Amy Hunt produced a season's best in the 200 metres at the London Diamond League after nearly pulling out due to illness, and she has warned her rivals that there is plenty more to come this season.
Season's best despite health struggles
The world 200m silver medallist finished fifth at the London Stadium in a time of 22.30 seconds, just 0.16 seconds slower than the time she ran in Tokyo last September to win her breakthrough global silver. The race was won by Olympic 100m champion Julien Alfred.
Hunt revealed that she had considered withdrawing from the event because of health issues in the build-up. “It went really well. I've had a really difficult build-up coming into this, so to come away with a season's best was our biggest goal, and it was quite a sizeable season's best, so I'm really happy with it,” she said.
Close call on withdrawal
“I've just had a lot of health issues. Last week was the first time I've ever had to stop a training session without finishing it, so there were definitely conversations about whether I should race. But it's London. The crowd is amazing, it's my home track, and it's a really nice stepping stone on the way to Glasgow. I'm glad I raced, and I'm glad I was strong enough to get through it.”
The Grantham sprinter added: “We sat down about a week ago and had a proper conversation. We decided to take it day by day, but sometimes you've just got to be brave and go for it. There was a lot going on behind the scenes, but I wanted to be brave. I know I'm a strong person, so here I am.”
Looking ahead to Glasgow and Birmingham
Hunt will now head to Glasgow for the Commonwealth Games, where she will race over 100m, before competing in both the 100m and 200m at the European Championships in Birmingham next month. The 24-year-old demonstrated her ability to perform on the big stage in Japan when she edged out Jamaica's Shericka Jackson, the second fastest woman in history, to take world silver.
Her time of 22.30 in London was just one hundredth of a second faster than the 22.31 she ran at the same meeting last year, a performance that preceded her world silver. Hunt is confident this bodes well for the upcoming championships.
“It's pretty much the same time I ran here last year, so if anyone's paying attention, they'll know that's a pretty good omen. At Christmas I wrote down my goals, and now I'm starting to think, 'Wow, maybe we can chase those.' I think I'm always a bit of a dark horse going into championships, so no matter what's happened during my season, people should never write me off. I'm excited,” she added.
