The British long jumper is returning to its roots and will compete in the five-event one-day competition in early 2026.
After a successful return to competition this year following Achilles surgery, Jazmin Sawyers, the 2023 European long jump champion, is aiming to compete in the pentathlon this coming winter.
The 31-year-old is used to training for the relatively simple routine of jumping into the sand. But in the coming months, under coach Aston Moore, she will aim for a one-day event that includes the 60m hurdles, high jump, shot put, long jump and 800m.
For Sawyers, this experience will not be too foreign, as she began her athletic life as a combined event athlete.
Between 2008 and 2011, Sawyers won several English schools and England Athletics combined events and finished ninth at the 2011 World Under-18 Championships in Lille.
Furthermore, heptathlon great Katarina Johnson-Thompson is present in her training group.
“I’ll still be long jumping at indoor, but I’ll be training for five events,” she says. “I haven’t played pentathlon since I was 16 years old, but in 2026 I will play at least one.
“Combined events are where I found my love for athletics and have always wanted to see what I could do when I returned to it as a stronger, faster and more experienced athlete. And as I look at the next few years, it seems like the best time to do it.
“I can’t wait to learn new things again, but once the indoor season is over I’ll be back focusing on the long jump. I’ve been threatening to do this for years, and now is the time.”
