Exams will keep Amy’s feet firmly on the ground
Teenage sprint star Amy Hunt insists her exams will keep her grounded after victory at the British Indoor Championships.
The 17-year-old – the fastest Under-18 woman 200m runner in history – took the 60m title at the Emirates Arena in Glasgow yesterday in 7.39 seconds.
Hunt came fourth at the Indoor Grand Prix last week – which was won by twotime Olympic and reigning 100m world champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce.
She now has an English literature exam tomorrow as she prepares for her A-Levels in the summer.
“I’ve got an exam on Monday which I haven’t done any revision for – that’ll be a reality check,” said Hunt, who ran 22.42secs in Mannheim last June to break the women’s under-18 world record.
“But it’s proved to me I can hold my own in these big races and come up against these amazing girls and prove I’m right there alongside them. It’s a major year this year, we have World Juniors, Olympics and everything and we just have to get back to training and see how it goes.
“I just need to get back to training, keep working hard and my name will be alongside all those massive names.”
Andrew Robertson took the men’s 60m title, while Dwain Chambers pulled up with 20m remaining to come last in his semi-final in 7.20secs.
The 41-year-old, banned for doping for two years in 2004, wants to continue competing as long as he can.
He said: “The wheels are slowly falling off, I lost a wheel nut in that one, but I’m having a lot of fun. I’m trying to go as long as I can and inspire as many people as I can.
“I’ve done this for a long time – 25 or 26 years – longer than most of these kids have been alive. I just do it for the pure love.
“I do it because I lost this for a while, so this is a chance to have a little bit more fun.
“I just fancied the challenge, I’ve been fortunate enough to keep myself in good shape. I’m running times that are enabling me to compete at this level.
“However, with age not being on my side – I’m 42 this year – trying to race against guys half my age is tough. I still enjoy it but that was a bit more than I can handle.”
Abigail Irozuru won the women’s long jump with a leap of 6.60m, ahead of Jazmin Sawyers while Dam Bramble, who came sixth at the European Championships in 2018, won the men’s version with a leap of 7.81m.
He said: “It was a frustrating competition until round six, I’m happy to jump something reasonable out the bag. But I’m not where I need to be physically and how I feel mentally as well.”
Sophie Cook took the women’s pole vault crown in a personal best of 4.50m as David King won the 60m hurdles while Yasmin Miller claimed the women’s title.
Today, Tom Bosworth will compete in the 5000m race walk.