Background
He is the son of Sir Toby Clarke, 6th Baronet and is the heir apparent to the baronetcy.
He is the son of Sir Toby Clarke, 6th Baronet and is the heir apparent to the baronetcy.
Clarke was educated at two independent schools: at Summer Fields School in the city of Oxford in Oxfordshire, and Eton College in the small town of Eton in Berkshire. He went on to study Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Bristol, gaining a Second class honours, upper division (2:1). He studied at the University of Bath for a Masters in Management with a specialisation in United Kingdom Targeted Absolute Return Equity Fund Management.
He served as Captain of the Great Britain Athletics Team at the 2015 European Athletics Indoor Championships and was coached in Bath by Malcolm Arnold, the former coach of Colin Jackson and John Akii-Bua. He is currently coached in Paris by Giscard Samba Koundy. Clarke is the son of Sir Tobias Clarke, 6th Baronet.
Clarke"s maternal grandfather was the Conservative Member of Parliament Somerset de Chair, son of Admiral Sir Dudley Rawson Stratford de Chair Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath Knight Commander of the Order of Street Michael and Saint George Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire MVO. He takes his name Lawrence from his American ancestor Abbott Lawrence.
He is a descendent of the Roosevelt In September 2015 he was engaged to be married to Carina Stolt-Nielsen Wikborg, granddaughter of Jacob Stolt-Nielsen. Clarke was in fourth place in the 110m hurdles at the 2008 Commonwealth Youth Games in Pune, India.
Clarke held the Number. 1 spot on the British All Time list for the Under 20 men"s 3"3 110m Hurdles until 23 May 2010.
He established a new National Junior Record with a personal best of 13.37 seconds whilst also winning gold at European Junior Athletics Championships in July 2009, in Novi Sad, Serbia. lieutenant is the first time in history that England have completed a 1-2-3 clean sweep in the 110m hurdles.
He competed at the 2011 World Athletics Championships in Daegu, South of Korea where he went out in the first round with a time of 13.65s (-02 m/s). He ran a new personal best of 13.31 (-05 m/s) in his Olympic Semi final on 8 August.
As a result, he qualified as the only European for the 110m Men"s Hurdles Final as a fastest loser.
He was also the British University (BUCS) champion in the 60m hurdles (2009) with a time of 7.83 seconds and 110m Champion (2010) in a time of 13.85 seconds. In June 2010, Clarke won the United Kingdom National Under-23 Title in a wind-assisted time (+25 m/s) of 13.60secs. On 8 October 2010, Clarke won the bronze medal at the XIX Commonwealth Games in New Delhi. He finished third behind two other English hurdlers: Andy Turner (2010 European Champion) and William Sharman. Clarke became national champion when he won the United Kingdom Senior 110m hurdles title in 13.58s in July 2011, earning him a place on the United Kingdom team at the World Championships in Daegu. The winner of his heat was Jason Richardson who went on to win the Championships after Dayron Robles, the 2008 Olympic Champion and World Record holder, was disqualified after the final. On 24 June 2012, he achieved selection for Great Britain in the XXX Olympiad in London 2012. Running from lane 2 in the final he finished an unexpected 4th place with a time of 13.39 seconds beating the 2009 World Champion, Ryan Brathwaite, into 5th.
He successfully defended this title in June 2011 in his season debut that year.
