Aaliyah Powell
DATE OF BIRTH
October 25 2002
WEIGHT
-57kg
CAREER HIGH
Gold at the 2018 Junior World Championships & bronze at the 2019 World Championships
CAREER RESULTS
2022 Luxembourg Open
Silver
2022 Sweden Open
Silver
2021 Women's Open
Bronze
2019 Luxembourg Open (junior)
Gold
2019 World Championships
Bronze
2019 Belgian Open (junior)
Bronze
2019 Slovenia Open (junior)
Bronze
2018 Croatia Open (junior)
Gold
2018 Austrian Open (junior)
Gold
2018 Junior World Championships (junior)
Gold
2018 YOG Qualification (junior)
Bronze
2017 European Championships (junior)
Silver
2017 President's Cup (junior)
Gold
2017 Dutch Open (junior)
Gold
2016 Dutch Open (cadet)
Gold
About Aaliyah
Teenager, Powell has made quite the name for herself on the Taekwondo circuit before becoming a fulltime athlete on the World Class Performance Programme.
Previous accolades include silver at the 2017 Junior European Championships and gold at the Junior World Championships in 2018. She was also selected to represent Team GB at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games alongside fellow athletes Sharissa Gannaway and Mason Yarrow.
Despite exiting in the early rounds of the multi-sport event, Powell valued the experience a great deal and went onto make history the following year.
Powell secured a bronze medal at the senior World Championships in front of a home crowd at the Manchester Arena, where she became the youngest British fighter to gain a medal at the major tournament.
The impressive win came during the Huddersfield-born athlete’s GCSE exams were taking place.
More recently, Powell brought home gold at the Luxembourg Open in 2019.
60 SECOND INTERVIEW
WHEN DID YOU START TAEKWONDO AND WHY:
I started doing Taekwondo when I was nine years old because I wanted to do an Olympic sport. My cousin began doing it at a local club near me in the holidays, so I just tagged along and carried on.
My sister also used to do Athletics alongside Jess Enis and I would go and watch her during training – that’s what inspired me initially to want to go to the Olympics, one day.
OTHER SPORTS PLAYED:
Swimming, athletics, dancing and tennis for a little while.
AMBITION:
To become the Olympic Champion and win gold at every major competition.
WHY SHOULD THE PUBLIC WATCH TAEKWONDO IN YOUR OPINION?
I think Taekwondo is different from other martial arts, in terms of it not just being a fight – it’s quite tactical and you have to use your brain a lot. It’s also quite exciting!
IF SOMEONE GAVE YOU £1 MILLION, WHAT WOULD YOU DO WITH IT:
I’d be quite boring and invest most of it and then probably build a house on some land and build my Grandma a granny flat too.
SOMETHING YOU DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT AALIYAH POWELL:
I was National Champion in dance.
CONNECT WITH AALIYAH POWELL: