San Francisco Frontiers - Azu thrives on change to roar to world indoor 60m gold

Azu, who came to the Chinese city as recently-crowned European champion, was one of a number of British sprinters who set up training camp with the renowned Marco Airale in Italy.

But the call of his family, which included the recent birth of his son Azaire, proved too strong. Azu reassessed his future in sprinting and linked up once more with childhood coach Helen James back in Cardiff.

"I had a coaching change. I had a couple of injuries that I dealt with," said the 23-year-old pastor's son who had a Paris Olympics to forget, disqualified for a false start in the 100m heats.

"It's life. Everyone's going through stuff, so it's not like a sob story, it's just the reality of life, and you've just got to keep it moving."

Azu added: "When I moved back to Cardiff, I sat down with Helen and we planned some races. I had to pull out a few because I picked up an injury, a little quadriceps issue.

"We went to the British champs. Two days out we weren't even sure if we were going to go, but we went and everything stood in one piece.

"Then the plan was always to do the Europeans and worlds, but obviously it wasn't looking like that. So we were just going with the flow.

"It's kind of just been one thing after another, because four weeks ago it didn't even look like I was going to have an indoor season."

Azu let out a roar of raw delight as he ripped through the line in Nanjing in a personal best of 6.49 seconds, edging Australian Lachlan Kennedy into silver by a hundredth of a second.

"It was a burst of emotion. I feel like I've faced a lot during the last couple of months, had a lot of life changes, so to know that everything's still going the right way is important for me," he said.

"That scream was just like a relief, a scream of joy, a scream of happiness, a scream of emotion. Everything just came out at one point."

- 'On the floor crying' -

Azu said he was confident that his form could improve, with one eye on the Tokyo world championships in September.

"I'm back with Helen. She started me off in this sport and I'm sure we can go around the world and continue to be great," he said.

Winning world and European medals, however, could not come close to witnessing the birth of his son earlier this month, Azu insisted.

"There's no emotion that can compare to seeing your child be born. And I think that has benefitted me so much because it makes these moments so much easier to stand on that start line," he said.

"There's no fear, I'm really just enjoying it out there. And yeah, my little boy, I love him so much and it's crazy how much joy someone that you haven't known for that long can bring you. So I wouldn't say anything could top that, to be honest!"

Asked whether he'd let out a Nanjing-like scream in the hospital after the birth, Azu laughed: "No, I was probably on the floor crying!

"Now, I'll get back home, just be a dad for a bit, there's been so much going on. A reset, really, taking the life change that I've had. And yeah, that's honestly it. And then just get ready for summer.

"The work doesn't stop. Unfortunately, the calendar keeps going. The days keep going by. So I still need to train.

"I still need to be in the best shape possible so I can hopefully come back in the summer, be back in Asia, be back in Tokyo, and who knows what can happen."

P.Thomas--SFF