Hunt’s rapid rise is a Bolt from the blue
Britain’s 200m under-18 world record holder tells Ben Bloom she is amazed by parallels with legend
Of the multiple records Amy Hunt broke in the space of 22.42 life-changing seconds last Sunday, there is one that leaves her most dumbfounded. That she is now the fastest under-18 woman in history over 200metres is difficult enough to compute, before considering the identity of her male parallel: a certain Usain Bolt.
Any reference of his name prompts laughter from Hunt, who struggles to understand how she could ever be mentioned in the same sentence as the most famous athlete of all time. But the statistics do not lie. Fastest 200m by an under-18 man: Bolt. Fastest 200m by an under-18 woman: Hunt.
“It’s so weird,” she says. “He’s the sport’s biggest name and everybody knows who he is, so the fact I have the reciprocal record … it’s just so weird.”
Hunt admits she is nervous as we meet at her training base in Loughborough, although you would not be able to tell from her demeanour. She has never done a proper interview before so this,
like everything in her burgeoning athletics career, is new.
That she is fully capable of talking more lucidly than athletes twice her age soon becomes apparent and it is only in the details – that she has only recently started eating nuts, for example, even though they get stuck in her braces – that there is a reminder she turned 17 only two months ago.
Hunt’s ability should come as no surprise. She is a straight-a student, who also plays the cello to grade six and is considering applying to Oxford and Cambridge.
In fact, the only detectable weakness is that she cannot yet drive – “the last time I tried I stalled three times,” she says, laughing – which means she relies on amenable family members to ferry her from her home town of Newark or school in Grantham to training every couple of days. Their altruism is already paying off.
Temperatures in the German city of Mannheim were so hot last weekend that the ridges melted on the soles of Hunt’s track spikes. Either that or she was just too quick. For despite only racing over 200m for the fourth time in more than two years, she produced an awe-inspiring victory, close to a second faster than anything she had managed before.
In doing so she shot to the top of the British Under-20 all-time rankings and third on the British all-time senior list, behind only Dina Asher-smith and Kathy Cook.
“It really shocks me every time I think about it,” Hunt says. “When I ran through the line and saw the clock I was shocked by it. It was so mind-blowing. It really hasn’t sunk in yet at all. Did I actually just do this? What I did was insane.”
The unknown teenager has been catapulted to ninth in this year’s world rankings, ahead of the likes of double reigning world champion Dafne Schippers among others. On the same day that Hunt ran 22.42 sec in Germany, triple European champion Asher-smith clocked the identical time to finish third at the Eugene Diamond League.
The question of what happens next is something over which Hunt and her coach, Joe
Mcdonnell, are taking considerable care. The pair need not look far for examples of young British female sprinters who have struggled to make good on their talent: Jodie Williams went unbeaten for five years in her early teenage years before taking almost a decade to break her 100m personal best, while world junior 200m champion Vernicha James never made it into the senior ranks.
Hunt and Mcdonnell, adamant they will not jeopardise her future by pushing for too much, too soon, have already ruled out competing at the senior World Championships later this year, but next year’s Olympics pose more of a dilemma.
Her record-breaking run was under the qualifying mark for Tokyo 2020, but she insists her “number one priority for next year” is her A-level exams.
Mcdonnell says: “The Tokyo question is a good question because you never say never. Athlete welfare is key. If it will benefit Amy then absolutely we will go for it. If we think it is a little bit too early then it might make sense to take that one step back.
“Tokyo is Amy’s A-level year so there’s an awful lot to consider. But would you take that opportunity away from someone?”
That Hunt is prepared to accept missing an Olympics in pursuit of her education is a mark of a maturity that is evident throughout the conversation. Having passed 11 GCSES at grades A to A**, she is again targeting top results in her A-levels before planning to study English at university.
It is no surprise she cites history graduate Asher-smith and qualified vet Laura Muir as “inspirations” in the way they have combined studying with an elite athletics career.
“Athletes definitely can be clever – look at Dina and Laura,” she says.
“A lot of athletes my age think they will have a career in athletics and don’t think they need to work hard at school. But your life continues after track and it’s really important to have that there.”
There is one other fact about Hunt she admits has surprised some people: unlike the overwhelming majority of top-level sprinters – with the notable exception of Schippers – she is white.
“I can see why people talk about it, but I don’t think it should be such a big thing,” she says. “It shouldn’t really come into it.”
As prospective agents sniff around and sponsors scramble to get in touch, Hunt is content to go at her own pace if she is to be Britain’s answer to Bolt. Sometimes it is worth going slowly to be the quickest.