Great Britain have a new sprinting star. After crossing the line in the women’s 200m world championship final, Amy Hunt threw both hands to her face in disbelief as she looked at the scoreboard – she had won silver.
The scenes resembled the cover photo of the famous Christmas film ‘Home Alone’. Hunt was stunned; she couldn’t believe she was a world medalist in her first major final. It’s a sight that will always be synonymous with the 23-year-old’s career, no matter what she goes on to do.
Tears then began to flow. As Hunt told BBC Sport after the race, she couldn’t stop ‘smiling or crying’. She may only be a young sprinter, but this was a result many years in the making.
The Briton burst onto the scene in 2019 when she broke the Under-18 world record for the 200m distance. It was the start of a whirlwind few years, both on and off the track.
Hunt, a Cambridge University graduate, is both brilliant physically and academically. She balanced the stress of studying at the iconic Corpus Christi College and ripping up rubber on a daily basis in a bid to become one of the world’s best.
It’s been a journey with highs and lows, but his spectacular performance in Tokyo made all the hardship she faced worth it.
Amy Hunt was in disbelief after realising she won world championship silver in the 200m
Hunt, 23, said her vibe during the 200 metres final was ‘sexy and aggressive’
Hunt is a Cambridge University graduate and said you can be an ‘academic badass and a track goddess’
‘You can be an academic badass and a track goddess,’ Hunt said while still incredulous in the aftermath of her achievement.
‘I’m showing that you can do everything, and anything, you set your mind to. You can be the best at everything.’
It was a night that she will remember for the rest of her life and one that she made sure to celebrate in style with Karaoke.
The song of her choice? Maneater by Nelly Furtado. A classic. A song that inspired this mega performance under the lights in Japan.
She admitted: ‘That’s really boring, but I feel like that was the vibe tonight, just sexy and aggressive.’
Once hailed as ‘one of the faces to define the decade’ by Vogue, Hunt could do no wrong in the early years of her promising career. She was already one of the world’s best before even turning 20, and she was at her dream university studying English.
Not to mention, she can also play the cello at grade level six and regularly reads the work of her favourite author, Chaucer. A woman of many talents who once told the Times that she has to push herself ‘to do my best in as many fields as possible’.
At just 18, she was already planning a life outside the track. She had everything figured out. First, world domination on the track. Then, the life of a literary critic. Chaucer, Dickens, and many other authors would be read.
Hunt burst onto the scene in 2019 when she broke the world Under 18 record for the 200m
Her silver medal is the first global individual honour of her career
‘Very nerdy English, I know,’ she said back in 2020. ‘It feels like I am progressing to the next stage of my life, as cringy as that sounds, with going to uni, passing my driving test, and moving away from home. It’s also nice to feel that I’m moving on.’
But then everything changed. Life at university did not start well as she got sick, which then led to mental health difficulties, sleepless nights, and long hours stuck in a car as she travelled between Loughborough and Cambridge, balancing studies and training.
Injuries soon became a regular problem, and she ruptured her quadriceps in 2022. Suddenly, she had gone from being the next big thing to almost forgotten about – life was incredibly tough.
The 22.42 seconds she ran as a 17-year-old before the COVID-19 lockdown was a distant memory. Six years passed before she would run a personal best once again.
In addition to that, things weren’t going well academically. Hunt thought of dropping out ‘every single year’ while at Cambridge, with her academic tutors failing to provide the support she needed at a time when everything felt like it was going wrong.
But Hunt is not a quitter; she stuck it out, and after graduating two years ago with a 2:1, everything started coming up trumps once again. A move to Italy made all the difference, and in her own words – after winning silver at worlds – ‘I knew I would make it’.
‘I really have that radical utter insane belief in myself,’ she continued. ‘And my family really helped me through that and supported me, with lifting me out of the shower and redressing my wounds.
‘Failure was never an option for me. I knew I would make it, and even before this race I visualised it so many times and to actually finally do it is so incredibly surreal.’
The 23-year-old loves the cello, her favourite author is Chaucer, and she likes to travel
Hunt almost dropped out of University as she struggled to balance her studies with running
Hunt won an Olympic silver in the womens 4x100m at Paris in 2024 after years of injury problems and a mental health battle
She did win an Olympic silver medal at the Paris Games in 2024 as part of Great Britain’s 4x100m relay quartet, but while she was proud of that achievement, it was nothing compared to the taste of individual glory.
Having been so successful in her teenage years, it’s easy to forget that Hunt’s career is still far from over.
At 23 years old, with the flame back alive after an early burnout, we will be seeing a lot more of Hunt as the years go on. LA 2028, watch out.
