Peirresha Alexandra Shakes-Drayton (born 21 December 1988) is a British retired

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...

athlete. After specialising in the

400 metres hurdles The 400 metres hurdles is a track and field hurdling event. The event has been on the Olympic athletics programme since 1900 for men and since 1984 for women. On a standard outdoor track, 400 metres is the length of the inside lane, once ...

in the early part of her career, a knee injury at the 2013 World Championships forced Shakes-Drayton to concentrate on the 400 metres on her return to athletics. She is the 2013 European Indoor Champion in the 400 metres and won a 2012 World Indoor Championship gold medal in the 4 x 400 metres relay. She has also won silver and bronze medals in the 4 × 400 m relay at the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

. In 2018, Shakes-Drayton took part in the tenth series of the ITV show '' Dancing on Ice''.

Personal life

Shakes-Drayton was born in East London, to parents from Grenada and grew up in Bow, where she continues to reside. She attended Holy Family R.C. Primary School in Poplar and Bishop Challoner Catholic Collegiate School in

Stepney Stepney is a district in the East End of London in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The district is no longer officially defined, and is usually used to refer to a relatively small area. However, for much of its history the place name appli ...

. She studied

sports science Sports science is a discipline that studies how the healthy human body works during exercise, and how sport and physical activity promote health and performance from cellular to whole body perspectives. The study of sports science traditionally inc ...

Brunel University Brunel University London is a public research university located in the Uxbridge area of London, England. It was founded in 1966 and named after the Victorian engineer and pioneer of the Industrial Revolution, Isambard Kingdom Brunel. In June ...

, where she graduated with a 2:1. She married her fiancé, high-jump athlete Mike Olayemi Edwards in London in June 2019. Shakes welcomed her first child with Edwards on 26 August 2020.

Athletics career

Shakes-Drayton at 2010 Josef Odlozil Memorial

Shakes-Drayton came to prominence at the English Schools Championships where she set a UK junior record time in the 400 m hurdles. She made her first major international appearance at the

2006 World Junior Championships in Athletics The 2006 World Junior Championships in Athletics is the 2006 version of the World Junior Championships in Athletics. It was held from 15 August to 20 August at the Chaoyang Sports Centre in Beijing, the capital of the People's Republic of China. ...

where she finished eighth, achieving a new personal best of 57.52 seconds.future Olympics stars
'' Time Out'' (2007-07-23). Retrieved on 2009-03-13. She took the silver medal at the

2007 European Athletics Junior Championships The 19th European Athletics Junior Championships were held between 19 and 22 July 2007 at the FBK-Stadium in Hengelo, in the eastern Netherlands. Medal summary Men Women Medal table See also *2007 in athletics (track and field) ...

with a time of 56.46 s, a national junior record in the event. Shakes-Drayton won the 400 m hurdles at the 2008 Olympic Games GB trials, but veteran Tasha Danvers was chosen to represent Great Britain instead, going on to win the bronze medal. Despite the non-selection, Shakes-Drayton was considered to be a medal prospect for the next Olympics in 2012. At the 2009 British Championships in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...

, she finished second in the 400 metres behind reigning world champion Christine Ohuruogu, setting a new personal best. Further success came on the junior circuit at the

2009 European Athletics U23 Championships The 7th European Athletics U23 Championships were held between 16 and 19 July 2009 in the S. Darius and S. Girėnas Stadium in Kaunas, Lithuania. Complete results and medal winners were published. Men's results Women's results Medal ta ...

, where she won the 400 m hurdles gold medal with a run of 55.26 seconds, another personal best. Having secured a place on the Great Britain team, she set her sights on the

2009 World Championships in Athletics The 12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics () were held in Berlin, Germany from 15–23 August 2009. The majority of events took place in the Olympiastadion, while the marathon and racewalking events started and finished at the Brandenburg ...

, remarking: "I like people talking about me. It means I must be doing some things right. Now I have to live up to the hype because hype is pointless if you don't live up to it.". She ran at the

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

and reached the semi-finals of the competition. However, she finished seventh in the race with a time of 57.57 seconds and did not compete in the final. She ran a personal best of 54.91 seconds for the 400 m hurdles to win at the

Memorial Primo Nebiolo The Memorial Primo Nebiolo is an annual track and field meeting held at the Stadio Primo Nebiolo (Turin), Stadio Primo Nebiolo in Turin, Italy in early June. History The history of the Turin competition dates back to 1963, when the Torino Meeting ...

in June 2010. In the absence of Tasha Danvers, Shakes-Drayton and Eilidh Child were the sole representatives for

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It i ...

at the

2010 European Athletics Championships The 2010 European Athletics Championships were the 20th edition of the European Athletics Championships, organised under the supervision of the European Athletic Association. They were held at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys in Barcelona, C ...

. Shakes-Drayton finished 2nd in her heat, with a time of 55.35. She then finished 3rd in her semi-final to qualify for the final in a new personal best of 54.73. In the final she finished third to win the bronze medal with a new personal best of 54.18. Perri Shakes-Drayton - 400m Match - England 6 - 2

Perri Shakes-Drayton - 400m Match - England 6 - 2

At the 2012

London Grand Prix The London Diamond League, formerly known as the London Grand Prix and subsequently as the Anniversary Games, is an annual athletics event held in London, England. Previously one of the five IAAF Super Grand Prix events, it is now part of the Di ...

, the final Diamond League meeting prior to the

2012 London Olympic Games The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

, Shakes-Drayton recorded another personal best for the 400m hurdles of 53.77, a time that put her second in the world rankings for the year and also made her the second fastest British athlete of all time in the event behind only

Sally Gunnell Sally Jane Janet Gunnell (born 29 July 1966) is a British former track and field athlete, active between 1984 and 1997, who won the 1992 Olympic gold medal in the 400 metres hurdles. During a golden 24-month period between 1992 and 1994, Gunn ...

. However, in the Olympic 400m hurdles she was unable to reach the final, finishing third in her semi-final heat. She was also part of the GB 4 × 400 m relay team which finished fifth in the final of that event. At the 2013 European Athletics Indoor Championships in Gothenburg, Shakes-Drayton went on to win gold in the Women's 400m final with a Personal Best of 50.85 ahead of another Great Britain runner Eilidh Child. She was also part of the Women's 4 × 400 m team along with Eilidh Child,

Shana Cox Shana Amanda Cox (born January 22, 1985) is an American-born track and field athlete, who competes internationally for Great Britain since 2011. She specialises in the 200 metres and 400 metres. Cox was born in Brooklyn, New York to parents of ...

and Christine Ohuruogu which won gold at the same championships.

Personal bests

References

External links

Official website
*
Agency website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shakes-Drayton, Perri Living people 1988 births People from Bow, London Athletes from London English female hurdlers British female hurdlers British female sprinters English female sprinters Olympic female hurdlers Olympic female sprinters Olympic athletes of Great Britain Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics World Athletics Championships athletes for Great Britain Commonwealth Games competitors for England Athletes (track and field) at the 2018 Commonwealth Games World Athletics Championships medalists World Athletics Indoor Championships winners European Athletics Championships winners European Athletics Championships medalists European Athletics Indoor Championships winners British Athletics Championships winners Black British sportswomen Alumni of Brunel University London English sportspeople of Grenadian descent