- Hinchliffe, 21, stormed to victory in Eugene with an race time of 9.95 seconds
- He will be competing in the Olympic trials in Manchester at the end of the month
- His personal best time at the event was fastest by a British man so far this year
Sheffield sprinter Louie Hinchliffe became the first European to ever win the prestigious US collegiate men’s 100 metres title when he stormed to victory in 9.95 seconds in Eugene.
The 21-year-old’s personal best time in the NCAA Championships final was the fastest by a British man this year and the ninth quickest in the world.
Hinchliffe will now be one of the favourites to seal a spot at the Paris Olympics when the British trials take place in Manchester at the end of the month.
‘I’ve got to forget about this now and focus on the job at hand because the main job is the Olympics,’ said the University of Houston student. ‘I need to shift my focus to the Olympic trials.’
Hinchliffe, who is coached by Olympic legend Carl Lewis, had never run faster than 10.16sec as recently as last month.
Louie Hinchliffe (right) made history in becoming the first European to win the US collegiate men’s 100 metres title
He stormed to victory with a time of 9.95 seconds in Eugene, the fastest by a British man this year
The 21-year-old is coached by Olympic legend Carl Lewis and is targeting the Olympics in Paris
But he shot to prominence a fortnight ago when he clocked a wind-assisted 9.84sec at the NCAA regionals in Arkansas – the fastest all-conditions 100m in the world this year.
Hinchliffe then backed that up in the early hours of Saturday morning in Eugene with his first legal sub-10sec run to win the NCAA title.
‘Everything was on the line, so I gave it my all and it brought out the best in me,’ said Hinchliffe.
‘It was a fight to the end. The minute the gun went off it was full throttle. This is what I have been working for the whole year, so it means a lot.’
Born in Sheffield to an English father and Filipino mother, Hinchliffe had all but given up on athletics when he went to Lancaster University to study management and IT in 2021.
But he moved to the US in January 2023 to take track and field more seriously, starting out at Washington State before transferring to Houston last August to work under Lewis, who is the university’s head coach.
‘You can’t really pick a better person to have as a coach,’ Hinchliffe told Mail Sport last month. ‘He is a legend. I am just thankful for the opportunity to be coached by him.
‘It’s about making sure I listen to him and take it all in because he knows what he is talking about.’
He already has an Olympic qualifying time but must finish in the top two at the UK Championships to guarantee a place
Jeremiah Azu (right) is the only other Brit to have run sub-10 seconds this year, but pulled out of the European Championships in Rome through injury
Lewis is set to join Hinchliffe in Manchester on June 28 for the UK Championships, which act as Britain’s Olympic trials.
Hinchliffe already has the Olympic qualifying time but must finish in the top two to guarantee himself one of three 100m places in Paris.
Jeremiah Azu is the only other Brit to have run sub-10sec this year, but he pulled out of the European Championships in Rome on Thursday with an injury.
British record holder Zharnel Hughes, who won a bronze medal at last year’s World Championships, also withdrew from the Europeans with an injury earlier in the week.
