HUGHES Zharnel

Date of Birth: 13 Jul 1995

Age: 26

Gender: Male

Place of residence : JAMAICA

Events and Medals
Records
Schedule
Bio
General Interest
Milestones

Events and Medals

Discipline	Event	Rank	Medal
Athletics	Men's 100m	DQ
	Men's 4 x 100m Relay GBR Great Britain	2

Schedule

Start Time	Location	Event	Status
	Olympic Stadium - Track	Men's 100m Round 1 - Heat 2	Finished
	Olympic Stadium - Track	Men's 100m Semi-Final 2	Finished
	Olympic Stadium - Track	Men's 100m Final	Finished
	Olympic Stadium - Track	Men's 4 x 100m Relay Round 1 - Heat 1	Finished
	Olympic Stadium - Track	Men's 4 x 100m Relay Final	Finished

Biographical Information

Highlights

World Athletics Championships

Year	Location	100m	200m	4 x 100m
2019	Doha, QAT	6th (10.03)	SF (20.30)	2nd (37.36)
2017	London, GBR	-	SF (20.85)	-
2015	Beijing, CHN	-	5th (20.02)	-

World Relays

Year	Location	4 x 100m
2017	Nassau, BAH	6th (DNF)

European Championships

Year	Location	100m	4 x 100m
2018	Berlin, GER	1st (9.95)	1st (37.80)

Diamond League overview - Three best ranks per season and event since 2017

Year	100m	200m
2021	1 x 3rd	-
2019	1 x 2nd, 1 x 3rd, 1 x 6th	-
2018	1 x 2nd, 1 x 5th	-
2017	-	1 x 3rd, 1 x 5th, 1 x 6th

Diamond League - Ten best performances since 2020

Rank	Year	Event	Location	Result
2	2019	100m	London, GBR	9.95
2	2018	100m	London, GBR	9.93
3	2021	100m	Gateshead, GBR	10.13
3	2019	100m	Stanford, CA, USA	9.97
3	2017	200m	Rabat, MAR	20.22
5	2018	100m	Birmingham, GBR	10.05
5	2017	200m	London, GBR	20.33
6	2019	100m	Zurich, SUI	10.15
6	2017	200m	Brussels, BEL	20.27

World Athletics Continental Tour - Ten best performances since 2020

Rank	Year	Event	Competition	Location	Result
2	2021	200m	World Athletics Continental Tour	Boston, MA, USA	19.93

World Challenge - Ten best performances since 2020

Rank	Year	Event	Competition	Location	Result
3	2017	200m	World Challenge	Kingston, JAM	20.29

Legend
SF - Semifinal, QF - Quarterfinal, 1R - 1st Round, Qual. - Qualification, QR - Qualification Round, DNF - Did Not Finish, DNS - Did Not Start, DQ - Disqualified, NM - No Mark, [Relay athlete without time] - Did not run in final

Swift, Captain [a nickname given to him by Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt because Hughes had an ambition to become a pilot]. (Instagram profile, 14 Apr 2016; standard.co.uk, 24 Mar 2016; mirror.co.uk, 23 Aug 2019)

Piloting aircraft, video games, watching football, supporting English football team Manchester United. (theguardian.com, 23 Aug 2019; athleticsweekly.com, 22 Feb 2021)

Occupation:

Languages spoken:

Racers Track Club [JAM] / Shaftesbury Barnet Harriers [GBR]

Glen Mills [Racers Track Club], JAM

A posterior cruciate ligament injury in his right knee, sustained in a fall, affected him in 2016. He did not manage to qualify for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. "I wanted to be going to the Olympics. Unfortunately my knee has been getting in the way. It's devastating that it has happened in an Olympic year." (bbc.com, 10 Jul 2016; standard.co.uk, 07 Jul 2016)

He suffered a hamstring injury at the 2014 Inter-Secondary Schools Boys and Girls Championships in Jamaica. He decided to skip the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland, to not risk a recurrence of the injury before the 2014 World Junior Championships in Eugene, OR, United States of America. (bbc.com, 18 Jul 2014)

He took up athletics at age 10 in Anguilla. (dailymail.co.uk, 12 Apr 2014; athleticsweekly.com, 22 Feb 2021)

"I got into track and field at primary school when we had sports on Commonwealth Day. Two of my teachers saw potential in me. They asked me to try out for the inter-schools sports day. I won five gold medals. I was selected for the Leeward Islands Youth Games and I asked my mother if I could take part. She was hesitant, but you know kids, you beg and beg until you get what you want. Eventually she said, 'Give it a try'." (dailymail.co.uk, 12 Apr 2014)

To win gold at the Olympic Games. Outside of sport, he would like to become a commercial airline pilot. (bbc.co.uk, 24 Sep 2019; skysports.com, 07 Apr 2020)

English footballer Marcus Rashford, Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt, US sprinter Tyson Gay. (athleticsweekly.com, 22 Feb 2021)

Philosophy:

"The impossible will stay impossible unless you attempt to change it." (Instagram profile, 02 Apr 2021)

General Interest

General
REPRESENTING GREAT BRITAIN
Born in Sandy Ground, Anguilla, he represented Anguilla at junior international level, but as the territory did not have a National Olympic committee [NOC], he made the switch to Great Britain in 2015. He has held a British passport since birth due to Anguilla's status as a British overseas territory, but could also have chosen to represent Jamaica, where his mother is from. "I have always known if I was to run at the Olympics it would be in a British vest and that is how I have always dreamed it would be." (theguardian.com, 23 Jun 2015; bbc.com, 23 Jun 2015; balliwickexpress.com, 12 Aug 2016)

BASED IN JAMAICA
He first moved to Jamaica at age 16 on a scholarship at the International Association of Athletics Federations [IAAF] High Performance Training Centre there. He later joined the Racers Track Club in Kingston, Jamaica, where he trained with sprinters including Usain Bolt, Yohan Blake and Warren Weir. "I would watch them on television and think, 'Boy, one day I'd like to meet these guys', then I'm training with them every day." (standard.co.uk, 24 Mar 2016; balliwickexpress.com, 12 Aug 2016; dailymail.co.uk, 12 Apr 2014)

PILOT
He has a private pilot's licence, something he had aspired to for a number of years. He attained the licence after completing a solo flight with just five hours of airborne experience. "There's such focus on performing and executing your plan in athletics, then there's the crowd as well, but when you're flying it's just so much more relaxed. I feel more pressure on the track than in the air. When I'm in the cockpit, I'm in complete control. Even when there are crosswinds and bad weather I'm up there soaring, looking out at the scenery, feeling like a bird - and it's amazing to just feel free." (euroweeklynews.com, 25 Sep 2019; bbc.co.uk, 24 Aug 2018, 24 Sep 2019)

Milestones

He became the first athlete representing Great Britain to win gold in the 200m at a Diamond League event, when he was victorious at the 2015 Athletissima in Lausanne, Switzerland. (SportsDeskOnline, 05 Mar 2020)

Social Media

Legend

:: Silver Medal
:: Gold Medal Event
:: Silver Medal Event
:: Bronze Medal Event
DQ:: Disqualified

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