Category News

Great Britain’s Jeremiah Azu says 2025 will be the best year of his life after winning men’s 60m gold at the European Athletics Indoor Championships.

The 23-year-old ran a personal best of 6.49 seconds in Apeldoorn in the Netherlands to clinch his first individual international title.

And the Welsh sprinter thanked his partner – who gave birth to his son a week earlier – for giving him the chance to shine on the European stage.

“I’ve been saying to my family and friends that 2025 is going to be the best year of my life”, Azu told BBC Radio 5 Live.

“It’s great to get it started like this, and I’m excited for the future.

” I had my son a week ago and then I had to leave. A bit of an up and down, but it’s part of the story and the sport, we’ve got to be away.

Sweden’s Henrik Larsson took silver with a time of 6.52 seconds, with Azu’s GB team-mate Andrew Robertson third in Saturday night’s final in 6.55 seconds.

With just 0.06 seconds separating the top three, Azu admitted he had to endure a nervy wait after crossing the finish line to see if he had clinched victory.

“In those moments everything’s heightened, you’re super aware of everyone. The further away someone is from you, the more in front of you they look”, he added.

“The two guys to my right were going well, and I could see them so I made sure I dipped for everything I had.

” Watching it back, I did see from start to finish I was in the lead, but in those moments you can’t really tell, it feels like a completely different race.

“I got back to my room and I watched the race. Quite a surreal moment but I’m super happy with the outcome”.

Azu is now targeting selection for the World Athletics Indoor Championships, which take place between 21 and 23 March in Nanjing, China.

And Azu feels his time of sub-6.5 seconds in the Netherlands proves he can compete at the highest level this year.

“I think the selection meeting is tomorrow so until then we’re waiting, but fingers crossed”, he added.

“I’ve always believed I can run 6.4 so it’s nice to finally achieve it. The time speaks for itself, people see that and know I’m going to be competitive on the world stage this year”.

Robertson, 34, received a late call-up to the GB squad and said he “can’t really ask for anything better” after landing his first individual international medal.

“I was actually a reserve just shortly after the nationals. I had a feeling there was an opportunity that I was going to go, so I still trained and stayed sharp just in case”, he said.

“When I got the call on Monday that an athlete had withdrawn so there was an opportunity to go, I said ‘ absolutely, I’ll be there straight away’.

LIV Golf Hong Kong – final leaderboard

-18 S Garcia (Spa), -15 D Burmester (SA), -14 P Mickelson (US), -13 Lucas Herbert (Aus), -12 P Casey (Eng)

Selected others: -11 P McKibbin (NI), J Rahm (Spa), -9 G McDowell (NI), -7 T Hatton (Eng), -4 L Westwood (Eng), -2 I Poulter (Eng), + 1 D Johnson (US)

Sergio Garcia hopes winning the LIV Golf Hong Kong title will help persuade Europe captain Luke Donald to pick him for the 2025 Ryder Cup.

The Spaniard shot an impressive seven-under-par 63 to finish 18 under, sealing victory by three strokes from South Africa’s Dean Burmester.

Last November Garcia rejoined the DP World Tour for the 2025 season, and settled fines reportedly worth £1m imposed on him by the tour for his previous defection to play LIV events, to make himself eligible for Ryder Cup selection.

Garcia, 45, who is the Ryder Cup’s record points scorer, wants to match Lee Westwood and Sir Nick Faldo’s European record of 11 appearances at the biennial competition in New York later this year.

“We’ve been in touch, so I know that he]Donald] is keeping an eye]on me]. The only thing I can do is keep playing good golf”, Garcia said after his victory in Hong Kong.

“I just want to help the European team like I’ve tried to do every single time I’ve been a member of that team. Hopefully he will think I’m good enough for it”.

Garcia is outside the world’s top 400 as LIV events do not carry ranking points, so would have to be one of Donald’s six wildcard picks.

Donald said last year he had held talks with Garcia over the Ryder Cup, which will be held at Bethpage Black from 26-28 September.

Garcia has won 16 titles on the European tour, as well as 11 PGA Tour titles.

He joined the breakaway LIV Golf, a Saudi Arabia-backed series, in 2022 along with other big names from the sport.

Garcia’s victory at the Hong Kong Golf Club in Sheung Shui came after he started the final day tied at the top of the leaderboard with England’s Paul Casey and American Peter Uihlein.

The former Masters champion eagled the par-five third then sunk four straight birdies from the eighth hole to the 11th and could not be caught.

LIV Golf Hong Kong – final leaderboard

-18 S Garcia (Spa), -15 D Burmester (SA), -14 P Mickelson (US), -13 Lucas Herbert (Aus), -12 P Casey (Eng)

Selected others: -11 P McKibbin (NI), J Rahm (Spa), -9 G McDowell (NI), -7 T Hatton (Eng), -4 L Westwood (Eng), -2 I Poulter (Eng), + 1 D Johnson (US)

Sergio Garcia hopes winning the LIV Golf Hong Kong title will help persuade Europe captain Luke Donald to pick him for the 2025 Ryder Cup.

The Spaniard shot an impressive seven-under-par 63 to finish 18 under, sealing victory by three strokes from South Africa’s Dean Burmester.

Last November Garcia rejoined the DP World Tour for the 2025 season, and settled fines reportedly worth £1m imposed on him by the tour for his previous defection to play LIV events, to make himself eligible for Ryder Cup selection.

Garcia, 45, who is the Ryder Cup’s record points scorer, wants to match Lee Westwood and Sir Nick Faldo’s European record of 11 appearances at the biennial competition in New York later this year.

“We’ve been in touch, so I know that he]Donald] is keeping an eye]on me]. The only thing I can do is keep playing good golf”, Garcia said after his victory in Hong Kong.

“I just want to help the European team like I’ve tried to do every single time I’ve been a member of that team. Hopefully he will think I’m good enough for it”.

Garcia is outside the world’s top 400 as LIV events do not carry ranking points, so would have to be one of Donald’s six wildcard picks.

Donald said last year he had held talks with Garcia over the Ryder Cup, which will be held at Bethpage Black from 26-28 September.

Garcia has won 16 titles on the European tour, as well as 11 PGA Tour titles.

He joined the breakaway LIV Golf, a Saudi Arabia-backed series, in 2022 along with other big names from the sport.

Garcia’s victory at the Hong Kong Golf Club in Sheung Shui came after he started the final day tied at the top of the leaderboard with England’s Paul Casey and American Peter Uihlein.

The former Masters champion eagled the par-five third then sunk four straight birdies from the eighth hole to the 11th and could not be caught.

Huddersfield Town have sacked head coach Michael Duff following their fourth defeat in five League One matches.

Saturday’s 1-0 loss at Bristol Rovers proved to be Duff’s final match in charge as the Terriers dropped out of the play-off places with 10 games of the season to go.