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Zharnel Hughes stormed to victory in the men’s 200 metres at the UK Athletics Championships on Sunday in Birmingham to complete the sprint double and secure a spot in that event at next month’s World Championships in Tokyo.
Hughes, who won the 100m on Saturday, clocked 19.90 seconds to break the competition record, becoming the first runner to duck under the 20-second barrier at a British championship.
“Winning the 100m yesterday was pretty cool, but I wanted the 200m title more,” Hughes said. “My coach will get me a lot sharper for the Championships – I’m excited to see what I can do in Tokyo.”
Dina Asher-Smith held off newly-crowned 100m champion Amy Hunt to win a women’s 200m that was determined by a photo finish, with both clocking 22.14, also a championship record.
“It was an excellent race, we needed a photo-finish because neither of us knew who had won,” Asher-Smith said. “But I am happy to come here and run a low-22, it is a fantastic time.”
Daryll Neita, who was disqualified for a false start in Saturday’s 100m – but is still eligible to race that distance in Tokyo, according to UK Athletics – was third in 22.30, to secure the 200m world qualifying time.
Max Burgin won the men’s 800m in a fast 1:43.92, while Olympic 1500m bronze medallist Georgia Hunter Bell clocked 1:59.53 to win her first British women’s 800m title.
Hunter Bell is undecided whether she will run the 800m or 1500m or both in Tokyo.
“How cool would it be to follow in the footsteps of the great British athletes like Seb Coe, Kelly Holmes, Steve Cram, who did double up, and were successful – it’s hard to decide,” she said.
World 1500m champion Josh Kerr moved up to the 5,000m and raced to victory in 13:44.73.
“It was always going to be tough out there over the last mile but I really enjoyed the first eight laps,” Kerr said. “That was fun.”
