Despair for Jeremiah Azu after disqualification from 100 metres

British sprinter Jeremiah Azu’s Olympic debut came to an end before it even began after the Welshman was disqualified from the 100 metres heats for a false start.

The 2022 European 100m champion said he “reacted to a sound” and subsequently lodged a protest, which might have led to him running solo for a berth in Sunday’s semi-final, but his appeal was dismissed shortly after the 23-year-old said he was optimistic officials would give him a second chance.

World bronze medallist Zharnel Hughes and British champion Louie Hinchliffe both booked places in the semis, the latter turning heads once again after beating world champion Noah Lyles to the line in 9.98 to emerge top of heat three and the third-fastest man overall on Saturday morning.

Speaking to reporters before his appeal was dismissed, Azu said: “I just reacted to a sound. The fans in there are super excited towards the Olympic Games and I heard something and I just reacted.

“I asked to run under protest because I’m sure if we would have put a protest in it would go through.

“They said ‘no, you have get off the track’, put the protest in and then I would have to come back and run by myself.”

In the end, it did not matter as the appeal was dismissed.

In May, Azu became the first Welsh athlete to run sub 10 seconds when he broke his own Welsh record in May with 9.97 in Germany.

World Athletics rules state that  athletes will not be able to run under protest if the false start has been detected by a fully operational start information system or in cases where the false start is clearly visible.

Athletes have previously been allowed to run under protest if a start referee had doubts over the validity of a false start charge, but not if the false start was indicated by a World Athletics information system.

Ex junior golfer Hinchliffe’s rapid rise has already been remarkable, and he added another chapter to his expanding lore when he beat Lyles to the finish line by six one hundredths of a second.

The 22-year-old, who is coached by Carl Lewis at the University of Houston, said: “It was good to get back after London (Diamond League), but I wasn’t really thinking too much about (Lyles), he was not really near me, so I wasn’t really thinking too much about who else was in the race.

“I think the pressure, the environment, will probably bring more out of me, trying to get to an Olympic final. I think that will bring a bit more. (Lewis) said run my own race, don’t really get distracted by it all, just focus on my own race.”

In June, Hinchliffe became the first European US college (NCAA) champion when he crossed the line in 9.95secs in Eugene to send him sixth on the UK all-time list.

He followed it up with the British 100m title at Olympic trials in Manchester, an event UK record-holder Hughes, given a discretionary pick, missed with a hamstring injury.

Hinchliffe was still an IT and management student at the University of Lancaster last year when he decided to take athletics more seriously and wrote to Lewis, asking if the nine-time Olympic champion would be willing to take him on.

The rest is history rapidly being written at these Games.

Asked if he could win a medal in Sunday evening’s final, Hinchliffe replied: “I don’t know. I’m kind of just running my races, I’m not really thinking too much about results.”

Lyles congratulated the man who beat him in the heats with a “well done”.

The American, who finished a disappointing third in the 200m in Tokyo –  an event he was favoured to win – is competing at both sprint distances for the first time in Paris.

The 27-year-old reigning world 100m and 200m champion revealed he had set out to win the heat, but stopped short of agreeing Hinchliffe’s effort caught him off-guard.

Lyles said: “Yes and no. He is a talented kid. He ran well at NCAAs so I knew that he was going to do well regardless, that he had it in him.

“The plan was first but it didn’t happen. Second is fine, but we will make sure from now it is first.

“Now I can’t hold back. Now I know that everyone is ready to go, ok if you guys are going to blow your loads, ok I am ready to go.

“I should have expected that knowing this is the Olympics. But this is my first time in the Olympic 100m. I didn’t and that’s on me but I am not going to let that happen again.”

Asked what time it would take to win gold, Lyles replied: “I don’t know but I’m going to run it.”

Lyles’ American team-mates Kenny Bednarek and Fred Kerley were the fastest of the morning’s finishers, level on 9.97 seconds.

Hughes, who insisted before these Olympics that he was feeling fine after recovering from his injury, qualified third from his heat in 10.03.

The 29-year-old knows all too well how Azu feels after he was DQed for his own false start in the Tokyo Olympic final three years ago.

After seeing himself through to the semis, Hughes declared: “That’s long gone, man.”