Zharnel Hughes (born 13 July 1995, The Valley, Anguilla) is an Anguillan-born British sprinter who specialises in the

100 metres The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been conteste ...

and

200 metres The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400 metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run the race. A slightl ...

. Born and raised in the

British Overseas Territory The British Overseas Territories (BOTs), also known as the United Kingdom Overseas Territories (UKOTs), are fourteen territories with a constitutional and historical link with the United Kingdom. They are the last remnants of the former Br ...

Anguilla Anguilla ( ) is a British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean. It is one of the most northerly of the Leeward Islands in the Lesser Antilles, lying east of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands and directly north of Saint Martin. The terr ...

, he has competed internationally for Great Britain in the Olympic Games,

World Athletics World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation (from 1912 to 2001) and International Association of Athletics Federations (from 2001 to 2019, both abbreviated as the IAAF) is the international governing body fo ...

and

European Athletics The European Athletic Association (more commonly known as European Athletics) is the governing body for athletics in Europe. It is one of the six Area Associations of the world's athletics governing body World Athletics. European Athletics has 5 ...

events, and for England at the

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the ex ...

, since 2015. Hughes had significant success in his youth representing Anguilla, winning sprint gold medals at the

CARIFTA Games The CARIFTA Games is an annual athletics competition founded by the Caribbean Free Trade Association (CARIFTA). The games was first held in 1972 and consists of track and field events including sprint races, hurdles, middle distance track eve ...

Central American and Caribbean Junior Championships in Athletics The Central American and Caribbean Junior Championships is a junior athletics competition held between the nations of Central America and the Caribbean Islands promoted by the Central American and Caribbean Athletic Confederation (CACAC). It is ...

and the

Pan American Junior Athletics Championships The Pan American U20 Athletics Championships are a biennial sports event for track and field organized by the Association of Panamerican Athletics The Association of Panamerican Athletics (APA; Spanish: ''Asociación Panamericana de Atletismo'') ...

.He holds the Anguillian national records in both 100 m and 200 m Following his transfer of allegiance Hughes placed fifth in the 200 m final at the

2015 World Championships in Athletics The 2015 IAAF World Championships ( zh, 第十五届世界田径锦标赛), the fifteenth edition of the IAAF World Championships, were held from 22 to 30 August at the National Stadium in Beijing, China. Forty-three nations won medals, 144 of ...

. Injury affected his 2016 and 2017 seasons and he was eliminated in the rounds-stage at the

2016 European Athletics Championships The 2016 European Athletics Championships was held in Amsterdam, Netherlands, between 6 and 10 July 2016. It was the first time the Netherlands hosted the event. Due to 2016 being an Olympic year, there was no racewalking and the marathon compet ...

and

2017 World Championships in Athletics Seventeen or 17 may refer to: *17 (number), the natural number following 16 and preceding 18 * one of the years 17 BC, AD 17, 1917, 2017 Literature Magazines * ''Seventeen'' (American magazine), an American magazine * ''Seventeen'' (Japanese m ...

. He returned to fitness in 2018 and won the

4 × 100 metres relay The 4 × 100 metres relay or sprint relay is an athletics track event run in lanes over one lap of the track with four runners completing 100 metres each. The first runners must begin in the same stagger as for the individ ...

title at the

2018 Commonwealth Games The 2018 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXI Commonwealth Games and also known as Gold Coast 2018, was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth that were held on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, ...

with England. Hughes crossed the line first in the final of the 200 metres at the Games, but was disqualified for impeding an athlete in the neighbouring lane. He won the gold medal in both the 100 metres and

4 x 100 metres relay 4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. In mathematics Four is the smallest ...

at the

2018 European Championships The 2018 European Championships were the first edition of the European Championships. It was a multi-sport event which took place in Berlin, Germany, and Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom (with Edinburgh hosting the diving events and Gleneagles ...

, and in both the 200 metres and

at the

2022 European Championships The 2022 European Championships were the second edition of the European Championships (multi-sport event), European Championships. It was a multi-sport event which took place in Munich, Germany from 11 to 21 August 2022. The tournament began three ...

representing

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It ...

