Zharnel Hughes missed his aunt’s funeral to reclaim his 100 metres title at the UK Athletics Championships last night.
Britain’s fastest man recovered from a slow start to win in Birmingham in 9.94sec, ahead of world indoor gold medallist Jeremiah Azu and defending champion Louie Hinchliffe.
Hughes then dedicated his victory to his late aunt Iola, who was being laid to rest in the country of his birth, Anguilla, yesterday.
‘Today is a very difficult day for me,’ revealed the 30-year-old. ‘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 almost started crying. This win was for her.’
Hughes’ next target is to claim a medal at next month’s World Championships in Tokyo, just like he did after he won his last British crown in 2023, when he went on to secure a bronze in Budapest.
Zharnel Hughes missed his aunt’s funeral to reclaim his 100 metres title at the UK Athletics Championships last night
Britain’s fastest man ran the 100m in 9.94sec ahead of world indoor gold medallist Jeremiah Azu
In the women’s 100m, Amy Hunt stormed to victory in a new personal best of 11.02sec after defending champion Daryll Neita was disqualified for a false start.
But Neita – who finished fourth at last summer’s Olympics – should still be selected for Tokyo having already run the qualifying standard.
Earlier, Molly Caudery defended her British pole vault title with a leap of 4.85 metres, the highest in the world outdoors this year.
The 25-year-old will now go to Tokyo bidding to win her first global outdoor medal and make amends for her heartbreak at last summer’s Paris Olympics, when she went in as favourite but crashed out in qualifying.
