So what have you been up to since a rather fantastic summer? Not much really! I started uni. I moved out of home. That’s the big thing.
How’s that going? It’s messy, but I’m surviving.
Are you living on baked beans on toast? No definitely not, I don’t think anyone is allowed to live on baked beans on toast. If it gets bad I literally just go home and eat my mum’s food.
I know that you did your driving test in the summer after your Commonwealth relay gold, and the instructor recognised you. Was that before or after the test? At the end. He was like, well done on a great run. It’s definitely a good thing I didn’t fail the test, that would have been really awkward …
What’s your favourite place to run? Oh definitely Birchfield, by far. I’ve just been there for ages, haven’t I? It’s like home. I know that track like the back of my hand now. It’s the first place I ran 20-point-something. And I won English schools there, so I know that track.
Do you remember your first ever race? Yes, I do. It was the worst race of my life!
How old were you? I was 10, 11. It was 100m at the Tipton Games and I got to about 70 metres, I saw my mum, stopped, looked over, and she told me to carry on running and literally everyone just went past me.
Don’t make that mistake again eh? [laughs] Ha, no that never happened again.
When someone asks you for a training tip, what do you tell them? Take the full recovery. Always take the full recovery. If you are tired, don’t ever force it, because that’s when you are liable to get injured. Just listen to your body.
Do you ever run to music? I’m not allowed to but I’ve always got my headphones on, listening to music. I just love listening to it. It doesn’t get me into the mood for racing, but it’s just … I’m more bouncy when I listen to music. It helps with the rhythm. Especially in the warm-up.
Do you like a running gadget? Got to have a stopwatch, for your splits when you are running. Do thermals count as a gadget? Thermals! Because the British weather is not very nice in winter. I’ve got to have my thermals. Stopwatch, headphones for the long runs, thermals, that’s about it.
What’s the worst thing about running? [emphatically] Morning sessions. I hate waking up. I am the laziest person you will ever meet. I could happily spend the whole day in bed, and not really care. Last year was actually beautiful for me, I would wake up at like one o’clock, have a shower, get ready, have breakfast, go training, then go back to bed.
Sounds like a good life to me. It was an amazing life!
And what’s the best thing about running? Travelling the world. This is one of the only sports, apart from, I guess, football, where you get to visit a lot of countries. Visit a lot of cultures, experience a lot of things. I probably wouldn’t ever in my lifetime have gone to Zurich without athletics. So I’m blessed in a way, it’s made me visit loads of countries, see loads of people, different cultures and stuff like that, really.
What’s your post-race indulgence? Depends where I am really. If I’m at home. What does my mum make me? I have beans, egg and toast. I don’t know why but my mum does it in a certain way. She puts like ham and onions and stuff in the eggs. It’s like an omelette but it’s really weird, I don’t know how she does it. When I’m away, I just eat whatever I can. Literally whatever is there, I eat it.
What’s the furthest you’ve ever run? [thinks] I ran for about 40 minutes once. I don’t know how far that was, but that was the longest 40 minutes of my life.
What do you eat on the morning of a hard session? For breakfast, I have … what do I have … well it depends what day. On a Monday I have yesterday’s dinner. Because I’m a student now so I’m living a student life, well I’m trying to live the student life. So I have my mum’s Sunday dinner on a Monday. On a Tuesday I’ll have a good breakfast, I’ll make eggs and a bagel. And then porridge. Porridge and a banana. Quick and easy. Sometimes I have a cheeky fishfinger sandwich, when I have the chance.
Have you ever run barefoot? When I first started, yes, they made me do a lot of barefoot runs. But now, more just with the trainers.
What’s your greatest achievement so far? I’d probably say winning English schools and equalling the championship record. Only because that was the first ever big championship I did. Obviously the Commonwealth and the Europeans were cool but English schools for me was the first stepping stone. The first big experience. Also UK school games, I won that, that was crazy. I’ll never forget those two races.
Mo Farah or Usain Bolt? Oh no! I don’t know. That’s a hard one. I like Mo, I like Bolt … they are both really cool people … Could we do it over a distance, like 600m, and race them both? That would be a good deal.
Who would win? My money is on Bolt but I reckon Mo would surprise a couple of people if they ever did that. I think it would be close.
Who is the greatest ever runner? Oh … there’s loads … it’s a toss up between three people for me. Quincy Watts, Michael Johnson and Usain Bolt.
Sainsbury’s partnership with British Athletics reflects its wider commitment to inspiring healthy lifestyles for all, and complements grassroots campaigns such as Active Kids and the Sainsbury’s School Games
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