, and once more won gold in the 4 x 100 metres relay at the

2022 Commonwealth Games The 2022 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Birmingham 2022, was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth of Nations that took place in Birmingham, England b ...

, again representing

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. In 2019 he won his first global senior medal, a silver in the 4 x 100 metre relay at the

2019 World Athletics Championships The 2019 IAAF World Athletics Championships () was the seventeenth edition of the biennial, global athletics competition organised by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), since renamed World Athletics. It was held betw ...

. He won a second medal, a bronze, in the same event at the

2022 World Athletics Championships The 2022 World Athletics Championships was the eighteenth edition of the World Athletics Championships. It was held at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, United States, from July 15–24, 2022, with the country hosting that competition for the fi ...

. He was also part of the Great Britain team narrowly pipped to victory by Italy in the final of the 4 x 100 metres relay at the 2020 Summer Olympics. On 18 February 2022 it was announced that Hughes and his teammates CJ Ujah,

Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake Nethaneel Joseph Mitchell-Blake (born 2 April 1994, London) is a British sprinter who specialises in the 200 metres. He was the 2013 European Junior Champion and his personal best of 19.95 seconds ranks him as the second-fastest in Britain of ...

and Richard Kilty would be stripped of their

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

silver medals after

Court of Arbitration for Sport The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS; french: Tribunal arbitral du sport, ''TAS'') is an international body established in 1984 to settle disputes related to sport through arbitration. Its headquarters are in Lausanne, Switzerland and its ...

found Ujah guilty of a doping violation. As of 2022, he is the joint-second fastest British 100-metre sprinter ever, after Linford Christie and fifth fastest European, and has personal bests of 9.91 seconds for the 100 m and 20.02 seconds for the 200 m.. His time of 20.02 ranks him fifth fastest British 200 metres sprinter in history and 17th fastest European. Hughes trains with the

Racers Track Club Racers Track Club is a sprint training group located at 3 Port of Spain Drive, University of the West Indies, Mona, Kingston, Jamaica. It was established by Glen Mills with the stated aim of producing a greater number of world champions than any ot ...

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of Hispa ...

under coach Glen Mills, with clubmates including

Usain Bolt Usain St. Leo Bolt, , (; born 21 August 1986) is a retired Jamaican sprinter, widely considered to be the greatest sprinter of all time. He is the world record holder in the 100 metres, 200 metres, and 4 × 100 metres relay. An eight-ti ...

Yohan Blake Yohan Blake (born 26 December 1989) is a Jamaican sprinter specialising in the 100-metre and 200-metre sprint races. He won gold at the 100 m at the 2011 World Athletics Championships as the youngest 100 m world champion ever, and a silver m ...

and

Delano Williams Delano Williams (born 23 December 1993) is a British sprinter, originally from the British Overseas Territory of the Turks and Caicos Islands. In June 2013, it was confirmed that Williams would henceforth compete for Great Britain, as was his r ...

Career

Youth career

Zharnel Hughes was born in The Valley, Anguilla, where his mother worked as a housekeeper and his father as a taxi driver.Fraser, Graham (1 April 2014)
Sprinter Zharnel Hughes may compete for Team GB at Olympics
BBC Sport. Retrieved 2018-06-23. His family is Jamaican on his mother's side and several of his relatives did sprinting at a low level. Hughes recognised his talent for the sport at the age of ten, when he won several races at a local school

sports day Sports days (British English) or field days (American English) are events staged by many schools and offices in which people participate in competitive sporting activities, often with the aim of winning trophies or prizes. Though they are often h ...

where he ran for Orealia Kelly Primary School (formerly Stoney Ground Primary). He made his first international appearance for Anguilla at the

2010 CARIFTA Games The 39th CARIFTA Games was held in the Truman Bodden Sports Complex in George Town, Cayman Islands, on April 3–5, 2010. A detailed report on the results was given. Records In total, 13 new games records were set. ;Key: Austin Sealy Aw ...

at the age of fourteen, placing eighth in the

final. The following year he improved to sixth at the 2011 CARIFTA Games and made the final at the

2011 Commonwealth Youth Games The 2011 Commonwealth Youth Games, officially known as the IV Commonwealth Youth Games, and commonly known as Isle Of Man 2011, is a multi-sport event which took place from 7 to 13 September 2011 in the British Crown Dependency of Isle of Man. As ...

