logo
Four golds and a baby boy - but what's next for Jeremiah Azu?

Four golds and a baby boy - but what's next for Jeremiah Azu?

BBC News01-04-2025

Jeremiah Azu said he wanted 2025 to be the best year of his life.It has certainly got off to a good start.On the indoor 60m track, he became Welsh champion, British champion, European champion and world champion.He also welcomed his son into the world to become a father for the first time.After his statement win at the World Indoor Championships in China, he had some much-needed time off with his family.But a week later he is back training in the Cardiff sunshine - and dreaming of more success as the outdoor season begins."Even sometimes now it doesn't feel real," he tells BBC Sport Wales. "It's the moment when you say it out loud, that's when you really realise what you've done."
Azu is revelling in the moment."I've loved every moment since being home. My family were there cheering me on when I walked into the house, just picking me up, throwing me around. It was just a big celebration."I want to go to the top. I want to win global titles. It just adds to that motivation."Before it was for my family. But now it's really for my own son and my wife and I think you can't really beat those motivations."
'I'm just Jeremiah'
The 23-year-old has never lacked confidence. He puts it down to his family's support and unshakeable belief in God.But there is a humility to him that perhaps does not show in his customary startline dances for the cameras.Two days after becoming European indoor champion over 60m last month, he was part of an event in Wales to mark Commonwealth Day. Long after the guests had gone, he remained behind to help tidy away the chairs.On the track, the results are starting to justify that confidence in himself.He won Olympic bronze in the men's 4x100m relay in Paris last summer and his world indoor title last month has further elevated his rising status in the sport."It's easy to be confident," he continues. "You can fake it."I've never been a fake confident person. I'm just Jeremiah. Some people think I am confident, over-confident, under-confident, whatever it is. But for me it's knowing that I'm able to do what I've always believed I can do.
"I've learnt how to win and I think that's important in athletics. Because in the final everyone's fast, everyone's talented, but it's who actually believes it."Who's got that ability to not panic? Who's got that ability to time their dip right? It's all these little things that just allow you to have that confidence to walk in with the trust in the training you've done and in the team around you and your coach."His new coach is now his old coach. He first worked with Helen James as a 17-year-old and, after a two-year spell under Marco Airale in Italy, Azu is back with James in Cardiff."The world's his oyster," she tells us. "He's going to go a long way further than this."
So what next for Azu?
His focus shifts to the upcoming outdoor season and a return to China for the start of the Diamond League and World Athletics Relays event in May.When he returns to the UK again, he will add more 200m events to his 100m programme in the hope of broadening his future medal prospects and helping increase his top-end speed.But he has more than one eye already on September's World Championships in Tokyo."Coming in as world indoor champion, now there's a bit more expectation," Azu admits."But for me I'm not really doing this for anyone. I don't want to prove myself to anyone. I do this because I know I can do this. Because my ability shows me that I was born to do this."There is not a thing that I'm not going to do, there's not an exercise that I'm going to leave."I go into everything wanting to be the best. So I just continue with that mindset towards everything."

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Emma Raducanu keen to explore doubles partnership with Katie Boulter
Emma Raducanu keen to explore doubles partnership with Katie Boulter

South Wales Argus

timean hour ago

  • South Wales Argus

Emma Raducanu keen to explore doubles partnership with Katie Boulter

The duo, who have been bestowed the portmanteau 'Boultercanu', earlier this week described the 'spontaneous' nature of their decision to pair up ahead of this tournament. After booking their place with a straight-sets opening victory over Wu Fang-Hsien and Jiang Xinyu on Monday, they faced a much tougher test in the top-seeded doubles pair. Emma Raducanu is keen to explore her doubles partnership with Katie Boulter (Jordan Pettitt/PA) 'Katie made me feel really comfortable out there over the two matches and I hope we can team up again soon,' said 2021 US Open winner and former British number one Raducanu, who next faces Slovakian Rebecca Sramkova in the last 16 of the singles on Thursday afternoon. 'Given the quick turnaround from clay to grass it's great to get some extra matchplay on grass. The atmosphere again was unreal.' This is the first time in 52 years that women's tennis has been hosted at Queen's. It was just the third doubles match in Raducanu's career and only the second time she paired up with Boulter. The two still looked to be ironing out the finer points of their partnership when they clashed rackets in the first game and were down a break early on before Kichenok and Routliffe claimed the first set with another break. Katie Boulter will start the action at Andy Murray Arena on Thursday (John Walton/PA) The Britons grew into the match more in the second set – amusingly interrupted for a moment so a security guard could rescue a bee that had wandered down the baseline – bouncing back from a 4-1 deficit to level and converting their first break point of the match en route. But they squandered an opportunity to turn the screw when they could not convert four break points in the next game, and – despite plenty of encouragement from the crowd – eventually fell to the favourites. Boulter opens the action at the larger Andy Murray Arena on Thursday morning at midday, when she faces fifth-seed Diana Shnaider. 'Me and Emma played some very good tennis over these two doubles matches and our level was really high,' she said. 'The support from the crowd was immense as well and we're really grateful that so many people came out to support us.' British qualifier Heather Watson's meeting with former Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina immediately follows on the newly-renamed centre court before wild card Raducanu's clash with Sramkova. Sonay Kartal was beaten by Amanda Anisimova (Adam Davy/PA) Sonay Kartal's Queen's campaign came to an end after the British wild card was defeated 6-1 6-3 by eighth seed Amanda Anisimova. Kartal, who confirmed she plans to participate at next week's Nottingham Open, said: '(Anisimova) didn't do too much wrong in that one. You just take it on the chin. The good thing about the grass is we are a couple of days and we're back at it again.' The British number three had booked her place in the second round on Monday after beating world number 16 Daria Kasatkina for the biggest win of her career. British doubles specialist Olivia Nicholls and her partner, Slovakian Tereza Mihalikova, lost 7-6 (3) 7-6 (5) to third seeds Ellen Perez (Australia) and Shuai Zhang (China).

