Zharnel Hughes has done it again.
A second British record smashed – and a second occasion on which the 28-year-old accurately predicted his time on the morning of his race.
Hughes was roared on by a sell-out 50,000 crowd at the London Diamond League on Sunday as he clocked 19.73 seconds to break John Regis’ 30-year 200m mark.
That came just 29 days after he had beaten Linford Christie’s equally long-standing 100m record, running 9.83 secs in New York and later revealing he had written that exact number in his notebook.
Remarkably, following Sunday’s third-place finish behind American world 200m champion Noah Lyles and Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo, the Briton revealed that had been no fluke.
“I predicted it, I wrote down that exact time this morning, at about 9:30am,” Hughes said following his run at London Stadium.
“I wanted to get the British record here on home soil and I did it.”
Hughes, the fastest man over 100m in the world this year, later tweeted a picture of his prediction – once again perfect to the hundredth.
Alongside the time he had written: “Running the 200m today. I’m feeling good. Ready to get going and having fun.”
The European 200m champion had not been willing to commit to targeting Regis’ record, despite Lyles casually insisting that was “definitely” attainable for his “modest” rival during Saturday’s news conference.
Lyles, who plans to chase a trio of gold medals at next month’s World Championships in Budapest, was proven correct as Hughes shaved 0.21 secs off the previous mark.
The American backed up his own grand ambitions by moving clear on the home straight to take victory in 19.47 secs.
“I don’t care about winning, as long as I execute the time that my coach wanted and got the British record,” Hughes said.
“We’ve got things I can work on but I executed my race and that was to get to 60m as fast as possible, then just maintain from there.”
On being neck-and-neck with Lyles coming off the bend, Hughes added: “I think Noah was playing off me slightly. He was ready to chase me down!”
Evidently in the form of his life and under the continued expert guidance of Glen Mills – the coach who oversaw retired sprinting legend Usain Bolt’s capture of eight Olympic gold medals – Hughes could not hope to be in a better place before bidding for a first global title later this summer.
At home in Jamaica, on the wall of his living room, a vision board lays out the Briton’s lofty career and life goals – a meticulous approach that also ensured he achieved his childhood dream of becoming a qualified pilot in 2018.
Now, with two British records obliterated, and having demonstrated he can compete with the world’s best athletes, he must surely expect to become the first British man to make the world 100m podium since Darren Campbell 20 years ago.
