Tokyo through the athletes’ eyes | Athletics Weekly Podcast

Name: Tokyo through the athletes’ eyes | Athletics Weekly Podcast
Uploaded: 2025-10-09T13:45:30+00:00
Duration: 20 min 17 s
Channel: Athletics Weekly

Athletics Weekly

5 weeks ago

In this episode, we reflect on an eventful edition of the World Athletics Championships by speaking to some of the athletes who were at the heart of the action in Japan.

Euan Crumley speaks with British silver medallists Amy Hunt, Jake Wightman and Georgia Hunter Bell about their journeys to the podium, while four-time world 200m champion Noah Lyles discusses the shifting landscape in the short sprints.

You can find more analysis of the Tokyo World Championships in the latest issue of AW magazine, available now via athleticsweekly.com

Category

🥇

Sports

Transcript

Display full video transcript

00:00Hello, my name is Ewan Crumley and welcome to the Athletics Weekly Podcast.

00:12In each show, we bring you everything you need to know from the world of run, jump and

00:16throw, analysing the biggest stories and speaking to the key names from the sport.

00:21In this episode, we're going to be looking back at what was an eventful edition of the

00:25World Athletics Championships in Tokyo. From big surprises to close finishes and outstanding

00:31performances, it had everything. The Athletics Weekly team was out there in force and we

00:37look back over it all in depth in the latest issue of AW Magazine, which is out now. But

00:43for this podcast, we're going to do things slightly differently in that we're handing

00:47it over to some of the athletes who were in the thick of the action. We'll be hearing

00:51from British silver medalists Amy Hunt, Jake Whiteman and Georgia Hunter Bell, as well

00:57as America's four-time 200-metre champion Noah Lyles. And it's with the sprinters that we'll

01:03start. One of the noticeable aspects of the championships was the shifting landscape in

01:08the short sprints. Oblique Seville won back the men's 100-metre title for Jamaica, while

01:14Melissa Jefferson Wooden of America was outstanding for the USA, winning women's 100-metres, 200-metres

01:21and four-by-100-metre relay. That women's 200-metre final also saw the emergence of British talent

01:27Amy Hunt. An under-18 world record holder, she has long been on the Athletics radar, but

01:33a major injury, as well as the difficulties of juggling sports with gaining a Cambridge degree,

01:38took their toll. She's since graduated and moved to Italy to work with coach Marco Irali.

01:45We look in depth at how they work together in the latest issue of AW. And since then, momentum

01:51has built, and her second place in Tokyo was the culmination of a huge amount of work.

01:57Noah Lyles, meanwhile, has also had some adversity to overcome. Injury hampered his season and

02:02saw him finish third in the 100-metres, but he bounced back to win his fourth 200-metre

02:07world title. I spoke with Amy right after she had stepped off the podium in Tokyo, and then

02:13with Noah the day after he had struck 200-metre gold. As you'll hear, some of these interviews

02:19took place in the stadium post-race, and therefore in a noisy space, which sadly couldn't be avoided.

02:25As you'll hear, some of these interviews took place in the stadium post-race, and therefore

02:29in a noisy space, which sadly couldn't be avoided. But here are Amy Hunt and Noah Lyles.

02:34Amy, just off the podium, how was your middle moment?

02:39It was incredible. I was trying so hard to be present, taking every single second of it

02:45to not cry. And it was really surreal being stood there and looking to my left and seeing

02:51two very incredible women and women that I've looked up to alongside of me. It all started

02:56to really sink in, so I had to take a moment to just breathe and be so grateful and so proud

03:02of my journey. I was going to say, how much has the last six years or so kind of flashed

03:07before your eyes? Did that sort of happen as you crossed the line last night?

03:11Yeah, I think in the moment it was just pure utter shock of disbelief. It was just so many

03:19emotions were flooding my brain, so many different thoughts. You know, I screamed, I jumped up and

03:23down. And yeah, it's been a long journey to get here, but I think we knew something was

03:29there in the bag. We knew kind of my bones were totally up for grabs. They finally might

03:32held us together and I kept my nerve and I stayed strong. And obviously I know I have

03:36a really strong last 50 and that was what was going to see me through. But yeah, when I

03:40crossed the line and having everything come to fruition finally was incredible.

03:44What was that moment like when you weren't totally sure?

03:47I think I knew I had a medal, which is why you see I was already like, I look like Scream

03:53or something. Or like Kevin from Home Alone. I was already shocked and then I was like,

03:59oh my God, it actually could be silver. But I could feel that in the last 10 meters of the

04:02race. I was trying so hard to like not think about it, but think about it, but like stay

04:07strong and keep my core and keep my knees up. Because I was like, oh my God, you're about

04:11to do it, you're about to do it. And just threw my whole body at the line. And then

04:16to see my name on the scoreboard, oh my God. I will remember that moment for the rest of

04:20my life. It was so special.

