It may have taken 30 years to break John Regis’ 200metre British record, but Zharnel Hughes has been tipped to take it much lower still before the season’s end.
A month after lowering Linford Christie’s 29-year 100m national mark, Hughes eclipsed a longer standing record in front of his home crowd at the London Stadium on Sunday.
Following Hughes’ time of 19.73 seconds, former record-holder Regis said: “I think he can go a lot faster. He’s the future.
“He didn’t just beat it, he destroyed it. This is a new generation of youngsters and he’s leading the pack. Go forward and put that record into the 19.50s.”
Were Hughes to take it below 19.50secs, it would put him inside the top five on the all-time list. The Anguillan-born Briton has become something of a Nostradamus of track and field. Prior to his races, he likes to write down a prediction.
Before his 100m record in New York, he had written down 9.83secs and, prior to London, 19.73secs, with both becoming a reality.
I wrote this in the morning… 🙏🏽
— Zharnel Hughes (@zharnel_hughes) July 23, 2023
And I am so so proud to be the men’s British 200m record holder ☺️
I will never forget the roar of the London crowd.
Now back to work… let’s do this 🙏🏽 pic.twitter.com/nw6xktoq7K
Showing his latest prediction on social media, Hughes wrote: “I did it again, I predicted it. I wrote down that exact time this morning at about 9.30am. I wanted to get the British record on home soil and I did it.
“I don’t care about winning as long as I execute the time that my coach wanted and get the British record.
“We’ve got things I can work on but I executed my race and that was to get to 60m as fast as possible, then just maintain from there. I think Noah [Lyles, the race winner] was playing off me slightly. He was ready to chase me down.”
It marks Hughes, who now returns to Jamaica for a final training block ahead of next month’s World Championships, as a medal contender over both sprint distances. Dina Asher-Smith has also begun to prove herself a medal protagonist come Budapest.
Like Hughes, she is the British record-holder over the 100m and 200m, and over the shorter distance in London finished second behind Marie-Josee Ta Lou in a time of 10.85secs, her quickest outside a major championsips. The run came just 48 hours after racing over the 200m at the Monaco Diamond League.
And the British sprinter said: “I am always disappointed not to win but this shows I am building and, given I had two races in one weekend, that bodes really well.
“It’s all about the end of August and Budapest, which isn’t a long way away so I am excited.
“I managed to see the end of the men’s 200m and I am so pleased for Zharnel. British sprinting is doing so well but also look at Jemma Reekie, Keely Hodgkinson and Jaz Sawyers. The team is looking good.”
