Huddersfield’s Aaliyah Powell had three world championship medals to her name by her 21st birthday but if she is to make her Olympic debut next summer she needs to overcome British taekwondo’s biggest name.

For Powell is competing for one spot on Team GB for the Paris Games with Jade Jones, one of Great Britain’s most consistently successful female athletes of the past decade or so who won gold medals at the London and Rio Olympics in the 57kg category, and a host of world and European accolades.

The pair train together at GB Taekwondo’s impressive base in Manchester and will be going up against one another down the road at the Manchester Regional Arena on Saturday in the World Grand Prix final.

It is a healthy but friendly rivalry, with 21-year-old Powell keen for it not to define her.

"Jade’s presence makes it hard because she’s the most successful athlete we’ve had in GB taekwondo, but Paris is the goal for me and something that I really want,” Powell told The Yorkshire Post ahead of Saturday’s 57kg tournament.

"It’s something we both want but only two of us can have it so it doesn’t change much for me, it doesn’t affect how I try and perform, I just try and do my best and make sure I am being competitive.

"I wouldn’t call it a rivalry, there’s no beef between us, it’s just in a professional way we want the same thing and that’s it. Personally I think we get on really well.”

Powell had only just taken up taekwondo when Jones, nine years her senior, was winning gold at London 2012 as a 19-year-old.

Huddersfield's Aaliyah Powell competing in the European Championships in Manchester.

By the age of 12, Powell had moved from her local club to Quest in Penistone, which is also home to Caden Cunningham, another taekwondo prospect from Huddersfield who is a contender for gold in the 80kg heavyweight category in Manchester on Sunday.

Powell rewrote the history books when winning a world championship bronze in the bantamweight category in 2019, in between sitting her GCSE exams. She added two more bronze medals at lightweight in 2022 and earlier this year, Jones winning a bronze herself in the 57kg category the two are competing against each other in.

"I’m putting pressure on myself to get there because why would I want to wait until the Los Angeles Olympics, for me I still want Paris and that’s what I’m pushing myself for,” said Powell.

"But equally I’m not putting too much pressure on myself because life is life, things are going to work out the way that they do.

"I just need to be present for everything. That’s an important lesson I’ve learned this year, you can’t always be like ‘what’s next, what’s next, what’s next?’ you’ve also got to appreciate what you have.

"I’ve got three medals from world championships and I’m only 21 years old, I know there’s still a lot more to come from me.

"I’m trying to live in the moment while pushing to be the best.”

Away from the taekwondo mat, Powell is exploring fashion and modelling, and signed with Nike earlier this year.

“I don’t want to be too one-dimensional and only about taekwondo,” she said. "One day your career is going to end, so it’s nice to have things that you do on the side that takes you away from training which is high-pressure.

"It’s also not football where you get crazy money. You’ve got to maximise as much as you can in the time that you have.”

Tickets can still be bought for the GP Final on the day on both Saturday and Sunday.

Aaliyah Powell versus Jade Jones as Yorkshire athlete bids for Taekwondo GP glory and Paris 2024 spot