"I was not leaving Paris without something"; British sprinter Zharnel Hughes opens up on a turbulent summer around the Olympics before winning 4x100m relay bronze, his rivalry with Noah Lyles, and how he hopes to inspire the next generation
Tuesday 8 October 2024 21:44, UK
Britain's fastest man says he is "coming back for revenge" after missing out on an individual Olympic medal in Paris due to a hamstring injury that meant he was out for nearly two months of the season.
Zharnel Hughes finished sixth in the 100m semi-final in Paris before pulling out of the 200m due to experiencing hamstring spasms linked to his sciatic nerve.
"I felt a lot of discomfort. I got it checked out with the doctors, I got an MRI which showed that I had a slight strain in the area," Hughes told Sky Sports News, explaining that if he had competed on it at that time, he risked tearing the hamstring completely.
"So I had to make the decision. It was very difficult for me to do that because the 200m is one of my favourite events.
"But I had to make a sacrifice. And that sacrifice was to miss out on the 200 and to help the team as well in the relay."
Four days later, Hughes competed in the 4x100m relay and Team GB won a bronze medal.
"It felt good to walk away from Paris with hardware, being on the podium," Hughes explained.
"I wasn't leaving there without anything. I was not leaving Paris without something."
Hughes, who last year became the first British man to win a World Championship medal in the 100m in two decades, said picking up his injury in early June "sucked" and meant he was not able to race for seven weeks - or defend his British title in June.
That created an opportunity for 22-year-old Louie Hinchliffe from Sheffield to take the title after making history earlier in the season when he became the first British man to win the NCAA (US collegiate) finals.
Hinchliffe would go on to run sub-10 seconds at the London Diamond League, in the 100m heat and again in the semi-final at the Olympics, although he did not qualify for the final - which would end up being the fastest in Olympic history, with all eight finalists clocking times under 10 seconds.
But Hughes said he was still determined to compete at the Olympics and received a discretionary place on Team GB despite not competing at the British Championships. The 100m heat in Paris was only his second 100m race of his season.
In 2023, 29-year-old Hughes made history when he broke Linford Christie's 100m British record, which had stood since 1993. A month later, he shaved over two-tenths of a second off John Regis' 30-year-old 200m British record.
A month after that, he won a bronze World Championship medal in the 100m.
So after reflecting on such a turbulent summer, how hard was it for Hughes to go from a season full of highs in 2023, to so many lows in 2024 - the year of the Olympics?
"It can be a bit difficult. But that makes me a lot more determined to go into next year again and give it another try," he said.
"Obviously you're going to want to take that heart and that pain that you felt throughout that season into the next season. So that's what I'm doing."
Hughes anchored Team GB to a bronze medal in the 4x100m Olympic final alongside team-mates Jeremiah Azu, Louie Hinchliffe and Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake, but ran it with his hamstring taped up and on painkillers.
"Right after I crossed the line, my hamstring was hurting me again. But I got a medal and I was able to smile at the end of the day," he said.
"I wanted to leave with something and make myself and my team proud. And I was happy to do so. But coming back for revenge. Yeah. Trust me, I am."
But another motivator for his season was to beat reigning 100 and 200m world champion, Noah Lyles, who has become a fierce rival of Hughes over the past few seasons.
"At the end of the day, we are serious competitors. But it's not like we hate each other or anything. I personally don't dislike him," Hughes explained.
"I don't like his ways in regards to how he gets on the track. But I guess that's the way he gives himself confidence and stuff. But overall, I don't have any issue with Noah Lyles. I don't have anything against him.
"We're all out there fighting for the same medals. You're going to bring your game, I'm going to bring my game. We probably might clash head-to-head. Because at the end of the day, we are so driven by our egos.
"I know what I'm capable of," he added.
An Olympic title?
"Why not?" he replied. "My true potential is what I'm trying to unlock. And that's what I'll be most satisfied with when I turn my back from the sport."
And with the emergence of a new track league created by Michael Johnson, the likes of Lyles and Hughes could be head-to-head more often from the 2025 outdoor season as part of Grand Slam Track.
It's something Hughes is interested in, and says "brings a little more light to the sport".
"It could be something that we might pick up. I find it very interesting to have something like that new to the sport of track and field. I feel it gets a bit of head turns here and there."
Hughes was speaking to Sky Sports at a Greenhouse Sports event sponsored by Vita Coco where he was working with local school children to encourage them to try out new sports.
"I live by the motto, 'inspire before I expire', and that is to show the younger generation that there is a lot to achieve through sport. Sport has been my free passport throughout the world," he said.
"My main goal is to inspire them and give them a sense of confidence, because I've noticed that some might be a bit shy and timid. But it's okay to be yourself in any environment, and that's what I'm trying to instil in them today."
That is something Hughes says he can resonate with after bursting onto the British athletics scene in 2015 as a young athlete and being unfairly scrutinised for representing Great Britain at the Olympics after growing up in Anguilla - a British overseas territory - which is not recognised by the IOC.
"I was like a small fish in a big pond when I came over here. I had to adjust and it took some time," he said.
"Over the years, I feel as if my confidence has grown, because I've embraced what's happening. It's happening around me, rather than me shying away from it. It has helped mould me to be confident, more responsible, and overall just grow me as a young individual."