04:22And you were sixth, I think, coming off the bend.

04:25Yeah.

04:26How difficult is it not to panic, to trust in what you've been doing?

04:30I mean, for me, that was actually probably a really good bend. I think it was visually

04:34probably not. It probably didn't look that way because obviously I had the list from

04:38my outside and she really blasted the turn. But I actually had a pretty similar turn to

04:42the semifinals. So it wasn't in any way. So it wasn't. I know I'm not going to be up

04:49there with the best turn winners in the world, but I know I probably have one of the fastest

04:53like straights. And once I get rolling, no one can stop me. So I knew if I was just within

04:58touching distance of them, it didn't matter where they put me from me in the turn because

05:01I can rein that back in. And I knew I had a good turn because I never let Marie kind

05:06of come past me. I never saw her. And that's when I was thinking, oh my gosh, I'm in this

05:10thing. I'm in this thing. I'm going to do it. Yeah. And it was just about relying on my

05:14strengths and being patient and really trusting myself. You know, I was saying I've been through

05:19a lot of races this year, a lot of races. They've all taught me such good lessons and, you

05:25know, you saw elements of British trials for me in there where I was patient enough to kind

05:29of just bring them back in step by step by step by step and knowing how to sweep the

05:33turn effectively and then being a good kind of technical runner. And yeah, everything

05:37came together in one moment in life.

05:41I had this four feel. It's a blessing, truly, truly a blessing. I mean, of course in my head

05:53I was like, yeah, I'll get the four. And it was more of as it was happening. It's like, wow,

06:01we're really here. We're really at the fourth one. I mean, I'm 28 now. I, my position in the

06:07sport has changed so much from my first one in 19 to where I was the young gun kid. And now I'm the

06:14old man who's racing against the young gun kids.

06:17What do you think young gun Noah would make of what you've done now?

06:22I, he'd be so proud. He'd probably just be like, I knew you'd do it. And I'd look back at him and be

06:28like, yeah, I know you did.

06:31And you touched on it there and that it feels like there's a shift in the sprint landscape at the

06:37moment. We obviously, we had, you know, mention of the past with Usain being at the, at the stadium,

06:42then obviously yourself on top just now, but we've seen a glimpse of the future as well. Do you think

06:47that's fair?

06:48Yeah. I, it always happens, you know, generations, new generations come in, um, all ones, you know,

06:55leave the mantle. It's just part of the sport. It's part of life to be honest, but it's also fun to

07:02kind of take a step back and look at everything so that you can just know where everything sits.

07:08You know, if you're just rushing through everything, you never get the time to enjoy it.

07:13When times are tough, whether that's, that's mentally, or there's a lot going on in your life,

07:17um, how much you use the sport as something to lean on, whether that being a constant is helpful to

07:24you?

07:25I'd say that I lean on it a lot less now. When I was younger, I leaned on the sport a lot. I would

07:34actually go to it to relieve a lot of my stress. Now I have taken more and more steps back from the

07:41sport to look for, you know, that leaning on. I'd say that now it's kind of just one of my outlets

07:48of many outlets. It's not the only one that I have.

07:54Yeah. So how proud does it then make you of yourself to have managed, uh, you know, as you're

08:00saying, you have many, many projects. You're trying to make changes on the sport. You're past

08:04also trying to stay at the, at the top of it.

08:08Yeah, it's a lot of work and I, it makes me chuckle. Um, we've had quite a few new world champions

08:16this year. Um, and in doing so, I now get to watch them experience things that I've had to deal with

08:25for years. You know, it's not just about winning the title. It's, you know, doing the victory lab,

08:31interacting with the fans, hitting up every news article to make sure you get your reach out as far

08:37as possible and as wide as possible. And it's, you know, waking up the next morning and doing nothing

08:41but interviews is, um, you know, getting yourself in, in finding new ways to interact and reinvent

08:48yourself and, you know, doing media training and like, it's, it's a lot of different things. It's not

08:54just you win and you expect people are going to, you know, care. You know, you got to make them care.

08:59And just finally, the, earlier this week in Tokyo, the, the World Athletics, the ultimate

09:04championship was, was launched and there's talk about a lot of change within the sport and you're

09:09trying to, to drive that a lot as well. What, what do you think is the main thing that we need to tackle

09:15or needs to be tackled?

