British student Louie Hinchliffe has completed an incredible journey from texting Carl Lewis last year asking “can you fix me” to attending the University of Houston and now qualifying for the Olympics.
After running 9.95 seconds to become the first European to win the US collegiate title earlier this month, the 21-year-old sprinted comfortably to the British 100m title on Saturday to join Jeremiah Azu for one of two automatic Olympic qualifying spots to secure.
Third place will likely go to World Championship bronze medalist Zharnel Hughes, who was granted a medical exemption to miss the trials due to a recent injury.
Under the watchful eye in Manchester of Lewis, Hinchliffe’s winning time of 10.16 seconds was limited by the wet and windy weather conditions, but a winning margin of 0.07 seconds over Azu – who has broken 10 seconds himself this year – suggested he was with Hughes could push for a place in the Olympic finals.
Lewis, the legendary nine-time Olympic champion, said the “sky is the limit” for Hinchliffe, who he believes will eventually be compared with his old rival Linford Christie as one of Britain’s greatest ever sprinters.
“Going to the Olympics means everything,” says Hinchliffe, who was born in Sheffield and previously studied at Lancaster University. “This is what I dreamed of since I was a kid.”
Keely Hodgkinson, meanwhile, qualified for the 400m final on Sunday, where she hopes to convince the selection committee to include her in the Olympic 4x400m relay team. She will not compete in her specialist 800m distance at the trials, having already secured an Olympic spot following her World Cup silver last year.
Her chances of winning Olympic gold were boosted last week when reigning champion Athing Mu missed out on a place in Paris after a crash at the US Olympic trials. Hodgkinson said she was disappointed not to be racing against her great rival in Paris.
“I was really devastated,” she said. “It’s just a shame that that opportunity is taken away for something so unfortunate. Paris won’t be the same without her.”
Fresh from setting a new British record in the pole vault, Molly Caudery also signalled her medal potential with a winning throw of 4.83m on day one of the British Championships.
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