British sprinter Louie Hinchliffe becomes first European to win men’s 100m title at NCAA Championships
By George Ramsay, CNN
(CNN) — British sprinter Louie Hinchliffe became the first European man to win the 100-meter title at the NCAA Championships on Friday thanks to a surging finish.
The University of Houston sophomore recorded a lifetime best time of 9.95 seconds and became the school’s seventh winner of the 100-meter title, following in the footsteps of his coach and nine-time Olympic champion Carl Lewis.
“It was just a fight to the end,” Hinchliffe told reporters after the race. “The minute the gun went off, it was just full throttle. I gave it everything today, it’s what I’ve been working for the whole year. It means a lot.”
In a tight race in Eugene, Oregon, Hinchliffe finished ahead of Nigerians Favour Ashe (9.99 seconds) and Kanyinsola Ajayi (10.01 seconds) – both of Auburn University – after pulling away from the field in the final stages.
The result makes him the sixth-fastest British man of all time over 100 meters, 0.12 seconds behind Zharnel Hughes’ national record set last year.
Hinchliffe did clock a time of 9.84 last month, but it was not deemed legal due to the wind conditions.
He is now targeting a spot on the British team at the upcoming Paris Olympics, which begin on July 26.
“I’ve got to forget about this now and focus on the job at hand,” said Hinchliffe. “The main job is the Olympics so just forget about all of this and shift my focus to the Olympic Trials.”
The 21-year-old, originally from Sheffield, England, transferred to Houston from Washington State last year to train under US track and field great Lewis.
After opening the season with a modest time of 10.4 seconds, his performances have improved steadily over the past two months to put him in contention for the Olympics.
“Louie has had an incredible year,” Lewis told Citius Mag after Hinchliffe won Houston’s first 100-meter championship since 2018. “The thing about it is he reached out to me to transfer and said, ‘I want to come to Houston.’
“He understood what we were trying to do and he just bought into the program right away. He’s a great kid and he’s going to do very well.”
The-CNN-Wire
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