Zharnel Hughes: “I am already faster than I was in London”

Britain’s record-breaking sprinter has been cranking up the speed since Diamond League meeting as he prepares for Paris

With the 2024 athletics programme now in full flow, all eyes will be on the electrifying men’s 100m race as the heats begin on Saturday (August 3). Will Italy’s Marcell Jacobs retain his Olympic crown or will USA’s reigning world champion Noah Lyles sprint to victory? Perhaps the fastest man this year, Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson, will seize the spotlight.

Zharnel Hughes

Great Britain’s Zharnel Hughes is among those striving for a medal in the final on August 4, ready to make his return to the Olympic stage.

Yet, the journey hasn’t been smooth for the 29-year-old. A grade-one tear in his right hamstring forced him out of the European Championships in June, complicating his entry into the Games.

The Anguillian-born sprinter, who is locked in to run both the 100m and 200m, made his comeback two weeks ago at the London Diamond League. He finished sixth in a race won by Lyles, clocking 10.0 seconds (-0.3).

“London was my first 100m so it was just to find out where we are at going into the Olympics,” says Hughes.

“We new I was in great shape so I just needed to get out there to have a feel of pushing my body through competition after injuring my hamstring. I ran 10.0 coming back from the injury I had, which is quite impressive.

“I’ve spent the last two weeks cranking up the speed properly and I am already faster than I was in London.”

This won’t be Hughes’ first appearance at the Olympic Games, having made his debut in Tokyo 2021. He advanced to the final, carrying Britain’s hopes for a medal, but was disqualified after a false start.

In the wake of that disqualification, Jacobs emerged to claim the crown. Overcoming the disappointment and a string of subsequent false starts has been a challenge for Hughes to overcome.

Zharnel Hughes is DQ’d after a false start (Getty)

But overcame he did and, last year, smashed Linford Christie’s 30-year-old 100m record by 0.04 seconds at the New York City Grand Prix with a time of 9.83 .

A month later Hughes continued his record-breaking form as he ran 19.73 in the 200m at the London Diamond League, breaking John Regis’ British mark. For both records he accurately predicting his times in his notebook before each race, manifesting the fast times. He also secured a bronze medal at the World Championships in Budapest that year.

Men’s 100m (Getty)

Whilst admitting he has not wrote a time down for Paris, Hughes says, “I am a lot more confident going into Paris. I feel my head space is in a much better place.

“Tokyo is long gone now and for me I try to put that behind me and just to focus on the task ahead and that is what is going to get me through the rounds here. Budapest was special for me and I want to be able to replicate the same thing and be on the podium in Paris.

“I have not written a time down. Linford is here in Paris and he has been there and done that. He is trying to guide me along that path and I am grateful for his help.”

Hughes is joined on the British team for the 100m by Jeremiah Azu and Louie Hinchliffe, the latter making headlines as a breakthrough athlete.

“He is a pretty good athlete and I’m pretty sure he can go much better as well so I am excited to see what Louie can do,” says Hughes.

“It’s good to have someone new with us [in the relay]. We can mix around with the different positions and we now have more ammunition we can play with. We will go out there on the day, get that baton around and hopefully we can secure our spot on the podium.”

Louie Hinchliffe (Getty)

Hinchliffe qualified for the Paris Games by winning the UK 100m title in style on June 30, beating the likes of Azu, Eugene Amo-Dadzie and Reece Prescod.

The 22-year-old is coached by Carl Lewis and is currently studying management and IT at the University of Houston. He has a personal best of 9.95.

The Brit also boasts a wind-aided best of 9.84, although at 2.5m/s it was only just over the legal limit [2m/s]. Hinchliffe became the first ever European winner of the NCAA 100m title (June 7) and won that race at the iconic Hayward Field.

Carl Lewis and Louie Hinchliffe (Getty)

“I think it’s important to go into the race believing in yourself and that you can win,” Hinchliffe says. “It may not happen but if I think ‘that guy is faster than me’ then I might never beat them. Whatever time I get, I want to leave the race without any regrets and walk off that track happy with myself. It’s not paying too much attention to those around me.

“It’s definitely not how it used to be with Usain Bolt. There’s not one guy who is the clear favourite. Even now, there’s all this talk about who’s the fastest man in the world. It’s an open field, it’s not clear cut and there’s no one leading the pack. So the win is up there for the taking.

“There’s a lot of fast guys don’t get me wrong but there’s a lot of unpredictability and pressure. I think it’s great for the sport and there’s a lot of anticipation going into the Olympics.”

Hinchliffe initially studied at the University of Lancaster before swapping the changeable climate in Lancashire for sunny and hot Texas.

The Brit wrote to nine-time Olympic champion Lewis about the prospect of being coached and  the rest is history. Does Hinchliffe believe he would be representing his country at an Olympics if it wasn’t for the move to the US?

Louie Hinchliffe (Getty)

“100 per cent not,” Hinchliffe says. “I’d have just been graduating on the same path as my friends at the University of Lancaster and looking in the job market! Moving to the NCAAs helped me unravel, has been the catalyst for this and made me start running these times. It’s brought out my talent a lot.

“Being in Lancaster and especially in the north of England, it was very difficult to train and to kind of find that group [for you]. You can’t really push yourself.

“At Lancaster I was studying management and IT. To be honest, I didn’t have a clue [what I wanted to do]. One of the reasons why I chose the degree is because I didn’t have a clue what I wanted to do and it was quite broad. Jobs wise I don’t really have a clue. I’d probably be unemployed, to be honest!”

One of Hinchliffe’s other talents is golf. The 22-year-old got down to a handicap of one and was playing every day or sometimes even twice a day for eight years.

With a track career to focus on, he has now stopped playing but states that some of the skills from the sport have helped him in athletics, especially in the last 50m of a race.

Louie Hinchliffe (Houston Athletics)

“I think where golf has helped me [in sprinting] is with temperament and patience,” he says. “Golf is a game that last four hours a day and it’s over four days.

“I couldn’t rush things and I use that mindset in my race plan. Like not to rush things out of the blocks and if I’m not winning towards the end of the race, not to panic and have patience.

On whether he’d challenge Lewis to a game of golf, he adds: “It wouldn’t be fair to do that! He’s competitive, isn’t he? He wouldn’t like it. I don’t think he plays as well!”