Zharnel Hughes believes he can emulate Linford Christie by winning 100m gold for Britain at the Olympic Games next month. But first he has a score to settle with the brash US world 100m and 200m champion Noah Lyles, who he says “raised all the red in me” with a withering putdown that went viral after the launch of Netflix’s new track and field series, Sprint.
In the clip from last summer, Lyles is asked by a journalist what it would take to win the 200m at the London Diamond League. “Whatever I run,” he replies. When Hughes says he wants to show that he is “ready as well”, his American rival tells him: “If you don’t have main character energy, track and field isn’t for you.”
Hughes – who races Lyles in this year’s London Diamond League 100m on Saturday – admits that it was only when he watched the Netflix show that he realised what Lyles had said, and how much he talked about him. “Obviously me being a competitor it raised all the red in me,” he said.
“I was like: ‘This guy, he just needs to shut up.’ My girlfriend is the one who keeps me calm. She is like: ‘Babe, don’t get flared up, don’t let it get into your head. He’s saying these things so you guys can be thrown off psychologically.’
“So, for me, I use that burning desire, that red in me as an athlete, and I try to put it out on the track,” said Hughes, who was speaking at a Vita Coco event.
“He just has a loose mouth, he just likes to talk. I guess that’s how he gets his confidence, so I can’t blame him. But I’m prepared. I’ll see him in London. We’ll meet there and have a talk.”
Lyles ended up winning that 200m in London in 19.47sec, while Hughes was third behind Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo in a British record 19.73. But the rematch over 100m on Saturday could be equally as tasty – with Tebogo and Louie Hinchliffe, the British student who recently broke 10 seconds, also in the field.
Hughes insists he is back in top shape after recovering from a grade-one tear in his right hamstring that forced him to miss 12 days of training and the European championships last month. “I’m back in training, hitting v max times, doing time trials and stuff to make sure we’re on target,” he said. “Coach is excited, I’m excited, I’m looking forward to seeing what I can do.”
Hughes also reveals that he has a screenshot of Linford Christie winning gold in Barcelona in 1992 on his phone and is using videos of that race as motivation for Paris. “Linford and I have a very good relationship,” he said. “When he stood up on the podium and the British crowd went bananas, it inspired me. It gave me the chills. Getting a gold medal is a goal.”
Some experts, including Carl Lewis, feel that Hughes could have already won Olympic gold in Tokyo if he had not false‑started in the 100m final. It is something he feels too. “Honestly. I thought I was ready,” he says. “Tokyo was pretty hot, so a lot of athletes were cramping, unfortunately I was one of those. When I got into the blocks in the set position my right calf cramped and I couldn’t stay in my blocks.”
Last year Hughes made amends by winning world 100m bronze in Budapest, further cementing his reputation as one of most talented and well-liked members of the British team. However he admits that it took time for him to adjust after switching allegiances from Anguilla, a British dependency, in 2015, especially as some newspapers suggested he was a “plastic Brit” at the time.
“When you just become part of a team and the first thing you see in a news article is ‘plastic Brit’, I was like: ‘Ugggh, I wasn’t expecting that.’ It felt a little hurtful. I was like: ‘Why would you raise that?’ Eventually people started to accept who I was.”
