• British athletics

Gemili aghast at incredible year

Adam Gemili celebrates winning world junior 100m gold in Spain © Getty Images

Enlarge

Related Links

• News: Olympian Yamauchi retires from marathon
  

British sprinter Adam Gemili may only be 19 but he insists that the best year of his career is already behind him.

In the past 12 months Gemili has gone from being a football-focused former Chelsea trainee to world junior champion and Olympic semi-finalist.

The Dartford teenager is the second fastest Briton over 100 metres this year, behind Dwain Chambers, and is a realistic medal prospect for the 2016 Olympics in Brazil.

On top of his flat-line speed, which clocked him a personal best of 10.05secs, Gemili showed in July that he has an appetite for the big occasion by winning gold at the World Junior Championships in Barcelona.

At the Olympics he narrowly missed out on making the final but he says the memories of competing at the Olympic Park will never be topped.

"Nothing will ever replicate how I felt at the London Games," Gemili told the Daily Telegraph. "Not even Rio, because it's obviously not a home Olympics. It was an experience that will stay with me for the rest of my life.

"Having 80,000 people cheering for you is just the most amazing feeling in the world. People kept telling me to close my mouth because I was just gob-smacked by being around so many world-class athletes.

"I remember sitting next to David Rudisha on the coach to the stadium on the night he won his gold medal. I took a picture of him and he said: 'Well done for winning the world juniors'. Allyson Felix also said that to me. I was amazed that she actually knew who I was.

"And of course the best thing was Usain Bolt coming up to me and saying congratulations as well."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.