Get all your news in one place.

100's of premium titles.
One app.

Start reading

Get all your news in one place.

100's of premium titles. One news app.

Start reading

Daily Mirror

Sport

Keith Webster

Kansas City Chiefs speedster Tyreek Hill ready to run rings around San Francisco 49ers

The last time Tyreek Hill lost a foot race, Adam Gemili went home with a gold medal round his neck.

On Sunday, the NFL’s self-proclaimed speed king intends to use his blazing pace to make sure he goes home with a Super Bowl ring on his finger.

It was July 11, 2012 when rising British sprint star Gemili and American college track speedster Hill faced off as 18-year-olds in the 100metres final at the World Junior Championships in Barcelona.

Hill exploded out of the blocks and led at 40m only for Gemili’s power finishing to carry him to gold in a games-record 10.05secs, while Hill finished fourth in 10.29, edged out of a medal by one one-hundredth of a second.

Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Tyreek Hill is preparing for Super Bowl LIV (SIPA USA/PA Images)

But the confident Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver, whose mouth is even faster than his legs, and who goes by the Twitter handle @cheetah, thinks no San Francisco 49ers are going to finish ahead of him in Hard Rock Stadium.

Hill said: “The last time I lost a race was when I went to Barcelona. It was against Adam Gemili.

“There’s nobody faster than me. I’m the cheetah. I’m the fastest land mammal. No disrespect to anyone but there is nobody in the NFL that can beat me in a foot race.”

Hill gladly rises to that classic American sports challenge, if you talk the talk, you’d better be able to walk the walk. And he is only too well aware of how much that applies to this game more than any other he will ever play.

He said: “We have swagger. Every time we step on the field, we want to be different from every other team. We want to score on every play.

Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Tyreek Hill catches a touchdown against Tennessee Titans (SIPA USA/PA Images)

“This game is where you leave a legacy. If you want to be remembered, this is the game. The media is here, the entire world is watching. This game is where you separate yourself from a lot of players.

“A lot of people say ‘I want to be the best receiver in the league, I want to be this, I want to be that’. Well, here’s your chance to prove it.

“You want to be the best? Prove it, man, on the biggest stage in the world.”

But Hill also understands there is no point thinking of the Super Bowl as just another game. There is a reason they call it Super.

“For the Super Bowl, your mindset has to be different, especially when you add in all the media. Our minds are roaming a thousand different ways. And you’re in Miami so you have to be mindful of that.

Adam Gemili, the Great Britain sprint superstar (Getty Images)

“But we have some smart guys on this team who are going to do the right thing and get the job done. After we get the job done, that’s when we come back to Miami and have some fun.”

And if he does win the big one, Hill already accepts emotion will get the better of him, as it did two weeks ago on the night the Chiefs qualified for this game.

“I cried after the AFC Championship Game. I’m really going to boo-hoo after this game.

“It would mean a lot. Just to be a part of history is going to be crazy to me. I don’t even want to think about it because I’m ready to play right now.”