Joel Masters on his big sprinting ambitions
The European U18 Championships (July 18-21) is a golden opportunity for the next generation to showcase their talents on a global international stage.
From the nervous anticipation beforehand to the adrenaline rush of competing against the best in your age group across the continent, the event provides junior athletes with a lifetime of memories.
It’s not just about the medals but also the invaluable championships experience gained, which can be a springboard for success in the long-term.
Since the inaugural European U18 Championships eight years ago, the likes of Keely Hodgkinson, Yaroslava Mahuchikh, Rhasidat Adeleke, Max Burgin and George Mills have all competed at it. Every single one of them will be at the Paris Olympics.
One athlete looking to follow in their footsteps is British sprinter Joel Masters, who has big ambitions of his own and is targeting a place at the LA 2028 Games.
The 16-year-old British sprinter is just at the beginning of his life in track and field but has already made significant waves.
Masters, who had trials at Coventry City and sacrificed a potential career as a winger in football to focus solely on sprinting, has had a fine season so far, clocking a stunning 6.73 over 60m back in February.
That run in Sheffield, which saw the teenager become UK U17 60m champion, broke Mark Lewis-Francis’ championships record from 1999.
It was also the quickest time in the 60m by a British U18 athlete since 2008 and put Masters joint-top of the 2024 standings for his age group in the distance.
Masters will now represent Great Britain over the 100m and medley relay at the upcoming European U18 Championships.
The teenager goes into Banská Bystrica as the joint-second quickest European U18 athlete in the 100m (10.40) this season, with only US-based compatriot Jake Odey-Jordan – who just runs in the 200m – having gone faster (10.38).
Unsurprisingly Masters is targeting two gold medals in both the individual and medley sprints relay and, under the guidance of coach Jon Humphries-Cuff, is confident of making yet more early splashes in the sport.
Ahead of the European U18s, AW caught up with the pair on everything from mindset and training to the current sprinting landscape and long-term ambitions.
Getting into track and field and the initial journey into the sport
Joel: It was all about football for me at first [a winger at semi-pro level]. Then two years ago, when I was in year nine at school, I competed in a district event and people were like ‘you’re quite fast’. From there I haven’t looked back since.
At the start I just took it [track] as a hobby and we were trying to juggle both athletics and football. I was playing and getting injured the next day and needed to prioritise that. So in the end, I quit football.
Prioritising athletics really hit home when I got my first international vest at the Loughborough International (May 19). I got the news on the way to training. My mum got the call, told me and I was crying in the back seat. I told Jon the news and we were both shocked to be selected for both the individual and relay in the U20 team.
Jon: I could see how fast he was when I first met him but at that point he was doing everything wrong technically. When he first came down to do a session [at Cheltenham], it was a case of fixing up the starts that he was struggling with.
He was initially just about getting out of the blocks and even then was still around the 11 second mark. Within a month he ran 10.7. This kid is pretty good! It’s all happened so quickly.
An insight into training
Jon: It varies a lot and we kind of do things differently to the norm. We took a bit of a risk if you like this year. It was going to work really well or we’d have to make adjustments down the road. So far, he’s progressed really well.
I always question ‘why are we doing something’, rather than just following the trend. I felt that during the indoor period we were ahead of everyone else, even though Joel’s only been with me for a year.
He’s learnt very quickly that we’re not going to be running fast right at the beginning. It takes time but it’s the patience and trust that’s important. We gain confidence from hitting numbers in training. I know when we’re ready as Joel is screaming with confidence at the walls. The times then follow.
Joel: The atmosphere is really good. Everyone supports each other. If someone is doing something wrong then they’ll point it out in a nice way. The most competitive element of the group is still between me and Jon. It’s like a family as we’re with each other almost every other day.
There’s this one session where we do 4x300ms and each one has to be faster. So the more fatigued you are, they have to be quicker. It’s an awful session but knowing the feeling you’ve done it is simply unmatchable. Once you’ve completed it, you think it’s easier than you thought. So no pain, no gain. The most important thing about sprinting is technique and the marginal gains that add up to a faster time.
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A record-breaking indoor season
Joel: I didn’t expect to run that fast [6.73] to be totally honest. I went into the race on a personal best of 6.81, which was quick, and then when I ran the 6.73 I thought ‘jeez that’s a decent time’.
At the start, when you’re down in the set position, you can’t really look or hear for anything else apart from the gun. If you get a good reaction then it’s about setting yourself up for the race. Then it’s about the drive phase and finishing strongly. You know if you’ve ran it well. Even in training. It’s not like I’m there [joint-fourth on the UK U18 all-time list] for no reason so to be amongst those names means that the potential is there to do big things.
Jon: As we got going ahead of the indoor season, every time we reached a new phase we got better. It got to a stage when we were peaking for Sheffield and Joel was that good in training that I thought we were going to break the British U17 record [Mark Lewis-Francis’ 6.69 from 1999].
Take nothing away from what Joel did but I still think he had a little bit more in the tank. Which is incredible really. Sprinting is all about feeling and it’s a fluid state. Joel can hit fast times at 60m and now it’s about continuing over that over the 100m.
Big goals for the European U18 Championships
Joel: I want to come home with two gold medals in both the 100m and the medley relay. I want it to be a fast time but what Jon has been drilling into me is that the time will follow the performance. If I perform well then I can run quickly. It would mean the world to take home two golds.
I’m trying to stay cool, calm and collected about it all but it’s my first major international competition. I think we’ll be fine [running through rounds]. In training we can run three rounds in the space of 30 minutes and all the times will be the same. I know the 100m is longer than some of the runs we do in training but I think we’ll be fine.
Jon: It’s exactly that [conserving energy and then peaking for the final]. We do all of that capacity work so we’re able to run fast at this moment in time in training, mirroring the championships. When we led up to Sheffield we did 40m from blocks with 15 minutes recovery and that’s exactly how it worked out. We ran hard until 40m and then the rest took care of itself. It’s about making sure they’re fully prepared for everything.
Joel: The main goal is to make the 2028 LA Olympics. When you look at the likes of Jeremiah [Azu] and Louie [Hinchliffe], it shows it’s not impossible as they’re 23 and 21 and are going to Paris. I’ll be 20 in 2028.
I watch videos of the likes of Usain Bolt and Noah Lyles. I take bits from what they do, recognise if I’m doing anything similar and you learn a lot. I look up to Jeremiah a lot and he’s already performing at one of the highest levels already in Britain.
Everything is evolving and getting a lot faster. When I was U15, and I’m aware it’s only a couple of years ago now, 11.2 got me fifth or sixth in the UK. Now you’d finish a lot lower. The times are quicker than a few years ago.
[On Netflix’s Sprint] The first day it came out, I watched it all in the space of about six hours or however long it took. The day after I then watched it all over again! I thought it was really good as they showed a lot of detail at the top level and what it takes to get there, especially for young people to get there. It was quite motivational and I felt like I was preparing to run in some of the races!
Jon: When I got back into athletics coaching, I was amazed in which how much things had changed. I almost had to completely change how I did training, with the ability of video nowadays and things like that.
We’re in an age where we have information so freely. All these youngsters coming through now are making what was amazing seem normal. That’s not taking anything away from the older generation but we’ve almost caught up with the Americans [at a junior level].
When you watch a football game you could draw 0-0 and it might be boring. With athletics, you know there will be a winner in the 100m and it’s explosive. I don’t think it’s been marketed as well as it can be and I think what Michael Johnson is trying to do with Grand Slam Track is a good move.
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