Hunt 'not afraid of anyone' after back-to-back Diamond League podiums

Amy Hunt stood on the podium in Brussels with 11.06 seconds on the clock and a clear sense of where she stands. The 24-year-old British sprinter had just finished second in the 100 metres at the Diamond League final, one day after placing third in the 200 metres. She was not thinking about the gap between herself and the winner—Jamaica's Tina Clayton, who ran 10.93—but rather about the company she had beaten. Sha'Carri Richardson, the American Olympic silver medallist, crossed the line in 11.07, just behind Hunt. The message Hunt wanted to send was simple: she belonged in this conversation, and she was not intimidated by it.

Hunt's confidence was not bravado. It was built on a season that had accelerated sharply in recent weeks. A month earlier, at the European Championships in Birmingham, she had won four gold medals. Now, in the final Diamond League meeting of the year, she had collected two podium finishes in consecutive days—a second and a third. She was the only sprinter to double up across both the 100 and 200 metres at the event, a distinction she noted with quiet satisfaction. "I am 24 and on the up and up and up," she said afterward. "I am not afraid of the other girls. I have so much love and respect for them and they are absolute icons but I love the challenge of going head to head with them."

There was something almost playful in how Hunt framed the competition. She spoke of it as a return to something primal—the thrill of racing boys on the school playground, stripped of the weight that elite sport can carry. That lightness seemed to be working. She was moving through the season with momentum, each race adding to a sense that she had found something, some gear or confidence or clarity, that was carrying her forward.

Not all of her teammates were riding the same wave. Georgia Hunter Bell, the 32-year-old fellow Briton, finished fourth in the 1500 metres in Brussels, a disappointing result given that she had entered as one of the pre-race favourites. Hunter Bell had accumulated an extraordinary year on paper: three international titles, including the world indoor 1500 metres, the Commonwealth Games 800 metres, and the European 1500 metres. But in Brussels, she never looked like a threat to the top three. Poland's Klaudia Kazimierska won in 3:54.05, with Kenya's Dorcus Ewoi second and Australia's Jessica Hull third.

Hunter Bell's explanation was honest and unvarnished. She had raced 19 times this year. She had competed in three major championships. The accumulation was catching up with her—not just physically, but mentally. "I am struggling a little bit, even mentally to get my adrenaline up again week in, week out," she said. Yet there was no regret in her voice, only a kind of weary gratitude. She was healthy, she was racing, and she had been consistent across a brutal schedule. Before the Ultimate Championships in Budapest the following week, she would need to find her legs again.

Elsewhere on the Diamond League final card, Switzerland's Audrey Werro won the women's 800 metres in 1:54.75, holding off a fierce late charge from the Netherlands' Femke Broeders-Bol, who finished just 0.06 seconds behind. The race had an edge to it because Keely Hodgkinson, the British Olympic champion, was absent through injury. Werro had been exceptional all season, posting the third, fourth, and fifth fastest 800 metres times in history. But in Brussels, she could not improve on the time she had set in Zurich the week before. Brazil's Alison dos Santos and America's Masai Russell, who had set world records in the men's 400 metres hurdles and women's 100 metres hurdles respectively at that same Zurich meeting, returned to the podium in Brussels but also could not surpass their previous performances.

Hunt's next target was Budapest, where the inaugural Ultimate Championships would begin on September 11. She was planning to enter both the 100 and 200 metres, events in which she had already proven she could compete at the highest level. The question was not whether she belonged. She had answered that. The question now was how far the momentum would carry her.