Teammate forgives CJ Ujah for loss of Olympic silver

The Team GB sprinter Zharnel Hughes says he has forgiven CJ Ujah for the doping offence that resulted in Great Britain’s 4x100m relay squad being stripped of their Olympic silver medal.

Ujah’s conviction for taking a banned substance cost his team-mates — Hughes, Richard Kilty and Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake — their second-place finish in Tokyo.

Kilty has been ferocious in his criticism of Ujah and slammed Reece Prescod, the reserve runner, for making his peace with the banned athlete, saying: “Reece is not in a position to forgive anybody because he hasn’t lost a medal.”

But Hughes took a more conciliatory tone after breezing through the 100m heats at the UK Athletics Championships in Manchester last night, saying: “What do you want to hear? CJ is a great guy, regardless. What happened to him is unfortunate, sadly.

“But I don’t show him any disrespect. I haven’t spoken to him in a long time but, the last time I spoke to him, he apologised and said sorry.

“I forgive him. Sometimes these things do happen, which is very sad, but I wish him all the best in the future. I can’t change anything. It’s already gone. We’ve been removed from the history books. It’s sad — but I can’t do anything about it. I felt bad obviously. I was a part of the team so I was going to feel it.”

Dina Asher-Smith, the reigning 200m world champion, eased into today’s 100m semi-finals by winning her heat on a blustery night at the Manchester Regional Arena.

Asher-Smith, who was easing up as she crossed the line in 11.16sec, said: “The aim was to qualify, come back Sunday  and lift it a bit.”

Victoria Ohuruogu breezed into friday’s 400m final, leaving the 800m specialist Keely Hodgkinson — already pre-selected for the World Athletics Championships in Oregon next month over two laps — trailing in her heat, while the main challenger Zoey Clark also made it through without breaking much of a sweat.

Saturday’s men’s 1,500m final promises to be a clash of track titans, meanwhile, with at least four world-class runners competing for three places. Olympic bronze medallist Josh Kerr, who won his heat, said: “Tomorrow is going to be a dogfight. We’re going to leave someone behind who is a potential medallist. That’s crazy.

“I think I’ve shown that I can show up on the day. We’re going to put on a show.”

Neil Gourley, who also won his heat, added: “It’s going to be a war tomorrow. And I just live for these battles.

“Someone who is in great shape is going to miss out. That’s a fact. But that’s the reality of this sport. I’m definitely peaking at the right time, but anything can happen in a championship race. The heats actually get the nerves out of the way. Tomorrow is actually the fun bit.”

The winner of the third heat, Jake Wightman, believes maintaining the strength of British men’s 1,500m running is an absolute necessity if any of the country’s top runners are to get close to matching the Norwegian phenomenon Jakob Ingebrigtsen.

“We’ve got probably one of the biggest superstars of the sport in our event,” he said. “To challenge him, we have to be so good domestically. Josh has that Olympic bronze medal and we’ve got him to aim at.

“We will have someone missing out who could make the World Championship final. It’s going to be the tightest competition we’ve ever had.”

Laura Muir laid down a marker before today’s 1,500m women’s final, meanwhile, running well clear of the field with a lap to go and then virtually jogging home over the closing 400m.

The Scot revealed: “My coach said beforehand we had an idea to do a bit of a time-trial in the middle of the race to try and get a really good run out.

“We’re not easing off training at all, it’s about banking as much as we can and trying to use it as effectively as possible. It’s still a great competition and it’ll be a fun final tomorrow.”

Elsewhere in the sprints, the veteran Dwain Chambers, 44, turned out to compete against a new generation in the 100m. Chambers, who served his own two-year doping ban, finished fifth in his heat in 10.51 seconds.