A
MY HUNT was hoping to
sneak under the 23-second
barrier for 200m in
Mannheim last weekend
ahead of the European Under-
Championships in Sweden this
month, writes Jason Henderson.
Instead she ran half a second
quicker with 22.42 – a world
under-18 best and British junior
record – and now has the pleasant
problem of deciding whether or
not to try and make the IAAF World
Championships in Doha.
The sprints sensation only turned
17 in May but her performance at
the German meeting a few days
ago catapulted her to No.3 on the
UK senior all-time rankings behind
Dina Asher-Smith and Kathy Cook.
Asher-Smith’s national under-
200m record previously, meanwhile,
was 22.61.
Hunt told AW this week she was
“still in shock” after the weekend.
So which statistical element of
her run has amazed her the most?
“Probably the world under-18 mark,”
she says. “No under-18 female in
the world ever has gone faster than I
have. It’s pretty hard to process and
quite mind blowing.”
Hunt says she felt great in the
race in Mannheim and thought she
might break her PB of 23.17, but she
says: “I was expecting about 22.
or, if I was lucky with the wind, then
maybe 22.8 so to see 22.4 pop up
was amazing.”Racing in temperatures of
38-39C, she says her main memory
of the race is her feet burning on
the red-hot surface. Impressively,
her run also came just 80 minutes
after running the second leg of a
sprint relay.
“To think I ran faster than Dina,
Dafne Schippers or Shaunae Miller-
Uibo at this age is really mind-
blowing,” the Charnwood sprinter
says. “It’s crazy, to think I’m running
anywhere near the times of those
people is just insane.”
Hunt says she met Asher-
Smith at the CityGames two years
ago. “She was really lovely,” Huntremembers. “But I’ve only come
across Kathy Cook on the Power of
10 rankings!”
Now Hunt’s goal is the European
Under-20 Championships but as
AW went to press she was still
undecided over whether to run
100m or 200m. “The timetable
doesn’t really allow for doubling up,”
she explains.
As for the IAAF World
Championships in Doha, she says:
“It’s not been something I’ve thought
about or planned for as a viable
option. It wasn’t in the picture at all
until this week.
“I’d love to do it but I’ll have totalk to my coach because I had
to open up my season quite early
because I had the European Juniors
in July, whereas everyone else has
opened their season later because
this year the World Championships
is late.
“I’d like to think I wouldn’t
be overawed and if I went then
I’d perform well and value the
experience but I think I’ll do the
European Juniors and see what
happens after that.”■ See athleticsweekly.com to
find out more about sprinter
Amy Hunt’s riseHunt’s breakthrough
World under-18 200m record-holder now has a Doha dilemma but Euro U20s remain No.1 target
DIGEST THE LATEST FROM THE WORLD OF ATHLETICS
Flashback: Amy Hunt wins the under-15 girls’ 100m
at Bedford in 2016 and, inset, now aged 17 running
a world under-18 200m best in MannheimMARK SHEARMAN’
‘
It’s crazy, to think
I’m running
anywhere near
the times of
those people is
just insane
AMY HUNT, on running quicker
at her age than Dina Asher-
Smith and Dafne Schippers