The 2025 Novuna British Athletics Championships, Zarnel Hughes, double British champion and a Dad!

The 2025 Novuna British Athletics Championships, Zarnel Hughes, double British champion and a Dad! by Stuart Weir

Zharnel Hughes  – double British champion and a dad! Given his achievements and the British selection system, Zharnel Hughes could easily have told the selectors that he would run in one of the sprints at trials but would like to be selected for both the 100 m and 200 m at the World Championships.

But no, he ran a prelim and final in both, won both and looked to be thoroughly enjoying himself. And then he took the time to interact with fans, offering selfies and autographs. Having won the 100 in a windy 9.94 on day one, he dominated the 200 on day 2, but rather than easing off when the win was secured, he raced to a championship record of 19.90. You can feel the energy in his after-race comments: “It was a good contest, I just had to work a bit in the home straight, but I trusted myself. Yesterday (100m win) was pretty cool, but I wanted the 200m title more. My coach will get me a lot sharper for the Championships, so I am excited to see what I can do in Tokyo. Great to get 19.9 today. Let’s go!”

I spoke to Zharnel before the champs and he talked about not being based in UK and how much he enjoyed coming to here to compete: “The Birmingham stadium is amazing. Last time I ran there was the Commonwealth Games and the support was just top tier. I mean, it’s always like that anytime you’re running in the UK, the support – you can expect that kind of support from the crowd. And I’m looking forward to racing on that track just to show my love and my support back to them for all the love and support that they give to me”. Those were not just words as Zharnel went out of his way to engage with the fans, pose for selfies etc.  As the photos show he ran with a smile on his face.

Asked about his hopes for the season in a World Championship year, he spoke about “competing well and getting through the rounds. And doing my very best. Hopefully doing well in the finals. Obviously for me, a medal, that’s the most important one. I want to lower my times as well. I would love to get close to all the times that I ran and go even faster, but definitely I want to be on the podium that’s the highlight for me”.  He added a…