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Injured sprinter Zharnel Hughes revealed he would stop at almost nothing to help secure Olympic bronze on a thrilling night of back-to-back 4x100m relay podiums for Great Britain’s men and women.
The quartet of Dina Asher-Smith, Imani-Lara Lansiquot, Amy Hunt and Daryll Neita were first up, securing women’s silver at the Stade de France, GB’s best result in the event in 68 years.
It was then the turn of the men, with Hughes, whose participation was far from certain after he pulled out of the 200 metres in Paris, returning to anchor a line-up that included Jeremiah Azu, Louie Hinchliffe and Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake to a bronze medal.
Hughes, the world bronze medallist at 100m, ran an 8.78 second-split to help GB finish third behind Canada and South Africa.
Hughes said: “I’m still in pain. My hamstring is heavily, heavily strapped, but this is the Olympics final of the 4×100, and the guys needed me, and I was going to go there to give it my very best. And I’m so happy that we are able to be on the podium.
“I found out (I was running) yesterday. I got some treatment from the doctors.
“We did an ultrasound and an MRI, and we found out that the sciatic nerve was being pushed, and there was also some bleeding on the muscle, so I needed to take a couple of days to let the tone of the hamstring calm down.
“Once I got that done, I was told I can go to the track and do a warm-up session just to feel out how the leg was feeling.
“So I came here today after the warm-up session, felt pretty good. The guys knew what I was facing, and still trusted me, and I’m so happy that I’m on the podium with them. I’m super proud of them, because without them not setting up the race, I wouldn’t have been here today.”
I'm still in pain. My hamstring is heavily, heavily strapped, but this is the Olympics final of the 4x100, and the guys needed me.— Zharnel Hughes
It was a season’s best for the British men’s quartet in 37.61, with Canada champions in 37.50.
Favourites the United States were disqualified for passing the baton outside the takeover zone in the first exchange between Christian Coleman and Kenny Bednarek.
Azu said: “It’s unreal, for me the champs didn’t start great (after a false start in the 100m) so to leave with something, we wouldn’t be in this position without each other, we trust each other.
“The boys put their trust in me to start us off.”
Asher-Smith and Neita, who had both narrowly missed out on first individual podiums in Paris, were inserted into the women’s final on Friday night and got Britain off to a flying start, holding the lead at the halfway point.
They had trouble in the transitions, however, particularly in a messy final handover between Hunt and Neita that cost them time.
USA had dropped to fourth after 300m, but Paris 100m silver medallist Sha’Carri Richardson took full advantage to pip the Brits to the line by seven one hundredths of a second in 41.78.
It was a season’s best for the Americans, while Germany took bronze.
Asher-Smith said: “We are all so proud and so happy. We have worked so hard for this, so to be able to be in a position not just to challenge for a medal, but also for gold, it’s phenomenal.
“I tried to get to Imani first and I wanted to set up the ladies for a phenomenal run. I did not want anybody else in sight.
“I love how the championships are giving medals and the full squad to have their moment. This is a team effort.
“We have worked so hard as a women’s team relay squad since 2012, we have pushed so hard for the last 10 years. To stand on the podium with everyone is a very beautiful moment.”
Neita added: “No frustrations at all. It’s a relay and anything can happen and in amongst all the chaos we remained professional, got the job done and got the baton round.
“We are coming home with a silver medal at the Olympic Games, we’ve upgraded our two bronzes to silver and it was with the help of the other girls as well, we’ve got Desiree (Henry) and Bianca (Williams) who ran in the heats and they’re great.
“This is really special and we’re going on the podium, this is insane. And the boys, we’re bringing two medals home so hopefully you’re just proud of us.”
Amber Anning lowered the British record to 49.29 in a women’s 400m final that saw every challenger cross the finish in under 50 seconds. The 23-year-old had already collected bronze with the mixed 4×400m relay team in Paris, but her individual time landed her fifth in the final.
Dominican Marileidy Paulino stormed to gold in an Olympic record 48.17 seconds, Salwa Eid Naser claimed silver for Bahrain, and Natalia Kaczmarek rounded out the podium.
Ireland’s Rhasidat Adeleke narrowly missed out, finishing fourth in 49.28.
Britain’s Eilish McColgan finished 15th in the 10,000m with team-mate Megan Keith 23rd. Kenya’s Beatrice Chebet took gold.”
