Amy Hunt is running into form
It was a good week for Amy Hunt. A solid 200 in Rome, a PR in the 100 in Stockholm, and second place in the 100m in Oslo
In Rome, she was fourth in 200, but that was fourth behind Julien Alfred and Melissa Jefferson Wooden! Amy’s time was 22.52 – well short of her PR of 22.08, but it is early season. In Stockholm, she was second in the 100 – again behind that pesky Jefferson-Wooden! Her time in Stockholm was 10.97, a first official sub-11-second run. I say “official” as Amy pointed out that she is regularly sub-11 in practice.
Her elated comments in Stockholm were: “Sub-11 has been a work in progress for many years, so I am super excited that it has finally happened. Every single day in training I run sub-11 but I needed the conditions to be right in a race. I take confidence from my training, and today the conditions were perfect. I love it here in Stockholm because it was my first Diamond League, and they had faith in me, so I am pleased to come and perform well here. I have raced a lot this season, but we were dealing with a couple of issues, so it gave me a chance to work on them in races, and now this has paid off, and everything came together tonight. I am an athlete who loves racing. I race a lot, then I am ready for the champs. Strength comes into the 200m, but I enjoy the 100 as I am still standing and can talk at the end! Doing both plays into my hands, having raced a lot. Next is Oslo for another 100m, so quick turnaround to go again”.
There is nothing like a bit of local rivalry to add extra motivation, and it undoubtedly added to her satisfaction that she finished ahead of Dina Asher-Smith in both races. It is hard to believe that two years ago, she did not make the GB team in either individual event in the Paris Olympics, only running the relay.
To finish the week, Amy was second in Oslo behind Julien Alfred in a windy 10.99, commenting: “I wish we’d had better conditions, but I’m used to the cold and rain as a Brit! I’m super happy to have backed up my performance in Stockholm here tonight – I wanted to be in the top two. It was a messy race for me, but it was my third race in six days, so I can’t complain. I’m consistently around the sub-11 mark now, which is so great, and I hope in the summer I’ll be able to take a big chunk off. I’ve never raced in Oslo, so it’s so nice to be here – it was an amazing race with these amazing girls. Next will be the British Champs and then I’m planning on doing both the Commonwealth Games and the European Championships – I have high hopes for both the 100m and 200m this year, it’s exciting.
Amy is an open athlete, always ready to talk. I remember setting up a 1-2-1 with her, and she said she would give me 20 minutes; 35 minutes later, she was still talking to me. A great athlete and an engaging person.
Amy Hunt reacts to becoming the fourth British woman to run a sub-11 100m VIDEO INTERVIEW FROM STOCKHOLM
