Megan Costall hoping to follow in Healey's footsteps

By James Reid, Sportsbeat

Newtown archer Megan Costall is hoping to follow in the footsteps of pal Penny Healey and compete at international level.

Healey has taken the archery world by storm this year, rising to world No.1 aged just 18 following her World Cup win in Antalya.

And 19-year-old Costall, who grew up competing alongside Healey, believes her friend’s meteoric rise to the top can serve as perfect inspiration for her own game.

“Penny Healy is amazing. I grew up alongside her, we were working through the pathways together,” said Costall, who has been selected to be part of Aldi’s Rising Stars programme with SportsAid, an initiative that provides talented young athletes with financial support, recognition and personal development opportunities.

“She is absolutely smashing it and I always look forward to seeing what she is doing next.

“She was in my coaching group, so I have the same coach she did. We have got good coaches and a good team, so it’s really promising. It’s really close-knit, and GB are producing such well-rounded athletes at the moment.”

Each athlete on the Rising Stars programme, which was launched with SportsAid last year, receives funding to help towards costs such as travel, accommodation, equipment and nutrition, with Aldi also delivering workshop sessions on a range of topics to help nurture athletes for their sporting endeavours and beyond.

This includes top tips on healthy eating and performance nutrition, restful sleep, managing mental wellbeing, social media training and working with the media.

In addition, the talented young athletes, who have been nominated to SportsAid by the governing bodies of their respective sports, play a key role in the promotion of the supermarket’s ‘Get Set to Eat Fresh’ programme, which aims to educate children on the importance of a healthy diet.

To date this partnership has reached over 2.2 million young people, with a target to educate an extra one million children by the end of 2024.

Costall is dreaming big, with her ultimate goal to represent Team GB at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

The 19-year-old currently sits just outside the Olympic squad, and knows there is plenty of hard work to do yet before realising her dreams.

“The Olympics is the dream for most athletes and I am following that trend,” she added.

“I am on the conversion pathway, so I am trying to get the scores to get onto the Olympic pathway. I am fairly close; it’s the next step. I just need to keep getting high scores.

“LA is the goal at the moment. We tend to choose our Olympic teams the year before so there is already a team chosen for Paris. LA is the goal and I think it’s achievable.

“I train six days a week - strength work, gym work. At the moment I am doing senior competitions such as the national tour. It’s just about getting scores at 70m.”

Costall is currently balancing training and competitions with her studies at the University of Birmingham, where she is completing a degree in sport and exercise science.

The teenager travels all over the country for competition, as well as the European Youth Cup in Switzerland just around the corner, something that comes at great cost on a student budget.

But Costall added: “The support from Aldi and SportsAid has been absolutely amazing.

“Travel is expensive – including fuel costs to get to and from competitions all over the UK and abroad. It’s an expensive sport but Aldi and SportsAid are definitely helping out.”

Aldi is the Official Supermarket Partner of Team GB and ParalympicsGB and have partnered with Team GB since 2015, ParalympicsGB since 2022 and will be supporting them through to Paris 2024