Harry Aikines-Aryeetey: my greatest race

British sprinter claimed world, European and Commonwealth relay medals, but 100m bronze at the 2014 European Champs brought a solo sheen to his career

European Championships, Zurich, August 13, 2014 – men’s 100m final, third place, 10.22

The 2013 season was my first with Rana Reider as my coach and it was a bit of an interesting year. I had to adapt. His group expanded massively the following year with the likes of Richard Kilty, Christian Malcolm and Anyika Onuora joining. Indoors, I went 6.64 over 60m in Prague but then got disqualified at the trials for the World Indoor Championships.

I felt like I was in quite good shape to run something half-decent. Richard went on to win at the worlds, which was amazing for the group. Everyone was on a high. We went and did the longest warm weather training camp you could ever imagine off the back of that, to Daytona, for two months.

There was racing on top of that. Sprinters love to go to America to race. A lot of times you might go and try to train for two weeks and then race off the back of it but that’s not really a training block, I would say. Fundamentally, it’s all about making sure that you put the training first and racing when you’re ready. We got out there and I actually did my first race straight away in Gainesville. I ran 10.17 – I definitely knew that I was in good shape.

A week later, I had a hamstring injury, but I was able to carry on training with the group. I came back with a run of 10.14 in Clermont that got me the qualifying time for the Commonwealth Games.

When we got back to Europe, it only took me a matter of weeks to equal my personal best (10.08) in Hengelo. That was the most consistent run in terms of the most sub-10.20s I had in my career.

And that’s really when it got interesting. CJ Ujah had run 9.96, James Dasaolu had gone 9.91 but had got injured, Dwain Chambers was still doing his thing and then the British Championships came around. It is always won in low-10.1s.

One of the best races I ever had was in that semi-final, running with Kilty. Maybe the familiarity of having my training partner next to me gave me a little bit more confidence but it just felt so natural and effortless. Going into that final, we knew that top two were going to go to the Europeans. If you finished third, the chances were that everyone would be waiting on the spot to open up, depending on whether James was fit. I started to get a bit of confidence and I came second to Dwain.

At the Europeans, I was meant to have Jimmy Vicaut in my semi-final but he pulled out and I won it. Dwain was in another one, while James had to race Christophe Lemaitre but won his semi.

There was a massive storm before the final with delay upon delay. I’d never had to stay ready for so long without really knowing what was happening but I was just riding this wave of confidence.

Martyn Rooney and I had watched the movie Wolf Of Wall Street and there’s a scene in it where Matthew McConaughey and Leonardo DiCaprio are pounding their chests. Rooney went on to win the Europeans and I’m not saying it’s because of this but we caught each other’s eye while we were still warming up and saluted each other in the same way. That was just the energy that we had in the GB team at that time. 

Seeing Rooney win the 400m gave me more confidence. When we came out and the announcer had gone through the line-up, I remember doing a jump that was up to my hip height. That just showed the springiness and the readiness that I had.

READ MORE: More in our ‘my greatest race’ series

Get set, bang! I probably got off to the worst start of the championship. Nothing was right and I panicked. I threw my head up, cut short my acceleration and I felt the field move a bit. I felt James go. I felt Lemaitre go. In that moment, I could have let it go.

But after the mishap I’d had in going out in the semis at Commonwealth Games just a couple of weeks previously and the great start I’d had to the season, I told myself: ‘Nah, this isn’t it, keep going. Drop the shoulders back, push forward.’ I stayed in the mix of it. About 50-60m, I could just feel Chambers on the outside, probably in third place. And I just thought: ‘I’ve got to run through this. Let’s get through it’.

It was just that moment of staying up, staying tall and staying relaxed, but still being as passionate and enthusiastic as I was through the latter part of races. When I crossed the line, I had no idea where I’d actually finished because it was a tight race. I’d seen James had won, so I was happy for him. Lemaitre was in second and then, all of a sudden, I saw my name. It was my first senior individual medal.

I’d won nearly everything at youth level, at under-18, under-20, under-23. But to have an individual senior medal, at that moment, the passion just erupted and the joy just flowed out. I’d come through so much. Three stress fractures, snapped tendons, things that don’t heal, and I was still there on an international stage, representing my country, winning medals.

It didn’t matter that I didn’t win or break a world record or run a PB. It just mattered that I had some form of silverware that gave me the appreciation and the pat on the back. The medal is in my trophy cabinet in my living room. It’s quite nice because my daughter is three and every so often, you just see her looking at it and she’s goes wow. Those are the things that matter, the moments that matter.

FACTFILE

Born: August 29, 1988
Events: 100m/200m
PBs: 10.08/20.46
2022: European 4x100m gold; Commonwealth 4x100m gold
2018: European 4x100m gold; Commonwealth 4x100m gold
2014: European 4x100m gold and 100m bronze; Commonwealth 4x100m silver
2009: World 4x100m bronze
2006: World U20 100m gold and 4x100m bronze
2005: World U18 100m and 200m gold

» This article first appeared in the January issue of AW magazine, which you can read here

Harry Aikines-Aryeetey: my greatest race appeared first on AW.