Someone ask Zharnel Hughes for next week’s lottery numbers. A month after he correctly predicted the exact time he would run when clocking 9.83sec to break Linford Christie’s 100 metres British record, Hughes repeated the trick before shattering John Regis’s 200m mark in front of a sold-out London Stadium.
The number he wrote in his little black book on Sunday morning? 19.73sec. The time he then ran a few hours later when finishing third in the Diamond League race behind America’s world champion Noah Lyles and Letsile Tebogo, of Botswana? 19.73sec. Not even Mystic Meg was that good.
“It’s the exact time again,” said an elated Hughes. “Again. I wanted to do it here on home soil and I did it.
“I don’t care about winning. As long as I executed the plan that my coach wanted and we get the British record, we have things we can work on. I am enjoying myself. I think that’s why I am running as quick as you guys are seeing.”
As the fastest man in the world over 100m this year and fourth fastest over 200m, there is a real sense that Hughes should win a first individual World Championships medal at next month’s event.
Excelling on the biggest stage was a regular occurrence for Christie and Regis, whose respective British records of 9.87sec and 19.94sec had stood since 1993. Hughes has now consigned them to the history books in the space of one month, although he was powerless to catch Lyles (19.47sec) and Tebogo (19.50sec) on Sunday.
“I think he [Hughes] can go a lot faster. He’s the future,” said Regis. “He didn’t just beat it, he destroyed it. This is a new generation of youngsters and he’s leading the pack. Go forward and put that record into the 19.50s.”
There was further British sprinting encouragement for Dina Asher-Smith, who narrowly missed her 100m national record when clocking 10.85sec for second behind Marie-Josée Ta Lou of Ivory Coast.
Having struggled to reach her lofty standards at times this summer, Asher-Smith’s time was a huge season’s best in her final race before the Budapest World Championships.
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“It’s been building to a point,” said Asher-Smith. “It just bodes really well. It’s just all about Budapest at the end of August, which is still quite a long while away. And I’m genuinely really excited.”
It was not all smooth sailing for Britain’s World Championship medal hopefuls. Keely Hodgkinson was supposed to be the day’s headline act, but withdrew half an hour before the 800m, which was won by fellow Briton Jemma Reekie in 1min 57.30sec.
Holly Bradshaw’s injury misfortune since winning Olympic pole vault bronze two years ago continued when she failed her first effort and pulled out with a leg problem, while Matthew Hudson-Smith left the track in a wheelchair after finishing fourth in the 400m. He later returned and said a persistent foot problem will not derail his World Championship medal hopes.
