{"id":1952,"date":"2024-07-17T18:24:14","date_gmt":"2024-07-17T18:24:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/sport\/zharnel-hughes-takes-on-noah-lyles-at-london-diamond-league-before-paris-2024-showdown\/"},"modified":"2024-07-17T18:24:14","modified_gmt":"2024-07-17T18:24:14","slug":"zharnel-hughes-takes-on-noah-lyles-at-london-diamond-league-before-paris-2024-showdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/sport\/zharnel-hughes-takes-on-noah-lyles-at-london-diamond-league-before-paris-2024-showdown\/","title":{"rendered":"Zharnel Hughes takes on Noah Lyles at London Diamond League before Paris 2024 showdown"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The pair will also have British 100m champion Louie Hinchliffe and compatriot Jeremiah Azu, Jamaicans Yohan Blake and Ackeem Blake, and South African Akani Simbine for company in a fascinating pre-Games showdown.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">However, Hughes will be one of only two athletes on the start line yet to run under 10 seconds this year &#8211; which has been disrupted by injury, as he sustained a grade one hamstring tear at the start of June.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">This season started promisingly when he clocked 19.96 seconds to secure a 200m victory over former world 100m champion Fred Kerley in Jamaica in May.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">But he was seen limping away from the track following a 10.09sec performance in Kingston, where he is based and trains under Glen Mills, the former coach of eight-time Olympic champion Usain Bolt and two-time 100m runner-up Yohan Blake.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Denied the chance to compete at the European Championships and defend his British titles, Hughes says he not only recovered quickly from the setback but returned an improved athlete after a meticulous effort to strengthen his entire body.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;By the end of my first week back in training, we were already sprinting and my coach noticed something had changed. My technique looked better, I looked stronger,&#8221; Hughes says.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;Coach said: &#8216;I don\u2019t think the injury did too much &#8211; it actually seems like you got better.'&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Hughes, who also took down Linford Christie&#8217;s 30-year British 100m mark in 9.83secs last year, is counting down the days until he gets the opportunity for the redemption he has wanted since that fateful night in Tokyo three years ago.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">When Hughes suffered calf cramp as he set himself in his starting block moments before the last Olympic 100m final, he knew instantly that it was over.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Accepting the red card shown to him for his false start with a nod of resignation, his disqualification official, the Anguilla-born Briton was escorted away from the track, his dreams in tatters.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">In Paris, Hughes hopes to put the record straight.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;I would love to rewrite the history books after what happened in Tokyo,&#8221; says Hughes, who would watch Italy&#8217;s Lamont Marcell Jacobs claim a shock gold.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;I believe that [I would have won that final]. I felt it. I felt I was ready. Obviously, when that happened, everything stopped.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;Recently I read a saying: &#8216;You might have been delayed, but you\u2019re not denied.&#8217; I believe that. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;When it&#8217;s my time, it will be my time.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\"><i class=\"ssrcss-xbdn93-ItalicText e5tfeyi2\"><b class=\"ssrcss-1xjjfut-BoldText e5tfeyi3\">Watch coverage of the London Diamond League on BBC One, BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport website and app from 13:15 BST on Saturday, 20 July.<\/b><\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/sport\/athletics\/articles\/ckdge82kv8xo\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The pair will also have British 100m champion Louie Hinchliffe and compatriot Jeremiah Azu, Jamaicans Yohan Blake and Ackeem Blake, and South African Akani Simbine for company in a fascinating pre-Games showdown. However, Hughes will be one of only two athletes on the start line yet to run under 10 seconds this year &#8211; which [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1953,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1952","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-athletics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1952","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1952"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1952\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1954,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1952\/revisions\/1954"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1953"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1952"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1952"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1952"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}