, having his first runs under 11 seconds that year.Zharnel Hughes
IAAF. Retrieved 23 June 2018. Hughes established himself in regional age category competitions in 2012, setting 100 m and

championship records at the 2012 Leeward Islands Junior Championships in Athletics, taking 100 m bronze at the 2012 CARIFTA Games, then a 100 m silver and 200 m gold at the

2012 Central American and Caribbean Junior Championships in Athletics The 19th Central American and Caribbean Junior Championships were held in the Estadio Jorge "Mágico" González in San Salvador, El Salvador, between 29 June and 1 July 2012. The event was open for athletes from the invited countries, that are me ...

. He was selected to represent Anguilla at the

2012 World Junior Championships in Athletics The 2012 World Junior Championships in Athletics was an international athletics competition for athletes qualifying as juniors (born 1993 or later) which was held at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, on 10–15 ...

(his global debut) and was a semi-finalist in the short sprints, as well as setting a national record of 20.90 seconds. He ended that year with a personal best of 10.42 seconds for the 100 m. He was awarded a scholarship in 2012 to attend the IAAF's Regional High Performance Training Centre in Jamaica and began to study at Kingston College. Soon after he had the opportunity to train with world record holder

. Hughes continued to progress in the 2013 season, winning 100 m gold at both the 2013 CARIFTA Games and the

2013 Pan American Junior Athletics Championships The 2013 Pan American Junior Championships was held at the Estadio Alfonso Galvis Duque in Medellin, Colombia, from 23–25 August. The competition was originally scheduled for 2–4 August in Lima, Peru. Lima was ruled out as the host and the ...

. He also made his first appearance in senior international competition at the 2013 Central American and Caribbean Championships in Athletics, reaching the final and recording a personal best of 10.23 seconds in the heats. At the 2014 Inter-Secondary Schools Boys and Girls Championships he broke

's meet record for the 100 m with a time of 10.12 (Blake had earlier challenged training mate Hughes, saying he could not beat his time). He also recorded a new best of 20.32 seconds in the 200 m semi-finals but withdrew from the final due to an injury. This time ranked him as the number one under-20 athlete in the world that year. He focused on the 200 m the rest of that year, winning the

2014 Central American and Caribbean Junior Championships in Athletics The 2014 Central American and Caribbean Junior Championships were held at the Complejo Deportivo Bicentenario in Morelia, Michoacán, Mexico, between 4–6 July 2014. In the junior category, a total of 43 events were contested, 21 by boys and 2 ...

in a championship record of 20.33, but falling short

Senior career

Following his successes in 2014, the question of his eligibility for the

2016 Summer Olympics ) , nations = 207 (including IOA and EOR teams) , athletes = 11,238 , events = 306 in 28 sports (41 disciplines) , opening = 5 August 2016 , closing = 21 August 2016 , opened_by = Vice President Michel Temer , cauldron = Vanderlei Cordeiro de ...

arose, as

was not a nation recognised by the

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swis ...

. As a resident of a

British Overseas Territories The British Overseas Territories (BOTs), also known as the United Kingdom Overseas Territories (UKOTs), are fourteen territories with a constitutional and historical link with the United Kingdom. They are the last remnants of the former Bri ...

, Hughes was eligible to compete for

Team GB Team GB is the brand name used since 1999 by the British Olympic Association (BOA) for their British Olympic team. The brand was developed after the nation's poor performance in the 1996 Summer Olympics, and is now a trademark of the BOA. I ...

and, following in the footsteps of fellow Anguillian

Shara Proctor Shara Proctor (born 16 September 1988) is a British former long jumper born in Anguilla. She is the national record holder of both Anguilla and Great Britain. On 28 August 2015 at the World Championships in Beijing she became the first British, ...

