'Are you not entertained?' - Hunt enters stardom with iconic quadruple

Amy Hunt did not realise what she had done the first time she created headline-making history.

But Great Britain's new sprint sensation forewarned everyone exactly what was coming here.

Seven years ago, attending a meet in Germany primarily as part of a national junior relay squad, Hunt also decided to contest the 200m.

While Hunt, then 17, knew it was quick, she was soon informed that she had broken the under-18 women's world record.

In a time of 22.42 seconds, she had run faster than all of her childhood idols at that age.

It also bettered the British under-20 record, three months before its former holder Dina Asher-Smith won the world title.

The following year, Hunt was named as one of the 'faces to define the decade' by Vogue magazine.

Thrust into the spotlight, she was invited to an event alongside film and music stars. Hunt had travelled from her hometown of Newark, while actors such as Jacob Elordi arrived from Rome fashion week.

The world appeared to be at Hunt's feet.

Today, she knows as much as anyone that progress - especially in sport - is rarely linear.

The 24-year-old has overcome her share of setbacks to achieve a historic haul of four European gold medals in a sensational seven days on home soil.

She made no secret of her intention to become "iconic" with that unprecedented achievement, completed in Sunday's mixed 4x100m relay.

Back to full health, and her confidence in her ability fully restored, Hunt is now realising her full potential - and beginning to transcend the sport in the process.

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"Are you not entertained?!" Hunt roared at the TV camera after completing her individual sprint double in Birmingham.

She had settled in immediately at Alexander Stadium with 100m gold on the opening night. Round by round and medal by medal, it became her stage - and this her championships.

She is now among the frontrunners to be named BBC Sports Personality of the Year.

But there were periods since 2019 when Hunt doubted if such moments would be possible. It would be six years until she beat her 17-year-old self over 200m.

Hunt has never been afraid to choose the hard path. Undertaking an English Literature degree at Cambridge University, she was determined to prove - as she did in winning silver at last year's World Championships - that you can be "an academic badass and a track goddess".

Once the disruption caused by the pandemic subsided, she was ready to kick on in 2022 and lined up ready to test herself against Jamaican great Elaine Thompson-Herah at an indoor meeting in Birmingham.

Fate had other ideas. Hunt left that day unable to walk, and a scan would show she had fully ruptured a tendon in her quadriceps.

To ensure a full recovery was possible, surgery followed. Requiring assistance from her mum just to get in and out of the shower, she would watch that year's Commonwealth Games in Birmingham on crutches.

Faced with the decision of whether to continue her studies, or postpone her exams and restart the year completely following her rehabilitation, Hunt powered on to avoid her final year clashing with the Olympics.

Her reward for doing so was an Olympic 4x100m relay silver medal, before a breakthrough 2025 culminated in her first individual global medal in Tokyo.

That sustained progress over recent seasons has come since she made another significant decision, uprooting her life to the north Italian city of Padua to be coached by Marco Airale.

At almost 6ft tall, which makes it difficult to accelerate out of the blocks quickly, Hunt's major area for improvement remains her start.

That will remain their focus as attention turns to rivalling the sport's greatest stars on its biggest stages.

While her least favourite of the sprint disciplines, that continues to involve winters focused on shaving time off her 60m best, which she again lowered this season to 7.04 - the eighth-fastest worldwide this year.

Hunt's major strength, meanwhile, is undoubtedly her top-end speed. In the 200m in particular, she takes great confidence in knowing few can match her in the closing stages.

"To win a global 100m nowadays, you have to run around the 10.75-second mark. Amy knows that's what she has to work towards and improving her start will get her towards that," double world 110m hurdles champion Colin Jackson told BBC Sport.