Carl Lewis Q&A after coaching Louie Hinchliffe to Olympic team

An interview with the nine-time Olympic champion on everything from discovering the British sprinter to his coaching philosophy

One of the highlights from the UK Athletics Championships – doubling up as the GB Olympic Trials – was Louie Hinchliffe becoming the national men’s 100m champion and booking himself a spot on the team for Paris.

The 21-year-old stormed through the field, which included the likes of CJ Ujah and Reece Prescod, to run 10.18 (-0.8) in tricky conditions.

Last year, Hinchliffe’s personal best was 10.17. Since moving to the University of Houston, under the stewardship of none other than nine-time Olympic champion Carl Lewis, the Brit has lowered his best mark to 9.95. He has also clocked 9.84, although the tailwind of 2.5m/s was just over the legal limit.

Hinchliffe’s other big achievement was becoming the first ever European to win the NCAA (US collegiate) men’s 100m title, at Hayward Field in Oregon (June 7).

It’s been a remarkable few months and much of the success is down to Lewis, who is Head Coach of Track and Field at the University of Houston.

Hinchliffe stated afterwards that his first ever conversation with Lewis was about the possibility of making the Olympic team.

That’s now a reality. So what does Lewis make of it all, why did he take Hinchliffe on in the first place and how does being a “teacher” compare to competing?

Here’s our Q&A with the nine-time Olympic champion.

Carl, when you first met Louie after he wrote to you, did you imagine he would be going to the Paris Olympics? 

It’s funny, when he [Louie Hinchliffe] wrote to me, the first thing I did was talk to Shaun Maswanganyi. Then I looked at a video of Louie and I was like ‘gosh, this guy is doing this and this’ and I could correct it. I thought he could run a lot faster. So my goal for him was to make the Olympic team. Now, it wasn’t to go and win the Olympic trials but it was to book a spot on the team. I thought I could get him under 10.10 which would’ve been right there.

So far, he’s exceeded what I thought was possible. I think the big thing for him has been the NCAA system. I never knew a European had never won the 100m title before him. For me, the biggest element of his improvement is his consistency. So I felt very confident for him at the Olympic trials.

Was the reason you took Louie on because you believed his potential was so high?

With the way that our team was set up at the University of…