The British sprinter is winning his third national indoor title and will travel to Toro in March to defend his world crown.
Jeremiah Azu was a bit emotional at the finish line after winning the men’s 60m at the Novuna UK Indoor Championships in Birmingham on Saturday (February 14th).
There were even a few tears after he crossed the line in 6.56 and looked into the stands to see his family watching at Utilita Arena.
Azu completed a hat-trick of back-to-back UK indoor titles, the first athlete to do so since Dwayne Chambers, as Rommel Glaive, who beat Azu in Stockholm earlier this season, was second in 6.62 and Jodie Smith third in 6.63.
“I wanted to come here and defend the title, and winning three times in a row is no easy feat,” Azu said. “When I saw my family, everything was bubbling up at that moment and I got a little emotional.”
Azu won the European and World 60m indoor titles last winter and he is in great form this year as well.
“It’s a good dress for the World Indoors,” she said. “It is good practice to defend the title.”
It was close to a perfect race. “I have to go back to watch it because it was kind of blurry,” he said. “The time (6.56) is probably in my top five ever and I’ve got one more race to go and then the champs.”
He has one more race between now and the World Indoor Championships on March 20-22, but he’ll be doing more than just finishing in the coming days.
“I think we’ve got a couple of weeks to put in a big load, hit the nerves, then recover and get ready for Worlds,” he said.
