The 27-year-old is now the fastest British runner in history after taking down 30-year-old national mark in New York

Zharnel Hughes has created history by breaking Linford Christie’s long-standing UK 100m of 9.87 with a blistering 9.83 (+1.3) at the USATF NYC Grand Prix on Saturday (June 24).

Outside athletics, Hughes is a qualified pilot and here in New York he flew down the track and then really took off in the final stages as he drew away from a world-class field.

Racing in the same Icahn Stadium in Manhattan where Usain Bolt set his first world 100m record of 9.72 a few weeks before the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Hughes charged out of the blocks from lane six but found himself behind Ackeem Blake of Jamaica, plus Christian Coleman and Brandon Carnes of the United States at 30m although he drew level with Blake and Coleman at 60m.

At that point Hughes sprouted wings and surged clear to win by a tenth of a second from Blake with Coleman, the 2019 world champion, fading to third in 10.02.

Hughes’ time initially flashed up as 9.84 but was quickly corrected to 9.83 as he continued running around the bend celebrating and pointing his finger to the air triumphantly before turning around to look at the clock. The joy of victory was then overtaken by a look of astonishment as he realised he’d improved his PB from 9.91 and set a British record to boot.

In a brilliant few days for British sprinting, Hughes’ run came at the end of a week that saw Eugene Amo-Dadzie enjoy a breakthrough run of 9.93 in Austria, whereas 16-year-old Teddy Wilson broke Mark Lewis-Francis’s long-standing UK under-17 record with 10.26 in Germany.

“I’m not sure many people expected this, but patience is the word,” Hughes said. “It’s amazing and something I’ve been working toward for a while.”

After what he felt were some underpar results in recent seasons, he said: “I dug deep and I pulled myself out of a dark space. I relaxed more, put the work in, trusted myself and trusted my speed.”

Christie’s British record was set in August 1993 – a couple of years before Hughes was even born – when he won the world title in Stuttgart ahead of Americans Andre Cason, Dennis Mitchell and Carl Lewis. His 9.87 was a European record at the time and, aged 33, it came one year after he won the Olympic 100m title in Barcelona.

Hughes was born in Anguilla but has competed for Britain for a number of years and his career highlights include winning European 100m gold in 2018 and 200m gold in 2022.

Coached by Glen Mills in Jamaica – the same man who guided Bolt – he is also a regular in the GB sprint relay team and a member of Shaftesbury Barnet Harriers in the UK. “Coach Mills is a great coach,” says Hughes. “He coached the fastest man in the world and he has an eye for error and will critique everything he sees.”

Slightly better known as a 200m runner, in this kind of form he surely has a good chance this summer of breaking another long-time British record – the 19.94 mark set by John Regis, also at the 1993 World Championships in Stuttgart.

The European 100m record of 9.80 held by Olympic champion Marcel Jacobs of Italy is also potentially within reach.

Find out more about Hughes in our ‘Ask the Athlete‘ interview from 2021 here.

UK all-time men’s 100m
9.83 (1.3) Zharnel Hughes, New York 2023
9.87 (0.3) Linford Christie, Stuttgart 1993
9.91 (1.1) James Dasaolu, Birmingham 2013
9.93 (-1.2) Reece Prescod, Ostrava 2022
9.93 (0.1) Eugene Amo-Dadzie, Graz 2023
9.96 (1.4) CJ Ujah, Hengelo 2014
9.96 (2.0) Joel Fearon, Bedford 2016
9.97 (0.2) Dwain Chambers, Seville 1999
9.97 (2.0) Adam Gemili, Birmingham 2015
9.98 (0.4) Jason Gardener, Lausanne 1999
9.99 (0.6) Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake, Columbia 2017

Elsewhere at this Continental Tour Gold meeting, Noah Lyles won the men’s 200m in 19.83 (0.8) to tie with Usain Bolt for the most sub-20 times in history (34 races).

Athing Mu opened her season with a comfortable victory over 800m in 1:58.73, while Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone ran a controlled flat 400m to beat fellow American Gabby Thomas in a PB of 49.51.