2 months ago
Amy Hunt’s mind is flashing backmost to nan infinitesimal she unwittingly went viral past September. As untrammelled joyousness charged done her body, nan BBC asked astir her different travel from an English grade astatine Cambridge to a daze 200m world title metallic medal. Hunt’s consequence quickly became a cri du coeur to young girls everywhere: “You tin beryllium an world badass and a way goddess.”
As nan 23-year-old prepares for nan World Indoor Championships successful Poland that starts connected Friday, she reveals her remark was wholly spontaneous. “As soon arsenic I said it, I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m connected nan BBC, tin I moreover opportunity that? Are they going to bleep that out?’” she says, smiling. “I was truthful incredibly precocious pinch nan adrenaline and endorphins that location wasn’t that relationship betwixt my encephalon and my mouth, necessarily, truthful I didn’t really cognize what I was saying.”
But Hunt’s connection struck an contiguous chord, because she now has sporty 16- and 17-year-olds asking for proposal connected really to get into Oxbridge. “There’s truthful galore girls that connection maine each azygous day,” she says. “I’ll ever say, conscionable springiness maine a telephone because nan question and reply is truthful dissimilar thing other you’ll ever do.”
Hunt has helped a mates of girls fulfil their dreams of getting into Cambridge and successful nan longer word she wants to group up a way and section balanced to Stormzy’s Merky scholarships, which costs tuition and attraction costs for achromatic students astatine Cambridge. For now, though, her attraction is solely connected becoming ‘an icon’ connected nan way complete nan adjacent decade.
That intends making sacrifices, though Hunt does not spot it that way. After she won that metallic medal, she abruptly recovered aggregate doors and bonzer opportunities unfastened up for her. But isolated from a travel to McLaren’s F1 office and seeing her NFL team, nan Minnesota Vikings, play successful London, she turned astir of them down for interfering pinch her training.
“I really dislike nan word sacrifice,” she says. “People bring it up acold excessively often. This is my occupation and what I genuinely emotion to do. I aftermath up each time and I americium truthful successful emotion pinch nan life I person created.
“Turning these things down doesn’t really capable maine pinch immoderate benignant of sadness. These opportunities – manner weeks, Oscars, immoderate – travel astir each azygous twelvemonth whereas Olympics and Worlds location European Championships don’t.”
Part of her reasoning comes from knowing really fickle athletics tin be. At 17, she smashed nan world under-18 200m grounds and was hailed by Vogue arsenic “one of nan faces to specify nan decade”. But erstwhile she ruptured her quadriceps truthful severely while astatine assemblage that her mum needed to assistance her retired of nan ablution immoderate thought she was finished. A 4x100m relay metallic badge astatine nan 2024 Paris Olympics and metallic badge successful Tokyo proved her critics wrong.
There person been different challenges, particularly connected societal media. “I had somewhat of a breakthrough erstwhile I was 17,” she says. “So I’ve had 2 peaks successful position of nationalist awareness. Interestingly, I utilized to get acold much – I deliberation pedophiliac is possibly a spot beardown – but acold much gross aliases possibly nasty messages erstwhile I was overmuch younger.
“I still get a adjacent few, particularly astir championships, but it’s much conscionable – I don’t cognize really I’d put this successful a bully measurement – tasteful comments. But I decidedly sewage much of them astatine property 17, which is very disturbing.”
Hunt stresses that she has learned to woody pinch astir of nan maltreatment by blocking group aliases turning her telephone off. But she is wise capable to understand quality nature. “People are ever going to hate,” she says. “One point that is possibly arguable to opportunity is that I deliberation athletes should beryllium unfastened to a small spot much hate.
“That sounds horrible, but I mean it successful a measurement that if we want our athletics to turn because if we look astatine each nan different sports – football, tennis, F1 – that are immense successful nationalist and taste consciousness, they get a batch much dislike and aggression than we do.
“Also, everyone’s entitled to their ain opinions,. “So nan slightest cocky measurement possible, my sentiment is nan only 1 that matters. I don’t really attraction what personification online has to opportunity astir my starts.”
In a world wherever athletes are often encouraged to opportunity small Hunt is simply a invited antidote. She does not flinch erstwhile asked her astir her ambitions either. This twelvemonth she wants to break Dina Asher-Smith’s 100m and 200m British records, triumph nan treble astatine nan European Championships successful Birmingham and successful nan longer word she wants to beryllium bully capable to triumph medals complete 400m.
“All of nan sprinting greats are not acrophobic to put themselves successful positions wherever they’re possibly not nan favourite to win,” she says. “I would emotion to measurement up to nan 400m. I look astatine group for illustration Allyson Felix who were awesome crossed nan committee and could do each azygous arena and nan 4x100m and 4x400m relays.
“In nan astir selfish, vain way, if you’re nan personification winning medals successful 2 individual events and 2 relays and you spell location pinch 4 Olympic medals past that makes you an icon for life. Truly 1 of nan greats, particularly successful position of British athletics.”
How bully could she beryllium complete 400m? “I decidedly person nan spot to do it,” she says. “We did a 45 2nd clip proceedings successful South Africa and nan results were ace good. I ran 368 metres, I think, truthful we were incredibly happy pinch that. That stacks up good against 400m specialists.”
For now, though, Hunt’s attraction is connected Torun. The 60m is excessively short a region for her, fixed she is 5ft 10in and has a agelong stride that takes a while to upwind up, but she vanished 5th astatine nan world indoors past twelvemonth and has tally 7.04sec this season, a clip that gives her a badge shot.
Whatever happens, she is relishing nan imaginable of doing what she does best: putting it each retired there, triumph aliases lose. “I genuinely emotion racing,” she says. “I cannot overstate really overmuch I emotion to guidelines connected that commencement line. I would do it without moreover getting paid. It’s my favourite point successful nan world.”