Emma Raducanu stars in comprehensive grass-court victory
Emma Raducanu stars in comprehensive grass-court victory

South Wales Argus

timean hour ago

  • South Wales Argus

Emma Raducanu stars in comprehensive grass-court victory

The 22-year-old beat the Spaniard 6-1 6-2 in just over one hour in her opening round singles match at the LTA's HSBC Championships. It was a dominant victory for the Brit, who had secured her first ever doubles victory alongside British No.1 Katie Boulter just 24 hours before and showed no signs of slowing down on the grass. And with it being just the first singles win on the surface this year, Raducanu revealed there is still more to come as she continues to find her feet. "I was quite locked in today," she said. "I'm very pleased with my performance. "I'm still trying to find my groove on this surface. There are certain shots I feel I'm a little late on, so I'm working on that. "I knew today was going to be a really difficult match - I lost to Cristina earlier in the year - so I was really trying to fight and make sure that didn't happen again." The pair had already come face to face earlier in the year at Singapore, with the Spanish player taking the spoils 5-7 7-5 7-5 that time out, but there was no question that Raducanu was the dominant force this time round. Bucsa put up a rallying performance at the start, comfortably winning her first service game and almost making a break of serve, but struggled to keep pace with Raducanu's game as she calmly took the first set in just 24 minutes. It was a similar story in the second, as Raducanu came out firing once again to extend her advantage. It meant that Raducanu took the victory in a comfortable hour and four minutes to seal her spot in the second round where she will now face Rebecca Sramkova. And after taking to the Andy Murray Arena for the first time this Championships, Raducanu was thrilled she could finally experience the feeling of a singles win at Queen's. "I think the biggest thing I'm proud of is how I handled the situation," she said. "It's such a great atmosphere and it really helped in those moments when I was at deuce but I would be lying if I said I wasn't nervous before the match. "The way I overcame that was a great achievement and I did really well considering how I haven't had much time on the grass." For the latest action on the British summer grass court season, check out the LTA website

When is Rangers Champions League draw and who could Russell Martin's side face in qualifiers?
When is Rangers Champions League draw and who could Russell Martin's side face in qualifiers?

Scottish Sun

timean hour ago

  • Scottish Sun

When is Rangers Champions League draw and who could Russell Martin's side face in qualifiers?

Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) RUSSELL MARTIN only started work as the new Rangers head coach this week. But time doesn't wait for anyone - especially not in Scottish football - and particularly when it comes to the Champions League qualifiers this summer. 2 Rangers will be back in the Champions League draw again Credit: Getty 2 Rangers lost in Champions League qualifying to Dynamo Kyiv last year Credit: PA Rangers will enter Uefa's top competition at the second qualifying round stage. Winning that tie is of paramount importance to Gers as it will significantly impact how difficult it could become to secure European group stage football of some sort for the season ahead. The Light Blues made another deep run in Europe last season, reaching the quarter-finals of the Europa League before losing to Athletic Bilbao. They'll start a level above for this campaign and will hope to improve on their last showing in the Champions League proper when they finished with the worst record of any team during the 2022-23 season (Gers failed to qualify at all last year). Here's all you need to know for the Champions League draw, when Rangers will find out who they play. When is the Champions League second qualifying round draw? The Champions League second qualifying round draw will be held on Wednesday, June 18 It will be held at the House of European Football in Berne, Switzerland Proceedings will get underway at around 11am UK time Are Rangers seeded for the draw? Yes, Rangers are seeded for the Champions League second qualifying round draw Their club coefficient ensures they will be in the League Path for the qualifying rounds For the second qualifying round, they are seeded alongside Red Bull Salzburg and Viktoria Plzen Who could Rangers face in the Champions League second qualifying round? Rangers will face either Panathinaikos, Servette or Brann in the Champions League second qualifying round All three of those teams are unseeded Like Rangers, all three of those sides finished second in their respective leagues When are the the Champions League second qualifying round fixtures? The first leg of the ties will take place on 22/23 July The second legs will be held on 29/30 July What happens if Rangers lose in the second qualifying round? If Rangers lose in the second qualifying round, they will drop into the Europa League third qualifying round as an UNSEEDED team. Moment Ally McCoist interrupts live radio to congratulate his 'wee pal' on signing for Rangers That would put them at the mercy of some strong sides on the continent. Anderlecht, Braga, Midtjylland and PAOK are all confirmed as seeded sides in the Europa League third qualifying round. Those fixtures are scheduled for 7 and 14 August and there is NO parachute into the Europa Conference League league phase for the losers at this stage. Instead, Gers would face a play-off to reach the group stages. It's hard to say whether the Glasgow side would be seeded here or not as the 26 winners of the Conference League's third qualifying round and the other four would-be losers in the Europa League third qualifying round are obviously yet to be determined. Of the team current in the picture though, only Serie A outfit Fiorentina have a higher club coefficient than Gers. But in the worst case scenario, Rangers would be OUT of Europe by the middle of August. What happens if Rangers win in the Champions League second qualifying round? A win in the the second qualifying round would guarantee group stage football for Russell Martin's Gers. That's because the losers of the Champions League third qualifying round drop into the league phase of the Europa League. And if Rangers win the third qualifying round tie as well then they would of course go into the play-off round. It's straightforward from there: win and it's into the Champions League proper, lose and it's the Europa League league phase once again. Keep up to date with ALL the latest news and transfers at the Scottish Sun football page

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store