‘We have to believe’
Mitchell-Blake calls for more individual golds at European Championships
NETHANEEL MITCHELL-BLAKE believes more British relay medals are a ‘formality’ as they head to the European Championships in Berlin this week — but has challenged the sprint team to finally hit their potential in the individual events.
Mitchell-Blake (below) was part of the 4x100metres quartet that won World Championships gold at London 2017 after the women’s team took silver. And the men’s four also rank as the fastest on the planet this year following their 37.61sec lap at the Anniversary Games last month.
The question is whether those medals wil l be mirrored by individual success on the Olympic and world stage and to that end these championships in Germany have the potential to serve as a prosperous stepping stone.
Certainly the expectations are high on a golden generation of British sprinters, led by Dina Asher-Smith, the fastest woman in Europe this year for 100m and 200m, and a men’s team with unprecedented depth.
Zharnel Hughes is tied with France’s Jimmy Vicaut on 9.91sec as the fast- est 100m runner in Europe t his year, while British champion Reece Prescod is rated by many as the favourite after a wind-assisted time of 9.88sec in the summer. CJ Ujah comes in under the radar on the back of an underwhelming season but holds the distinction of having won t he 2017 Diamond League series. The 200m picture is less optimistic, with Turkey’s reigning world champion Ramil Guliyev the strong favourite after an excellent Diamond League season but Britain has two sub- 20sec runners in Adam Gemili, the 2014 European champion, and Mitchell Blake. They rank fifth and sixth respectively in Europe. Mitchell-Blake said: ‘The relay in London was a great experience but to be honest that happened last year. I have tried not to dwell on that too much and focus on what’s happening right now. ‘ The quartet we are now ran a world lead on our one run as a collective unit this year ( at the Anniversary Games) just to show our strength. We have more in the tank and I believe going forward relay medals will now be a formality but we need to start getting individual medals.
‘There is a good competitive nature in this team of sprinters and I believe that is what is spurring this golden generation on. No one wants to get left behind. We have a great set of athletes that can definitely get some medals. Zharnel is running really well, Reece is running really well and they are testing themselves against the best of the bunch. CJ is running well when it matters. It’s a great time to be sprinting.’
The hope for Mitchell-Blake is that he is peaking at the right time and he said: ‘What’s exciting is I feel I’m dropping time at the right time. I fear no one. Eight lanes, I have to vie for a place in the final first. Once there I’m definitely vying for gold.’