Zharnel Hughes

Zharnel Hughes (born 13 July 1995) is an Anguilla-born British sprinter who specialises in the 100 metres and 200 metres.

He made his first international appearance for Anguilla at the 2010 CARIFTA Games at the age of fourteen, placing eighth in the 100 metres final.

The following year he improved to sixth at the 2011 CARIFTA Games and made the final at the 2011 Commonwealth Youth Games, having his first runs under 11 seconds that year.

Hughes established himself in regional age category competitions in 2012, setting 100 m and 200 metres 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.

He was selected to represent Anguilla at the 2012 World Junior Championships in Athletics (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 Usain Bolt.

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.

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 Yohan Blake'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 in a championship record of 20.33, but falling short

Following his successes in 2014, the question of his eligibility for the 2016 Summer Olympics arose, as Anguilla was not a nation recognised by the International Olympic Committee.

Born and raised in the British Overseas Territory of Anguilla, he has competed internationally for Great Britain in the Olympic Games, World Athletics and European Athletics events, and for England at the Commonwealth Games, since 2015.

Following his transfer of allegiance Hughes placed fifth in the 200 m final at the 2015 World Championships in Athletics.

As a resident of a British Overseas Territories, Hughes was eligible to compete for Team GB and, following in the footsteps of fellow Anguillian Shara Proctor, he ultimately confirmed in June 2015 that he would represent Great Britain in all World Athletics 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 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 at the Cayman Invitational.

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

A double Commonwealth Games (2018, 2022), double European Championships (2018, 2022) gold medalist as part of the 4 x 100 metres relay, Hughes has twice been European champion individually; over 100 metres in 2018, and 200 metres in 2022.

In 2023, he broke both British sprint records, before winning his first global individual medal, a bronze in the 100 metres at the 2023 World championships.

Hughes had significant success in his youth representing Anguilla, winning at the CARIFTA Games, Central American and Caribbean Junior Championships in Athletics and the Pan American Junior Athletics Championships.

He holds the Anguillian national records in both 100 m and 200 m

He returned to fitness in 2018 and won the 4 × 100 metres relay title at the 2018 Commonwealth Games 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 in both the 100 metres and 4 × 100 metres relay at the 2018 European Championships, and in both the 200 metres and 4 × 100 metres relay at the 2022 European Championships representing Great Britain, and once more won in the 4 × 100 metres relay at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, again representing England.

In 2019 he achieved his first global senior medal, a silver in the 4 × 100 metre relay at the 2019 World Athletics Championships.

He achieved a second medal, a bronze, in the same event at the 2022 World Athletics Championships.

He was also part of the Great Britain team that finished second to Italy in the final of the 4 × 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 and Richard Kilty would be stripped of their 4 × 100 metres relay 2020 Summer Olympics second place after Court of Arbitration for Sport found Ujah guilty of a doping violation.

Hughes is the British record holder over 100 m and 200m as well, with 9.83 s and 19.73 s respectively.

He is equally the second fastest European in history over each of these distances, behind (two Italians) Marcell Jacobs (9.80s) and Pietro Mennea (19.72s) respectively.

Hughes trains with the Racers Track Club in Jamaica under coach Glen Mills, with clubmates including Usain Bolt, Yohan Blake and Delano Williams.

Zharnel Hughes was born in The Valley, Anguilla, where his mother worked as a housekeeper and his father as a taxi driver.

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 where he ran for Orealia Kelly Primary School (formerly Stoney Ground Primary).