09:17I don't know if we have a long enough conversation for that. There's quite a few things that need to be

09:24tackled. Um, personally, I mean, it's not World Athletics job to have to save the sport.

09:32Truthfully, in my opinion, you know, their job is to be the organizing governing body and make

09:38sure that everybody's following the rules. It's, it should be more on, you know, leagues and teams

09:46that come around and that are made so that we can create all these different entities for each

09:52individual niches and cultures to be able to breed into our sport with theirs. Um, but yeah,

10:03I think we've put a lot of strain on World Athletics. I mean, thankful that they're trying to do more

10:10and they're trying to reinvent themselves. I just think that it's, it's going to be a lot more than

10:15just one. I don't, I don't know, uh, another end of season championship. Um, but we'll see how this

10:24goes. There is a lot of opportunity. I've had many talks with World Athletics on how we could see

10:32athletes getting involved with this, how I might get involved with it. Um, we haven't made any final

10:38decisions yet, still in the talking process. So, you know, we'll have to see as the months go by.

10:42The performance of the British team in Tokyo was the subject of plenty of discussion.

10:48For the first time in 22 years, there was no British gold medalist and the normally reliable

10:53relay teams came up empty handed. However, there were still a number of highlights from British

10:58athletes, especially in the middle distance events. Jake Whiteman became World 1500 metre champion

11:04in 2022 and so nearly won it in exactly the same fashion again, surging to the front with 200 metres to go.

11:12But just as he looked like hitting the line first, he was pipped on it by Portuguese

11:18athlete Isaac Nader. This was far from a disappointment for Whiteman, however, who has

11:24suffered a catalogue of injuries since that brilliant day in 2022. Being on the start line

11:29in Tokyo was a victory in itself, but his performance showed he can still cut it with the best.

11:36And then there's Georgia Hunter-Bell, who came back from an extended break from the sport,

11:40having taken a full-time job in cyber security and only became a full-time athlete last year.

11:46She won Olympic 1500 metre bronze in Paris, but this year opted to switch to the 800 metres.

11:52In the final, with her training partner Kayleigh Hodgkinson having returned from injury and the gold

11:57medal favourite, Georgia ultimately beat her to silver on the line as Kenya's Lillian Odira shocked

12:04everyone with her late charge to gold. Hodgkinson finished third. I spoke with Jake and Georgia

12:11not long after both had come off the track.

12:13Oh, I'm feeling just like a lot of emotions. I'm feeling very happy. Like, obviously just I felt

12:20like that was possible. I also feel like if I'd run it a bit better, I could have maybe won it.

12:25So it's like, oh, what if? But obviously I've run my fastest time and got on the podium with my

12:30teammates, so I'm very happy.

12:31So to go from, yeah, sort of coming back to the 1500 last year and then focusing on the 800 and

12:38then to be thinking on those terms of perhaps a little bit of disappointment about getting

12:42a silver medal on, that sort of, you know, that highlights just how far you've come with

12:48the journey of the next.

12:49I think hopefully it's a good lesson for like loads of people. I hope people can look at that

12:54and be like, yeah, just because you don't have the most traditional path doesn't mean that

12:58you can't make it. And I think like one thing that's really misunderstood in athletics is

13:04people think once you turn like 30, you're like not at your best and actually like what

13:09they've got going on continues to do. Even like in the sprinting, no one else is like 28.

13:14Like, so it's actually just, if you're in your 20s and it's not necessarily like going your

13:19best, just know that like you do have really good years ahead of you and I'm like in the

13:22best years of my life that faster than I was when I was in my 20s.

13:26And there's a lot of extra to deal with around the championships.

13:29Yeah.

13:29Do you feel better placed to be able to handle that side of things as well?

13:32Yeah, I do. I feel like definitely I've found this year harder mentally than last year.

13:38Like it's really nice to be an underdog, I think. And the pressure of coming into a

13:43championships, just getting through the rounds is not easy, especially in 800. You've got

13:48to be top two. There's very little margin for error. And yeah, I just think that it's hard.

13:55There was a lot going on in that race.

13:57Yeah. I need to watch it back, to be honest. Like it was all a big blur.

14:01Yeah. Well, what's it like to be in the middle of it?

14:03I think it's, I feel like the main thing I'm really proud of that is like my mindset on the start line. I was just really, really positive. I was like, I feel like I am so lucky to be here. I'm like, what? It's so hard to be here. And just embrace this moment and don't let it get the better of you. And I feel like that calmed me down a lot.

14:20And so yeah, in the race, I knew it had gone off fast, but I was just like, don't get dropped, don't get dropped, don't get dropped. And then you'll come through at the end. So yeah.

