Amy Hunt was the face of Team GB at the Tokyo 2025 World Athletics Championships even with a long and painful road to fulfilling her potential.
The 23-year-old yelled in shock as she finished the women’s 200metres in second, pocketing a silver for Britain in Japan.
Yet from an early age it was clear she was going to be a superstar.
Hunt holds the under-18 record for 200m, something only the legendary Usain Bolt can match her on in the men’s category.
Speaking to talkSPORT, she explained: “We hold the comparable record which is pretty cool and he was actually in the stadium watching.
“I didn’t get to meet him which is so sad but when I went on Twitter [X] afterwards and saw he was actually watching…
“It was a really lovely moment to think oh Usain Bolt actually watched me race.”
Amy Hunt’s injury hell
So why was Hunt so surprised to win her first international solo medal? Well, that dates back to a horror injury in 2022 where she ruptured one of her quadriceps.
“It was pulling the tendon off the bone,” she recalled in wince-inducing detail.
“I had to get that sewn back on in surgery and I’m really deathly afraid of needles.
“It was just incredibly painful and it was during a race, then I had to get wheelchaired off and it was very dramatic.
“We actually managed to go from surgery to race in six months but then it did take a long time.
“It was such a dramatic injury that it killed off so many nerves in that area. We had to really reset my whole neural system.
“It took a lot of time. I would get a lot of pins and needles. I would get a lot of numbness in that area.
“I still have a scar there which I really kind of like because you only really see it when I’m racing which I think is pretty cool.”
Amy Hunt combines top level academics and sport
During that time she also graduated from Cambridge, one of the world’s premier universities, and called herself an ‘academic bada** and track goddess’.
But that’s not just a catchphrase, it’s part of one of her goals to show young aspiring athletes that it’s possible to make it to the top without sport taking over your life.
She explained: “I said those words, yes, I think it’s cool. I think it would be great to see more people try and balance the two and come out the other side of it because I think it makes us more well-rounded people.”
“It was the best degree for me,” she said of her studies in English. “I wanted to specialise in a lot of medieval and renaissance literature so it was the best place to go and do that.
“It was a very stressful time, but I think the degree helps me in ways that I don’t always realise.
“It definitely helps me when dealing with the media because I sat in supervisions with some of the most clever people in the entire world, experts on these very niche topics and they were absolutely grilling me and any argument I present, they just shred to pieces.
“So when I’m having to deal with the media in the mix zone and immediately after the race I feel a lot more confident because I’m like, ‘none of you are going to be as harsh as that guy was about Tudor sonnets or whatever’.”
What’s next for Amy Hunt?
Now a Cambridge graduate with her injury hell behind her, Hunt is also a silver medalist, and is targeting more, even in the 100 metres.
“If you’re not standing on that start line and thinking you’re going to win then why are you there?” she asked.
“What’s the point in doing a race and not thinking you’re going to be on top? Anything can happen during the course of that race, absolutely anything.
“I think my 100 has a lot more scope to improve. I also think the 100 relies a bit more on luck, sometimes you can be lucky or unlucky.”
Watch this space, as Hunt’s bad luck definitely seems to be behind her.
