Sprinters Zharnel Hughes and Matt Hudson-Smith will be taking on the best of British at this weekend’s UK Athletics Championships, but if they had their way they’d be going head to head.
Hughes, Britain’s fastest man over 100m and 200m, and European 400m champion Hudson-Smith, have regularly traded friendly fire on social media about who would win a duel over 300m. Naturally, they both back themselves.
We are no nearer to finding the answer, but Hughes is desperate for someone – an enterprising promoter, a cash-rich streaming service – to organise a race that would promise to deliver what athletics needs: social media buzz and a younger audience.
“I definitely think athletes would like it. I haven’t spoken to any organiser about it. It’s just Matt, and I’ve been going back and forth on social media with it, and he’s been mentioning it to the media,” said Hughes.
“We haven’t done any reach-out to anyone. But it would be pretty cool if someone could pick it up and be like, ‘Okay, seeing that you guys have been talking about it for quite some time, let’s make this happen.’
“I would actually like it to be in Birmingham. That’s where he is from. Let’s compete in Birmingham – just so he can shut up.
“I’d beat Matt. He would tell you, ‘I’ll beat Zharnel’. I will beat Matt, that’s for sure. I will definitely blast out, get myself ahead of him. He will start to close down the latter part of the race. It’s just for me to race in the last 30m.
“I think he’s been giving the green light for quite some time. He wants to race. I want to race as well. It’s just that we haven’t had anyone that can help push for it to happen. That’s the only thing that’s holding us back.”
Head-to-head racing is not a new idea but it could be ripe for resurrection. Perhaps the best example was Donovan Bailey and Michael Johnson clashing over 150m for the title of World’s Fastest Man but that was way back in 1997.
Hughes: Athletics should copy boxing hype
New formats abound in sport, including track and field, with mixed results. Johnson’s Grand Slam Track series is in doubt after just one season but Keely Hodgkinson’s Keely Klassic earlier this year was fairly well received, despite her injury withdrawal.
Cash strapped athletics chiefs may be reluctant to underwrite a potential loss-making event but Hughes v Hudson-Smith could be a spectacle made for social media or streaming platforms such as Netflix, which has dipped its toes in both athletics and live sport.
“I’m pretty sure they would like it, to be honest,” said Hughes. “They can definitely build up the hype because they did a pretty good job on [docuseries] Sprint.”
Hughes cites boxing when making the case for head-to-heads, arguing that pre-fight face-offs could be replicated in track and field to build online anticipation that he believes could be converted into a broadcast audience.
“If we were to have a preview, like boxing, where you step up on a weight scale, you go in each other’s faces; you might have a little bit of backlash at each other. Just a little bit of bragging rights, to build some hype, get some media involved,” he said.
“Social media posting is always a must in this day and age, because everyone’s always scrolling now. You want to build up a proper hype. You want to be in the faces of people if you want their attention.
“So I feel one-on-ones is a definite in the sport. Switch it up again. Like, for instance, some 150ms, like how they did back in the days. Things like that excites people. It makes you want to talk about it. It’s not just any random one-on-ones, you want the best of the one-on-ones.
“Matt and I, being both British record holders in respect of the events is a perfect clash. Can I get out and hold on? Or will Matt Hudson-Smith catch me in the last 30-40m because of his strengths?
“So I think building a hype around it, one-on-one face-offs in a press conference, a little bit of bragging rights. I can chat to you, you chat to me, a little banter. And I think it’ll bring excitement. People will definitely tune in as long as the hype is good enough.”
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