Amid a raft of high-profile absentees from Birmingham this weekend it was quite the surprise to see Jeremiah Azu’s name on the 200m start list for the UK Athletics Indoor Championships on Sunday.
The 200m is not contested internationally during the indoor season so elite athletes almost never race it, and Azu had already won the 60m title a day earlier. In an era where world-class athletes tend to wrap themselves in cotton wool for fear of injury it was unusual to see one so accomplished run an additional three times in three hours when there was no particular need.
That Azu triumphed, in a personal best of 20.77sec came as little surprise given his accolades include world and European 60m gold medals. He will defend the first of those at the World Athletics Indoor Championships next month.
With Keely Hodgkinson opting not to take her place in the 800m final, and the Olympic medallists Georgia Hunter Bell and Josh Kerr late injury withdrawals from their races, Azu’s presence added some sparkle to an afternoon that otherwise lacked some sheen.
Asked whether more athletes should take the chance to run at these events, he said: “We travel around the world so much, and we represent Great Britain, so if there’s an opportunity to do it, for [the crowd] to come and see us, I think people should grab that. But obviously people are based in different places.
It’s not easy to just break up training and come here. I’m two hours away in Cardiff. Everyone’s got different things to juggle.-Theguardian
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