Zharnel Hughes and Darryl Neita triumph at UK Athletics Championship, Laura Muir in disappointing second

Zharnel Hughes capped a superb week by winning the men’s 200m at the UK Athletics Championships.

Fresh from claiming the 100m title on Saturday, Hughes won the 200m event on Sunday. A strong start allowed the 27-year-old to quickly establish a lead over his competitors as he crossed the line in 19.77 seconds.

“I’m not shocked, I’m just relieved,’ said Hughes.

“I am the fastest in the world and it didn’t happen overnight. If you were to see some of the clips of me training, you’d see why I’m so happy with the results I’m getting.

“I’m telling you, I’ve put some work in this season. I’m just grateful to see what’s happening after my hard work. Big shout out to Linford as well… he saw me at the trials and he congratulated me about the record.”

Meanwhile, Daryll Neita recorded a championship record of 22.25 in defending her 200m title.

“I went into the winter, worked on so many things, and my mindset has evolved,” Neita said.

“I’m not scared to beat people, I want to be No 1. I also know where the rankings are, I know who is running 10.6 and 10.7. I’m not there yet but I’m working towards it. I’ve done a lot of 100 but not a lot of 200. This week was getting more practice at the event. I’m not bothered about people’s predictions, opinions or validations.”

In the 1,500m event, Laura Muir’s time of 4:10.24 was good enough for only second to Katie Snowden, who won in 4:09.86.

“There’s a lot going on at the moment,” said Muir.

Meanwhile, Keely Hodgkinson won the 800m title in 1:58.26.

Heptathlon’s 2019 world champion Katarina Johnson-Thompson recorded a shot put distance of 12.86m and secured third place in her 200m heat with a time of 23.58 seconds.

In the absence of the injured 1,500m world champion Jake Wightman, Neil Gourley ran 3:46.16 to beat Elliot Giles (3:46.48) to become the new British champion.