British underdog sprinters brewing up a Tokyo storm

Zharnel Hughes and Jeremiah Azu will have Noah Lyles, the man to beat over 100m, in their sights at the World Athletics Championships in Japan this weekend

- By Luke Baker

“Noah’s going to talk and I’m going to run.” Zharnel Hughes is contemplating the 100m at the upcoming World Athletics Championships - the sport’s blue-riband race at its biggest non-Olympic event.

The Noah in question is Noah Lyles. Braided hair, vibrant fashion sense, a confidence bordering on cockiness oozing out of every pore. He’s exactly what you imagine when picturing a 21st-century sprinting star.

Sure, he’s got a fast mouth, but his legs are even faster, as proven by the fact he’s the reigning world and Olympic champion over 100m and will be the man to beat when he begins his defence of the former in Tokyo tomorrow.

Lyles also has a personal history with Hughes, the fastest Briton of all time, who is friendly and engaging but far more understated than his American foe. In Netflix’s behind-the-scenes athletics documentary Sprint, broadcast last year, Lyles is seen telling Hughes: “If you don’t have main character energy, track and field isn’t for you.”

Hughes hadn’t realised what was said until the documentary was broadcast and admitted in an interview ahead of the Olympics that the comment “raised all the red in me.”

“I was like: This guy, he just needs to shut up,” he added at the time. “My girlfriend is the one who keeps me calm. She is like: 'Babe, don’t get flared up, don’t let it get into your head. He's saying these things so you guys can be thrown off psychologically.' So, I use that burning desire, that red in me as an athlete, and I try to put it out on the track.”