UK Athletics Championships: Louie Hinchliffe targets Paris Olympics as GB stars battle for places

Only twice in the past 30 years has a time of less than 10 seconds been necessary to claim victory in the men’s 100m at the UK Athletics Championships – but that could prove the minimum requirement for Britain’s Olympic hopefuls this weekend.

Rising 21-year-old sprint star Louie Hinchliffe, coached by athletics icon Carl Lewis at the University of Houston, will line up as the second-fastest European man this year after running 9.95 earlier in June.

Jeremiah Azu, who clocked a wind-assisted championship record 9.90 to win the British title in 2022, has also broken the 10-second barrier this year.

Reigning British champion and world bronze medallist Zharnel Hughes, who misses the championships as he recovers from a hamstring injury, is already assured of an Olympic 100m place.

That leaves two-time British champion Reece Prescod and Eugene Amo-Dadzie – the self-styled ‘world’s fastest accountant’ – among those also battling to be part of Team GB, after European medallist Romell Glave also had to withdraw.

The final British athletics squad for Paris 2024 will be announced on Friday, 5 July, following the championships in Manchester on 29 and 30 June.

To be assured of a chance to contest an individual event at the Olympics, athletes must achieve a top-two finish at the qualifiers, and also achieved the World Athletics qualification standard.

Keely Hodgkinson, Josh Kerr, Katarina Johnson-Thompson, Matthew Hudson-Smith, Dina Asher-Smith, Daryll Neita, Molly Caudery and Laura Muir are among the other high-profile names set to compete at Manchester Regional Arena.