 In the 1977 Track and Field News world merit rankings, she was ranked number two in the world at both 100 metres (to Marlies Gohr) and 200 metres (to Irena Szewinska).Lannaman was born in Aston, Birmingham, England and competed in her first Olympics in 1972 (held in Munich), where she set a British junior record of 11.45 sec.In 1973 she became European junior champion winning gold in the 100 metres, followed by a bronze in the 4 x 100 metres relay.