adds. ‘Even though it hasn’t looked likely in other years, I have been disappointed not to win a medal every time I’ve gone to a global championships. This time, I think everyone else will be disappointed with me because we’ve seen what I can do.’