As a rising track and field star athlete, Zharnel Hughes declared that he would rather let his performances at the upcoming Paris Olympics speak for themselves.
At the sold-out London Diamond League last year, Hughes smashed a 30-year British 200-metre record. He then went on to win bronze in Budapest, and became the first British male to place on the 100-metre podium at a World Championship in 20 years.
Now, the 29-year-old athlete is scheduled to compete in an enticing 100-metre sprint. He hopes to use this event in London, along with the excitement of his home audience, as a springboard to global triumph once more. Letsile Tebogo of Botswana, who won silver in the World Championship ahead of Hughes, and Lyles, the three-time gold medallist from last season, will start alongside him.
Hughes said: “I’m looking forward to London, I feel it’s going to be special… Last year was extraordinary. The fact it’s the last Diamond League before the Olympic Games, it’s going to be stacked and I want to lay something down there.”
Hughes’ performance in the field
When Hughes defeated former world 100-metre champion Fred Kerley in Jamaica in May, clocking 19.96 seconds, his season got off to a promising start. However, after finishing in 10.09 seconds at Kingston, where he trains under Glen Mills—the longtime coach of two-time 100-metre runner-up Yohan Blake and eight-time Olympic champion Usain Bolt—he was observed limping off the track.
Hughes was denied the opportunity to compete at the European Championships and defend his British championships. The athlete says he not only bounced back from the setback swiftly but also returned as a better athlete after making a concentrated effort to strengthen his body.
“By the end of my first week back in training, we were already sprinting and my coach noticed something had changed. My technique looked better, I looked stronger,” Hughes declared.
He now intends to amend his record at the Paris Olympics. The athlete stated: “I would love to rewrite the history books after what happened in Tokyo… Recently I read a saying: ‘You might have been delayed, but you’re not denied.’ I believe that… When it’s my time, it will be my time.”
Source: BBC