Amy Hunt competing in 100m and 200m in Birmingham; aiming for home glory with crowd support

European Athletics Championships 2026: Amy Hunt relishing “a lovely little reunion” with 200m in Birmingham

The 24-year-old, who won women’s 4×100m relay gold at the last continental championships, is hungry for home glory at the Alexander Stadium.

Amy Hunt quoting ‘High School Musical’ may have been unexpected at the pre-competition press conference for the 2026 European Athletics Championships .

But it is the attitude of character Sharpay Evans in the hit song ‘ I Want It All ’ that the British sprinter is embracing at her home event in Birmingham. Hunt is competing in both the 100m and 200m events, with an appearance in the relay races also a possibility.

Fresh off winning a Commonwealth Games 100m silver medal in Glasgow, Hunt has every right to be ambitious when it comes to her medal hopes. She became Britain’s third-fastest female 100m runner in June and is within 0.22 seconds of her own 200m personal best of 22.08 this season.

“I actually think that me and the 200m might have a lovely little reunion, a little make-up at these Championships,” said Hunt, having previously joked about her relationship with the sprint events.

“We did a lot of testing in the last couple of weeks; we have some time trials that we do before major Champs. It’s looking really good and exciting, so I’m ahead of where I was before Tokyo [the 2025 World Championships] . I think I can look forward to a happy renewal of our vows next week.”

Women’s 4x100m Relay Final | Athletics | Olympic Games Paris 2024

The Women’s 4x100m Relay final took place at Stade de France, on 09

The United States of America won Gold with a time of 41.78 seconds. Great Britain won Silver and Germany completed the podium.

European Athletics Championships 2026 - Amy Hunt, thriving under pressure

An Olympic and world silver medallist, Hunt’s rise to the pinnacle of British athletics is showing no sign of slowing down. She retained the 100m national title in a time just shy of the sub-11 mark, setting the second fastest mark of her career.

After receiving strong support up in Scotland, there will undoubtedly be a fervent home crowd cheering on Hunt, who was born just 111km (69 miles) away from Birmingham, at the European Championships.

“I’m someone who really thrives off that competition environment,” she explained. “The noisier it is, the better it is for me. I love it so much. I had a small taste of that in Glasgow – that was my first experience of a somewhat home Championships.

“I can’t wait to see what it’s going to be like as someone who grew up watching London 2012 , and then I was in the stadium for the men’s 100m final at London 2017 [World Championships] so I was part of the noise. It would be cool to see the next little lady in the crowd cheering me on.”

Hunt is in fine form heading to Birmingham: she has two 100m wins this season and will be keen to build on her second-place finish in the UK Championships 200m.

The European Athletics Championships get underway on 10 August with the women’s 100m final taking centre stage at the Alexander Stadium. The women’s 200m races are scheduled to begin on 12 August, with the final taking place a day later.

Athletics | European Championships | Birmingham | United Kingdom