14:30But I knew like, because I was a few behind, I was getting a bit of a draft. So I was like, it didn't feel, I think it felt harder for the girls up front than me.

14:39And that's the benefit of being behind. But then obviously you have to fight for your position. So it's messy, but yeah, very happy.

14:47Keely's spoke very highly of you about sort of setting the standard for her this year to be following. Just a word for her and how you two work together.

14:56Yeah, she's been amazing. I think like there's been so many things this year where like, if she had wanted to, you know, just go into a hole, like not talk to anyone,

15:06just like be really down about all the struggles she's been through. Like she's been in such amazing shape twice and then had her hamstring go.

15:14And it's like heartbreaking to see and really hard to like get yourself back up. And as I was saying earlier, the mindset once you've already become the best is a lot harder than being an underdog.

15:24And she has just been so supportive. She's been like the biggest cheerleader. She's been like always the first to give advice, give congratulations.

15:33And I think, yeah, even just amazing stuff that she's done with the team to help other people through injuries.

15:39Like that's why, yeah, she's, she's an Olympic champion because she's like a start off the track as well.

15:45Have you started to process what, what's just happened?

15:48Yeah, it's, I was so close to becoming another world champion, which is what I, the competitor and me keep saying.

15:54But like, if you had told me last year that I'd get back to these champs, like come away with silver, especially the depth of 1500 meter running, I think like, yeah, like that is like a very, very far fetch like scenario.

16:06But I think as these rounds progressed, I got confident in each round, I progressed, like I'm saying.

16:12So I knew that the final, I would have a chance.

16:14But I just can't believe the podium, like turned out as it was.

16:19And I don't think anybody else could.

16:20And all I wanted to do was make sure that I put myself in with a chance of winning it.

16:23And that's what I did.

16:24And I just pride myself on leaving everything I possibly could on the track.

16:27And I did that today and I'll be rewarded with a silver medal.

16:29But it's been honestly such a bad couple of years for me.

16:32Like mentally, I've just felt that the sport is just taking so much from me and I've just not been rewarded with anything for the persistence.

16:39I've like invested so much in myself, both financially, like emotionally, physically.

16:44And I've done, I was thinking about it this morning.

16:48I was like, I've rehabbed four times back from injuries that have put me out for months.

16:52And I've had to like persist with watching these champs, like either from the stands or from TV or not even at all, even for Paris.

17:00I didn't see it.

17:01But it just felt like, what am I doing this for?

17:04Like, am I literally never going to get this outcome again?

17:06Because it's just, I put so much into it and everyone puts so much into it.

17:10Like my fiance, Georgie, has put, changed her whole life for me to go and do this.

17:15She's like moved away from London, moved all the way up to Manchester, like for no reason of her own, just for me.

17:22And at points I was like, this just doesn't feel like it's been worth it.

17:25Like I'm not, I'm not happy like in what I'm doing here because I just felt like I wasn't getting a reward for my running.

17:30Like even this season, like I missed trials and I was just like, what, what is going on here?

17:34Like I'm not, still not doing this and I just didn't run as well as I wanted in Diamond Leagues.

17:38And I think I knew that by the time I'd come here, I was in the best shape possible.

17:42So I was just thinking to myself, like in these heats, like if I don't progress here, like that's just for me the like, the fine line to say that I'm done.

17:51Like, and then I felt amazing in my heats and I was like, right, maybe there is life in this old dog.

17:55I felt good in the semis.

17:56And then coming into this, I had that freedom that I had in Eugene where I was like, I know I'm just going to go out there and just, I'd probably say like express myself how I believe I can.

18:04And for me, that's just like showing that I can throw as well in a race.

18:07And if I do that, I know I had a chance and I was so close.

18:12It's similar probably to what Josh had in Paris last year where we were just so close to doing it.

18:16And we could have had a couple of us on the podium tonight.

18:20And I'm glad that one of us got to prove how good British Athletics running is now at 1500.

18:24And yeah, yeah, I just, I think it would take a few days just to realise like the mountain I've had to climb to get, but it's been something that I hope that I'll look back and I'll be proud of like how resilient I've been because it's not been nice.

18:40Yeah, and that final 200.

18:41Yeah.

18:42How much bravery is involved in pushing that button again?

18:46I don't see it as bravery.

18:47It's just what you've got to do when you race.

18:49It's exciting.

18:52Like that's what I describe it as.

18:53It's like, it's adrenaline.

18:54I don't feel like it's brave.

18:57I just feel like it's just what I do.

18:59Like that's what I will always try and do.

19:02Sometimes you get the chance to do it.