By Frank Dalleres
Leading British medal hopeful Zharnel Hughes has played down fears of empty seats for his races at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games despite sluggish ticket sales.
City A.M. revealed this month that tickets were still available for 55 medal sessions, including the men’s and women’s sprint finals, with just 200 days to go until the Games.
Hughes, who last year became Britain’s fastest man ever over 100m and 200m, insists he expects French track and field fans to snap up the remaining seats before August.
“I’m pretty sure it’ll be sold out, I’m honestly thinking it will be because I’ve been to one or two French meets before and I’ve seen how the French can be very supportive.
“I like to hear that ‘Allez, allez, allez!’ when you’re running, so I’m pretty sure you will be hearing a lot of that inside the stadium.
“With the performances that people are now seeing, it’s getting very much more exciting. So I feel [once we] come closer to the dates [in Paris], you will see those tickets being sold out.”
Hughes won 100m bronze at last summer’s World Championships and this year is hoping to become the first British man to win an Olympic medal in the race since Linford Christie.
He slashed 0.04 seconds off Christie’s long-standing national 100m record in June and the 28-year-old believes he can run even quicker.
“I’m not putting a limit on myself,” Hughes added. “I have goals – I would like to break it again, and we don’t know how far it might actually go, but I’m looking forward to going out there and smashing it again.”
Zharnel Hughes is an ambassador for Vita Coco, for updates and information on the partnership visit: www.vitacoco.co.uk
