British sprinter Louie Hinchliffe has become the first European to win the men’s 100m at the NCAA Championships.
The 21-year-old, from Sheffield, ran 9.95 seconds in Eugene, Oregon, to claim the US collegiate title.
He is now the sixth quickest British sprinter and his time was the ninth fastest in the world this year and the best by a European.
Hinchliffe races for the University of Houston, where nine-time Olympic champion Carl Lewis is head coach.
I got out hard and it was kind of level, my form probably wasn’t the best, but I gave everything to get to that line [first],” said Hinchliffe.
He is set to compete at the UK Championships in Manchester later this month, which act as the British trials for this summer’s Paris Olympics.
Hinchliffe won the English national title in 2022 and spent the 2023 season with Washington State before transferring to Houston to work with Lewis.
Coming into 2024, his personal best was 10.17, but he has gradually improved it this year and ran a wind-assisted 9.84 in the NCAA regionals two weeks ago.
If his life was a theater play, Louie Hinchliffe would have been an understudy a year ago.
He finished 20th in the men’s 100m at the 2023 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, seventeen places behind current teammate Shaun Maswanganyi of South Africa.
His then personal best of 10.17 was still 0.34 seconds slower than 2023 World Athletics Championships bronze medalist Zharnel Hughes’ career-best time in the 100m.
Hinchliffe would have run in another athlete’s shadow at the collegiate and international level, and yet, his shadow is one collegiate athletes are chasing at the 2024 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships.
Read on to find out more about the British sprinter going from understudy to lead performer in the 100m ahead of the Olympic Games Paris 2024.
As National Olympic Committees have the exclusive authority for the representation of their respective countries at the Olympic Games, athletes’ participation at the Paris Games depends on their NOC selecting them to represent their delegation at Paris 2024.
Hinchliffe isn’t an overnight sensation, but he certainly knows how to make an entrance. The 21-year-old from Sheffield, England found himself center stage after running a wind-aided time of 9.84 seconds at the NCAA Division I West First Rounds on 24 May.
The race opened his eyes to what was possible. He told the Houston Chronicle, “I didn’t think the Olympics were possible.”
“Before it would be like, ‘Yeah, I get what I get. I might get close.’ Now it’s reachable,” asserted Hinchliffe.
Of course, he would need to prove himself at the 2024 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships.
He entered the meet as one of the favorites for victory in the men’s 100m. He ran a modest time of 10.09 seconds to win his preliminary heat on Wednesday 5 June.
Hinchliffe entered the final with the fastest time from the preliminary round, with the heavy weight of expectations following him to the starting blocks.
For much of the final, it seemed as though Hinchliffe would return to a supporting role. Then, he accelerated towards the finish line and out-ducked his opponents.
Louie Hinchliffe was an NCAA champion in the men’s 100m. His time of 9.95 seconds wasn’t only quick by collegiate standards, it was enough to place him firmly in contention for Great Britain’s Olympic Team.
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