The last dance

After a number of high-profile departures from his sprints group last winter, coach Marco Airale feared he may have to give up the job he loved. However, Amy Hunt stayed put and the two went all-in on the pursuit of success on the world stage. Euan Crumley speaks to the Italian about coming back from “the bottom”

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Marco Airale doesn’t like to watch his athletes’ major races from the side of the track. Instead, he prefers to linger in the stadium warm-up area. It’s where you'll find a lot of sprint coaches during the big moments and this was the biggest of the 34-year-old’s coaching career to date.

As the announcer introduced the competitors for the women's 200m final at the world championships in Tokyo's national stadium, the Italian let his mind wander. He thought back to December, when he had hit “the bottom” after a day in which two of the high profile British athletes he coached-Olympic 100m and 200m finalist Daryll Neita and then European U23 100m champion Jeremiah Azu - left his training group at the same time, telling him of their decision via WhatsApp messages and cutting the income of his business by “almost 50 per cent” at a stroke.

He thought of his father, who had fallen seriously ill and had just undergone surgery, only making it home in time for the day of the women's 200m heats.

And he thought of his athlete who was about to perform. Amy Hunt was the sole British member of the group who had stuck by him after that darkest of days- “she committed fully,” he says-and now, just a matter of months later, they both stood on the brink of something special.

Airale had gone all-in to get his athlete to this point. The stakes were high.