After a sluggish start and a thunderous, triumphant finish, Zharnel Hughes dedicated his freshly claimed British 100m title to his aunt, whose funeral he was forced to miss so that he could compete in Birmingham this weekend.
Hughes, the world bronze medallist, hails from the British Overseas Territory of Anguilla, where his aunt Iola was being laid to rest at the same time as he was taking on the best sprinters in Britain. The sacrifice paid off when he blitzed his way to a winning time of 9.94sec at the Alexander Stadium, before paying tribute to his family on the other side of the world.
“Today is a very difficult day for me,” he said. “My auntie is getting buried right now. Her funeral is going on and I’m missing out. I was very close with her, so today was a bit of a mental strength game for me.
“I had to keep suppressing inside and I couldn’t speak to my family because I would get emotional. Jeremiah [Azu] was trying to console me because I almost started crying. This win was for her.”
As a world medallist, Hughes was already assured of a 100m spot on the British team for next month’s Tokyo world championships, but runner-up Azu now has work to do. The world and indoor 60m champion surged into an early lead before he was reined in heading towards the finish line.
His time of 9.97sec will not count as a world championships qualifying standard due to the 2.2m/s tailwind, leaving him three weeks to chase the required 10sec time before the team is confirmed. Louie Hinchliffe, who already has the standard, clocked 10.01sec for bronze.
There was drama before the women’s 100m when favourite Daryll Neita, who finished fourth at the Olympics last year, was harshly disqualified for a false start after twitching in her blocks.
Her absence – having clocked a dominant 11.00sec to win her semi-final at a canter – meant no one came close to challenging Amy Hunt, who triumphed in a personal best 11.02sec to secure her seat on the plane for Tokyo.
With Dina Asher-Smith – who is only contesting the 200m this weekend – guaranteed her spot, that leaves Neita uncertain of the final place. Desiree Henry, who finished second in 11.32sec, will now attempt an unlikely bid to clock the qualifying standard of 11.07sec. Neita will hope she does not succeed.
“It would have been nice to have Daryll in the race,” said Hunt. “That was a big loss. I wanted to come out here and beat her. I want to prove myself in a head to head, so to not get the chance to race her was disappointing for me because I think that would have pushed me to an even quicker time. I personally would have run under protest, but the nature of championship racing is you have to hold your nerve on the line.”
Hunt, Neita and Asher-Smith will now battle over 200m on Sunday, with the trio separated by less than half a second on season’s bests.
The podium in Tokyo is the definite aim for Molly Caudery, who made light work of a modest pole vault field, wrapping up the British title with her second effort and continuing to move top of this summer’s global standings by clearing 4.85m. She insisted she will not be affected by the trauma of last year’s Olympics, where she failed to record a single valid attempt when expected to challenge for gold.
“It happened. It was just a bad day,” she said. “I definitely don’t think it will happen again and I’ll do everything in my power to make sure it doesn’t happen again. I’ve overcome all the demons that came from it. It’s all in the past.
“I would love to get a medal. After what happened last year, I was so focused on getting a medal, I just need to get through qualification first and then think about it. But that’s definitely the big goal for the year.”
after newsletter promotion
Elsewhere, there were championship records in two throwing events, with Anna Purchase winning the hammer in 72.96m and Lawrence Okoye claiming the discus in 65.93m.
