The sky is the limit for Britain’s new sub-10second man Louie Hinchliffe, according to his illustrious coach Carl Lewis.
The nine-time Olympic champion, who raced against Linford Christie in his pomp, said his young charge had the ability to go on to become Britain’s best over the 100metres.
Hinchliffe, who has been trained by Lewis at the University of Houston for the past nine months, booked his Olympic spot by winning the UK Athletics Championships at the weekend, which double up as the trials for the Games.
He will officially be named when the team is finalised on Friday.
“He still has work to do,” said Lewis. “Obviously, he’s only been here nine months but I think he can definitely be one of the best that Britain’s ever had. He’s run 9.95, he can run faster.
“It does take time. But he does have a plan, he does know what he’s doing, we’re going to keep it simple. He’s top six and run competitively with many of the guys ahead of him. The sky’s the limit and that’s the fun part.”
Hinchliffe failed to make it out of his heat at his last championships appearance and his rise has been so meteoric that he hasn’t yet been considered for Britain’s sprint relay set-up.
After beating the likes of Jeremiah Azu, CJ Ujah and Reece Prescod in Manchester at the weekend, Lewis said: “Britain’s got the new anchor leg.”
Lewis, who flew over from Houston to Manchester to watch Hinchliffe compete, told the Sheffield-born athlete on their first meeting that he was going to make the Olympic team albeit just for the relay.
Asked if he was confident at the time of his remark, Lewis said: “Well, absolutely not. Are you f***ing kidding me? But what I did believe was that he could run 10.0, that I could get him down from 10.1 to 10.1 and I thought that could be a relay spot.”
The Briton became the first European in history to win the NCAA 100m title earlier this year before picking up his first national title.
And Lewis said: “To say I thought he would win the NCAA and win here, I didn’t think that. But that doesn’t mean I’m surprised by the way he’s responded.
“My job is to say great we made it but it doesn’t end here you have to go to the next level. Now the goal is to make the final because anyone in the final can win, we know how it is now.”
