Jeremiah Azu Aims for Brotherly Boost now he is Back Home in Wales

By Owen Morgan

Jeremiah Azu is back in Wales and he announced his return with a bang at the Welsh Indoor Athletics Championships.

After two years based in Italy, the Olympic 4x100m relay bronze medallist has returned home to Cardiff to be closer to family, friends and coach Helen James.

Azu celebrated his first races back in his home city for two-and-a-half years by winning the Welsh senior 60m title in a new championship best time of 6.64 last weekend.

The occasion was made all the more special for Azu as he was joined on the podium by his younger brother Alex, who claimed the bronze medal behind their fellow training partner and Cardiff Athletics clubmate, Lewis Stephens.

Clearly delighted to be back living, training and competing on home soil, Azu said after the race: “That was amazing. It’s great to be back in Cardiff, where it all began.

“It just makes me smile. Moments like this are why I started in athletics. So, it’s great to experience it at this point in my career.

“I’ve moved back home and we’ve practised a lot of stuff in training, so it was an opportunity to try and test it out.

“I haven’t raced this championship since 2020 and I’ve never actually won it. Today has allowed me to look back and see how far I’ve come. Sometimes we’re so focused on the next thing, but reflection is quite important.

“It’s just been a day of reflection. It’s been a day of sharing these moments with the people that are closest to me.

“I haven’t raced in Cardiff since 2022 at the Run With the Wind meeting. So, it was two years ago outdoors, and five years ago indoors.

“It’s just cool to be back. I always feel the support from the Welsh nation so it’s great to compete in front of them.”

Indeed, Azu is hoping his return to Wales will help the development of other athletes within his training group under coach James.

“The move back to Wales wasn’t just about me,” explains Azu. “I’m getting to train with these guys that I’m on the podium with. Lewis (Stephens), he’s a good chap, my brother, I want Wales to be a country that’s spoken about all over the place, you know?

“It’s not going to be easy, but that’s the goal, to drag as many people as I can with me.”

Helping to plot that goal will be coach James, who first convinced the teenage Azu to switch from football to athletics and guided him to his early success.

“It’s amazing being back with Helen,” said Azu. “She really knows how to get me in the right frame of mind for competing.

“She’ll give me little comments, or gestures, or looks, and it’ll just put my mind in the right place.

“And I think athletics, I’ve learned, is not all mental, but it’s a huge part of it. I’d say like 80 to 90 per cent of it is mental. Once you have any doubt, it’s game over.

“So yeah, I’m really focusing on the mental part of it, learning about myself, about how to compete. It’s an ongoing process. It never stops.”

It certainly doesn’t. Azu’s next goal is to reach the 100m final at this year’s World Athletics Championships in Tokyo.

Back in Cardiff, with his family, faith and friends behind him, you wouldn’t bet against it.