, he ultimately confirmed in June 2015 that he would represent Great Britain in all

events. Hughes said "I have always known that if I was to run at the Olympics it would be in a British vest and that is how I have always dreamt it would be." The move received a mixed reaction from British athletes, with Richard Kilty saying that several national team members were unhappy with non-British-born athletes transferring to the team (thus increasing competition for funding). Former British sprinters

Darren Campbell Darren Andrew Campbell, (born 12 September 1973) is a British former sprint athlete. He was the sprint coach at Wasps Rugby Club for the 2015–16 season. He competed in the 100 metres and 200 metres, as well as the 4 × 100 metres relay. ...

and Daniel Caines supported Hughes, noting that Britain was the home nation for people from its colonies. He began his 2015 season with a new national record of 20.15 seconds for the 200 m in March, placing second to

Anaso Jobodwana Anaso Jobodwana (born 30 July 1992) is a South African sprinter. He competed in 200 metres at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London where he ran a new personal best of 20.27 seconds to reach the final. In the 2015 World Championships in Beijing, ...

at the Cayman Invitational. Hughes made his

Diamond League The Diamond League is an annual series of elite track and field athletic competitions comprising fourteen of the best invitational athletics meetings. The series sits in the top tier of the World Athletics (formerly known as the IAAF) one-day mee ...

debut in June at the

adidas Grand Prix The USATF New York Grand Prix is an annual athletics meeting held at Icahn Stadium in New York City, United States. First started in 2005 as the Reebok Grand Prix and then Adidas Grand Prix, it was previously one of the IAAF Grand Prix events. ...

in New York, where he was commended for almost beating world champion Usain Bolt. His first British national title win came at the

2015 British Athletics Championships The 2015 British Athletics Championships was the national championship in outdoor track and field for athletes in the United Kingdom, held from 3–5 July 2015 at Alexander Stadium in Birmingham. It was organised by UK Athletics. A full range of o ...

at the start of July, gaining him selection for the

. Wins over 200 m at the

London Grand Prix The London Diamond League, formerly known as the London Grand Prix and subsequently as the Anniversary Games, is an annual athletics event held in London, England. Previously one of the five IAAF Super Grand Prix events, it is now part of the Di ...

and

Athletissima Athletissima is an annual athletics meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland. Previously one of the five IAAF Super Grand Prix events, it is now part of the Diamond League. The first edition was held on 8 July 1977 in the Stade Pierre de Coubertin. In 1 ...

meets moved him to the top of the Diamond League rankings. His new best of 20.05 seconds at the London meet also made him Europe's top ranked sprinter. He improved further 200 metres World Championships final in Beijing, recording a time of 20.02 seconds to place fifth while his clubmate Usain Bolt defended his world title. Hughes missed the

2016 Olympic Games ) , nations = 207 (including IOA and EOR teams) , athletes = 11,238 , events = 306 in 28 sports (41 disciplines) , opening = 5 August 2016 , closing = 21 August 2016 , opened_by = Vice President Michel Temer , cauldron = Vanderlei Cordeiro d ...

in Rio due to a tear in his right knee ligament, sustained in a fall earlier in the season. He competed at the

2016 British Athletics Championships The 2016 British Athletics Championships was the national championship in outdoor track and field for the United Kingdom held at Alexander Stadium, Birmingham, from 24–26 June 2016. The event was organised by UK Athletics. A full range of outdoo ...

against doctor's warnings, but could only manage fourth. He also attempted to persevere at the

, but dropped out of the heats and brought his season to a close. His injury rehabilitation in the 2017 season was slow, and he continued to experience pain while running, while affected his performances that year.Landells, Steve (16 May 2018)
High and low – Zharnel Hughes
IAAF. Retrieved 2018-06-23. Competing with the British

quartet, the team failed to finish at the

2017 IAAF World Relays The 2017 IAAF World Relays is the third edition of the biennial, global track and field relay competition between nations. It was held April 22–23, 2017, in Nassau, Bahamas The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is ...

, but set a championship record of 38.08 seconds to win at the 2017 European Team Championships. Hughes placed fourth in the 200 m at the

Adidas Boost Boston Games The Adidas Boost Boston Games (stylized as adidas BOOST Boston Games) is an annual track and field meeting and street meet in Boston, Massachusetts. The event was announced on the same day the Adidas Grand Prix meet in New York was removed from ...

and

2017 British Athletics Championships The 2017 British Athletics Championships was the national championship in outdoor track and field for athletes in the United Kingdom, held from 1–2 July 2017 at Alexander Stadium in Birmingham. It was organised by UK Athletics. A full range of ...

