John Otugade’s patience pays off

After a series of near misses, the British sprinter will finally be realising a dream when he competes at the European Indoor Championships

Of the 12 athletes winning their first senior Great Britain vests at the European Indoor Championships in Apeldoorn, John Otugade has had to show by far the most patience. 

While teenagers such as Innes Fitzgerald and Ava Lloyd have been quick to reach that landmark, the 30-year-old Shaftesbury Barnet sprinter will be achieving a particularly long-term goal when he competes in the men’s 60m heats on Saturday morning (March 8).

By his own admission, he has been on the verge of hitting his target on a number of occasions in the past, only to just miss out, but he finally managed to secure the call-up he craved by coming second to Jeremiah Azu at the UK Indoor Championships last month, building on the PB-equalling run of 6.60 he clocked in January that had made him 2025’s early world leader.

Small margins can make a huge difference in elite sport, but especially so in the short sprints where every fraction of a second is critical, so what has Otugade done to take this next step? He puts it down to three factors.

“I’m just approaching this meet as I am any other, and I think approaching the national champs like that is probably what helped me to get over the line,” he says. “I’ve had quite a few near misses in the past where I’ve been well positioned to make a team and not quite done it. That’s probably been because I’ve put making the team on a pedestal, and I’ve become very nervous around the whole aspect of trying to do that. 

“Now, I’m just a lot more relaxed about things, a lot more experienced. I’m very process orientated as opposed to the past, where I’ve been quite outcome dependent. Now I’ve taken a step back and started to focus on what I need to do to achieve said outcome, rather than focusing on the outcome itself. 

“Also, my training. I used to train quite a lot by myself but over the past year and a half or so, I’ve started working with another sprinter, Ade Adewale, and having the opportunity to spar with him on a weekly basis has definitely sharpened me up massively. The third thing is probably just experience. Now, I just know how to manage things a lot better.”

What Otugade describes as a “hybrid approach” approach to his training is clearly paying off. There are the blocks and speed sessions with Adewale once a week, plus he follows “[coach]…