There were many elements building towards the run that saw Daryll Neita come within a whisker of the British record over 60metres in Berlin this month.
The gradual coming to grips with a “love-hate relationship” with racing indoors; her “most settled” winter in years, 12 months on from a life-altering move to Italy; and a hunger that stems from the individual medals won at last year’s European Championships and Commonwealth Games being only bronze.
But there was also something in the occasion itself, a relatively low-key event on World Athletics’ Indoor Tour turned into a tracktown carnival by almost 12,000 passionate fans packed into the Mercedes-Benz Arena.
“Honestly, Berlin was one of the best meets I’ve ever been to,” Neita tells Standard Sport, days after following up that performance with a first British indoor title in more docile surrounds in Birmingham. “[The Germans] put on such a good show, there was music, the atmosphere was insane - it was like a concert.
“That would be good to see at British competitions because I feel like the atmosphere can be lacking. Nationals at the weekend, it was dead silent, there was no atmosphere, it was pretty hard to get aroused.
“A bit of music, a bit of vibes, why not put on a show? Why not make people want to be there?”
Long before she finishes our conversation with the suggestion of a post-career calling the shots in administration, it becomes clear that Neita is an athlete with strong views on the state of athletics, a sport which, in recent years, has seemed increasingly unsure of itself and its place.
The question of whether track and field is as popular now as when she first emerged onto the scene draws no definitive answer from the 26-year-old. The quality of the product, Neita believes, remains strong, both from a British and international perspective, but a “makeover” is needed in terms of how it is presented, agreeing that the sporadic Diamond League schedule, which fans have long complained makes even the sport’s premier circuit a nightmare to keep up with, is “a mess”.
“Even knowing how to watch everything,” she adds, “you’re trying to go on a VPN, you’re trying to stream this, it’s impossible. It’d be nice for it not to be so hard to watch our sport - I can’t find it half the time and I’m in it!”
Were Netflix to come knocking with a fly-on-the-wall documentary crew, Neita would, unsurprisingly, be all-in. “Yeah!” she says. “Follow us on our journey to Paris 2024, see what we do behind the scenes, see us at home when we’re relaxed, see us training. We work so hard and these medals and times do not come easily. It would be nice for people to see that”.
It’d be nice for it not to be so hard to watch our sport - I can’t find it half the time and I’m in it!
She is frustrated, though, by the perceived lack of communication from the bodies and broadcasters with the power to do more - “No one wants your suggestions, really. We just have to take ownership and make sure we’re doing the best we can on social media” - and insists that, ultimately, there is no substitute for the live experience when it comes to getting people hooked to the sport.
“You can watch the long jump: eight metres - that is so far,” she says. “But on TV you don’t really have an idea of it.”
Of course, paying fans also want to see the best athletes. Neita was one of few high-profile names in action at last weekend’s National Indoors, the likes of Keely Hodgkinson, Dina Asher-Smith and Laura Muir among those not obliged - as reigning world or Olympic medalists - to run for their places on next month’s European Indoor team and, understandably, choosing not to (Asher-Smith has opted out of Europeans, in any case).
“[Fans] turn up to see us and I think it’s nice to show face and put on a show for your supporters,” says Neita. “I was more than happy to turn up and get the job done. I can understand why people might not but I wanted to run in front of a home crowd.”
Happily, the aforementioned will all be in Birmingham on Saturday for the final of the World Indoor Tour, with Neita and Asher-Smith set to renew a rivalry that began “when we were eight or nine years old” and has become, of late, increasingly tight, with just that one-hundredth of a second separating their personal bests over 60m, both set already this year.
“When we were younger, we had a few years of being pretty close but over the years we’ve gone our separate ways,” says Neita, referring to her moves to train first in Florida and now in Padua, near Venice. “It’s always been pretty friendly, when we’re not on the track we can have a conversation without there being any animosity or any weird vibes. We’re pretty cool. But on the track, we both want to win.
“The rivalry’s great, it’s fun.” And, hopefully, great viewing, too.