. On the 2017 IAAF Diamond League circuit he was fifth at the London Grand Prix then had a season's best of 20.22 seconds for third at the

Rabat Meeting Rabat (, also , ; ar, الرِّبَاط, er-Ribât; ber, ⵕⵕⴱⴰⵟ, ṛṛbaṭ) is the capital city of Morocco and the country's seventh largest city with an urban population of approximately 580,000 (2014) and a metropolitan populatio ...

. His injuries left him drained in the rounds at the

and he ended up seventh in his semi-final. His performances improved towards the end of the year, with third place in the 100 m at the British Athletics Grand Prix in Birmingham and sixth at the Memorial Van Damme 200 m. In the 200 m at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, Hughes – competing for

– placed first in the final, but was disqualified for impeding the runner-up,

Jereem Richards Jereem Richards (born 13 January 1994) is a Trinidadian track and field sprinter who specializes in the 200 metres and 400 metres events. Richards is from Point Fortin, Trinidad and Tobago, and attended the University of Alabama. He was part of t ...

of Trinidad and Tobago. A gold medal came after in the 4 × 100 metres relay, where he ran the second leg alongside Reuben Arthur, Richard Kilty and

Harry Aikines-Aryeetey Harry Leslie Aikines-Aryeetey (pronounced ''Ay-yee-tey'', born 29 August 1988) is an English sprinter. A prodigious junior runner, in 2005 he was named as the BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year and the IAAF's Rising Star of the Year afte ...

to win for England. Hughes proved himself among the world's best 100 m runners in the 2018 season. He improved his best to 10.01 seconds in February, ran a

wind-assisted In track and field, wind assistance is the benefit that an athlete receives during a race or event as registered by a wind gauge. Wind is one of many forms of weather that can affect sport. Due to a tailwind helping to enhance the speed of the a ...

9.99 to win at the Boston Games (beating Yohan Blake and

Tyson Gay Tyson Gay (born August 9, 1982) is an American track and field sprinter who competes in the 100 and 200 meters. His 100 m personal best of 9.69 seconds is the American record and makes him tied for the second fastest athlete over 100 m ...

), then set a world-leading time of 9.91 seconds in June, becoming the 129th person to break the

10-second barrier The 10-second barrier is the physical and psychological barrier of completing the 100 metres sprint in under ten seconds. The achievement is traditionally regarded as the hallmark of a world-class male sprinter. Its significance has become less i ...

. This raised him to second on the all-time British rankings behind Linford Christie, and equal with

James Dasaolu James Dasaolu (born 5 September 1987) is a retired British track and field athlete who specialised in the 100 metres. He was the 2014 European champion over the distance. In July 2013, he became the second fastest Briton of all time after runni ...

. In 2021, Hughes reached the 100m final at the

, but was disqualified for a false start. Hughes won the silver medal for the men's 4x100 relay, but the team was stripped of the medal because teammate CJ Ujah was found guilty of doping. In 2022, Hughes won Gold in the Mens 200m at the European Championships in Munich followed by a silver medal in the Mens 100m final.

Bests

;Personal bests ;Seasons bests ''Times given in seconds and senior world rank in parentheses''

International competitions

References

External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hughes, Zharnel 1995 births Living people People from The Valley, Anguilla British male sprinters Anguillan male sprinters Olympic athletes of Great Britain Anguillan people of Jamaican descent Olympic silver medallists for Great Britain Olympic silver medalists in athletics (track and field) Olympic male sprinters Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Commonwealth Games competitors for England Commonwealth Games gold medallists for England Commonwealth Games gold medallists in athletics Athletes (track and field) at the 2018 Commonwealth Games World Athletics Championships athletes for Great Britain World Athletics Championships medalists European Athletics Championships winners British Athletics Championships winners Black British sportspeople Competitors stripped of Summer Olympics medals