In the words of Amy Hunt here in Tokyo on Friday evening, it is indeed possible to be an “academic badass as well as a track goddess”. “You don’t have to follow one narrow pursuit,” she said. “You can live such a richly developed, textured and beautiful, colourful life.”
But once this 23-year-old Cambridge graduate from Grantham had wiped away the tears she shared with her parents after claiming a sensational world championship silver medal in the 200 metres, she also retold a story, which proved that combining the two is no easy task.
When she arrived at Corpus Christi College to study English literature, she had an under-18 world record for the distance as well as a passion for Chaucer and playing the cello.
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Her tutors at Cambridge, however, were not terribly interested in her athletic endeavours and that demand for the highest standards in her studies created an almost intolerable pressure. She said she nearly quit her degree at the end of every year, not least because of the lack of support and understanding that she had to make regular 190-mile round trips to Loughborough to train.
A serious injury compounded her problems. She needed knee surgery so debilitating her mother, Claire, would have to lift her out of the shower; an extra burden on parents already performing the role of taxi driver so she could rest during those long journeys.
Mentally as well as physically, she was broken. She once told this newspaper how at university she even suffered with impostor syndrome, such was her desire to impress.
Yet here she was in Japan’s National Stadium, a 2:1 already in the bag, a medal now hanging from her neck and a Union Jack draped across her shoulders, feeling every inch like she deserved to be there.
Hunt was able to add her world silver medal to the 2:1 she achieved at Cambridge in English literature this year
IAN MACNICOL/GETTY IMAGES
“I think the only people who truly believed were myself, my coach and my family,” she said.
“It’s been an incredible three years from a complete tendon rupture surgical repair, going through the Cambridge system, getting my degree, moving countries [to Padua, Italy] to somewhere where I still don’t really speak the language . . . it’s been a massive rollercoaster.
“I’ve just trusted myself the whole time. I’ve just known I had it within me. That failure was never an option for me. I knew I would make it, even before this race. I visualised it so many times, so to actually finally do it is so incredibly surreal. That’s why I screamed.”
When she was at her lowest ebb, she drew on the memory of being the world’s fastest 17-year-old. “I knew I was too talented for it to go to waste,” she said. “I had a fire I had to light inside of me. This radical, utter insane belief in myself. And my family really helped me, lifting me out of the shower and redressing my wounds and stuff.”
University amounted to another significant obstacle. “Cambridge is an especially unique experience,” she said. “It exists in its own crazy world, with so many different random made-up words. The dining hall is something out of Harry Potter and you’re wearing your robes and the gong sounds and you have to stand up and recite Latin.
Hunt competes in Sweden in 2019 at a time when she was the world’s fastest 17-year-old
MAJA HITIJ/GETTY IMAGES FOR EUROPEAN ATHLETICS
“But some of the lessons I learnt there really taught me resilience. I think it’s incredibly tough when two very rigid systems come up against each other. There’s always going to be some natural friction. But those two systems didn’t quite see eye to eye all the time and it resulted in a lot of stress, a lot of driving and a lot of very, very late nights.
“I knew it would be worth it, but I did consider dropping out at the end of every single year. I knew that I couldn’t because, as you can see, I’m not a quitter. I’m actually very grateful for that experience but shouldn’t have to sacrifice academic success for being a track buddy. I’m just so incredibly proud of myself.”
Hunt had predicted she would perform well here, based on training sessions under the guidance of her coach, Marco Airale, she believed few of her rivals would be capable of completing.
She had failed to reach the final of the 100m but her endurance comes into play over the longer distance. She was sixth coming off the bend, yet came through to take second behind the new queen of world sprinting, Melissa Jefferson-Wooden. The American clocked 21.68sec, the fastest time this year, with Hunt crossing the line in 22.14.
A measure of Hunt’s achievement was the fact that behind her came two previous world champions; Shericka Jackson, of Jamaica, and Great Britain’s Dina Asher-Smith, who was fifth in 22.43.
Asher-Smith was in reflective mood after her fifth-place finish behind Hunt in the 200m final
JULIAN FINNEY/GETTY IMAGES
There was no impostor syndrome this time. “I was just like, ‘It’s time to go hunting, let’s go get them.’ I really wanted to cause an upset and I did. My mantra coming into this race, standing on the start line, was ‘no fear’. I probably have the strongest straight, the highest top-end speed, and I’m probably one of the fittest on the start line.”
It has been a tough championship for the British team, Jake Wightman’s silver medal aside, but Hunt was the highlight of a generally more positive evening.
Katarina Johnson-Thompson goes into the second day of competition in the heptathlon in the bronze-medal position, while George Mills advanced to Sunday’s final of the men’s 5,000m. Ditto Keely Hodgkinson and Georgia Hunter Bell in the women’s 800m.
But this was also a night for some box-office performers, with Noah Lyles joining an exclusive club of athletes who have won four consecutive world titles. Only Usain Bolt, Hicham El Guerrouj, Michael Johnson and Haile Gebrselassie had done so before, but Lyles proved he very much remains the present king of 200m running, crossing in 19.52 with his US compatriot, Kenny Bednarek, second in 19.58s. Great Britain’s Zharnel Hughes was fifth in a season’s best of 19.78.
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Lyles had actually run a fraction quicker in the previous round, setting a new record for a semi-final. “I don’t know anybody else dumb enough to do that,” he said.
In the build-up to the men’s 400m hurdles final, Karsten Warholm had described his much-anticipated contest with Rai Benjamin as something of a “dick swinging competition”. This, after all, was a duel between the two fastest men in history and the last two Olympic champions.
But Warholm, the world champion and world record-holder, proved rather impotent by his own high standards, hitting the third hurdle heavily and finding himself well down on the American coming into the home straight. In the end the Norwegian finished fifth, in a relatively slow 47.58sec, saying that he injured himself coming out of the starting blocks.
Benjamin clattered the final hurdle but remained on his feet to win in 46.52, only to then endure one of the more bizarre moments of these championships. He already had a crown on his head, not to mention a gold medal hanging from his neck, when he was informed that he had in fact been disqualified. The reason? By hitting the hurdle as hard as he did, he also knocked down the one in the next lane. It seemed unnecessarily harsh when the rule states that an athlete is not allowed to impede an opponent, and he was quickly reinstated as champion.
For Femke Bol, it was all rather more predictable. With Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone switching her focus to the flat 400m, the Dutchwoman won her second consecutive world title in 51.55; the ninth fastest time ever.
Now it was time to celebrate. Hunt said she planned to head out for some karaoke and a glass or two of wine. “Karaoke!” cried Lyles, overhearing Hunt as he walked past.
What would be her song of choice? Maneater by Nelly Furtado, she told the BBC. “I like the vibe, sexy and aggressive.”
AloJapan.com