Sprinter hangs up spikes after career which saw him become European 100m champion

James Dasaolu, European 2014 100m champion and the joint-second fastest Brit in history, has decided to retire from athletics.

The 35-year-old won three major championship medals during his career. The first came in Gothenburg nine years ago when Dasaolu narrowly missed out on European Indoor 60m gold to Jimmy Vicaut by just thousandths of a second.

His 60m personal best of 6.47 in the distance ranks him joint-third on the UK all-time list behind Dwain Chambers, Jason Gardener and tied with Linford Christie.

In 2014, Dasaolu claimed the biggest prize of his career when he defeated Christophe Lemaitre to become European 100m champion in Zurich – the first British male to win European gold at the event since Darren Campbell in 1998.

It wasn’t a surprise to see that Dasaolu also achieved success in the relays and at the 2016 European Championships, he won 4x100m gold in Amsterdam alongside Adam Gemili, James Ellington and CJ Ujah.

Happy retirement @JamesDasaolu
Always made the training environment a brighter place! https://t.co/zDrCpAuijW

— Holly Bradshaw (@HollyBradshawPV) September 23, 2022

His 100m personal best of 9.91 – set at the 2013 British Championships – means that he is still joint-second on the UK all-time list in the event, tied with Zharnel Hughes after Linford Christie’s 9.87 national record.

Dasaolu last competed for Great Britain at the 2017 World Championships in London. He was selected for the 2018 Commonwealth Games down under but suffered a serious Achilles injury and had to pull out.

A GoFundMe page was subsequently set-up for the £25,000 in costs that was needed to fund emergency surgery on the tendon.

Dasaolu has since recovered from the injury and raced in 2020, 2021 and 2022.

His last event was the BoXX United Manchester Indoor Tour earlier in January.

“Athletics has given me a chance to represent my country numerous times and has given me so many great memories which I will forever treasure,” Dasaolu said.

“Now it is time to hang up my spikes. I would like to thank the many people around me who have supported me throughout my career. Special thanks to my family & friends who were always there for me. Super excited for what the future holds in helping the next generation of athletes.”