Amy Hunt becomes fastest woman in Europe with 100m gold
Desk report: “I want it all,” said Amy Hunt, quoting one of her favourite Queen songs upon arriving for the European Athletics Championships. A self-professed track goddess and academic badass with an English literature degree from Cambridge, Hunt is now officially Europe’s fastest woman.
After Commonwealth silver in the Glasgow rain two weeks ago, Hunt glowed on a balmy summer’s night in Birmingham to win her first major international gold: the European 100m title.
She then immediately set herself the target of four European Championship gold medals with the 200m on Thursday night and then both the 4x100m women’s and mixed relays over the weekend.“I’m someone who doesn’t shy away from what she knows she can do,” Hunt said. “I want to be the best. I’m so proud, and so confident in myself because I get to see what I do every single day at training. I knew I could come away with gold. I had such a big premonition.
“I just had such a magical feeling. I’ve won the English Schools [Championships] here, I’ve raced here as a 13-year-old. So this is really my track. I’m a Midlands girl. I just had a feeling that this was going to be my night.”
It was still close and far from a perfect race. Indeed, Hunt predicted that Marco Airale, her coach, would describe the performance as “trash” following a typically sluggish start. Hunt, though, has the best top-end speed in the race and held both her form and nerve to run down Poland’s Ewa Swoboda to win in exactly 11 seconds. The winning margin was just 0.02sec and she did not hit the front until about 10 metres to go.
“It’s just so special – we had to upgrade to gold,” Hunt said. “I think this was definitely a coming of age for me. I know I’m so strong in the end and I always have that kind of extra magic in the last 40, 50. I just say ‘chill’. The biggest thing is not panicking, trusting in my very long legs, long femurs, and just staying calm and pulling through at the end.”
