Posted on 19th Sep
Newark sprinter Amy Hunt claimed a silver medal at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo.
After achieving a personal best in the 200m semi-finals, finishing in 22.08 seconds, the 23-year-old Cambridge University student completed her first major championship final in 22.14.
After winning silver, she told the BBC how she was inspired by her late grandfather.
Amy, who has a tattoo of his name on her arm, said: “Moments before the race, I just thought of my grandad.
“I knew he was watching over me, I knew he was going to guide me.
“I have not stopped smiling or crying!
“As soon as I saw my mum, I burst into tears. I knew I could do it as long as I put in a good turn and was with them off the bend. I am so proud of myself.”
After finishing fifth in the world indoor 60m final in March, Amy said her grandad, who died earlier this year, had provided inspiration in her battles during the winter.
Her mum, Claire Hunt, told the BBC: “It’s just absolutely amazing, what a star. It’s been a long time coming, there’s been ups, there’s been downs, but what a star.”
Earlier in the World Championships, Amy having missed out on the final of the 100m by three hundredths of a second.
She was part of Great Britain’s 4x100m relay quartet that won silver at the Paris Olympics last year, but this was her first individual global podium.
It following an injury-disrupted start to her senior career, while she balanced her sporting ambitions with studying English at the University of Cambridge.
Amy also told the BBC: “I am so proud of myself for choosing the harder path.
“I could have chosen an easier way out many times. I chose to go to Cambridge to get a degree — in part for myself to look back on and be proud of, but also to show other young sports people, other young girls, that you don’t have to give up education.
“You can be an academic ‘badass’ and a track goddess.”
The medal in Japan came after she was highly rated as a junior, setting a women’s under-18 200m world record in 2019.
But in early 2022, Amy ruptured her quadriceps and went six years before managing to run a personal best, over 200m at the London Diamond League in July.
