For many athletes the pressure of defending a title is overwhelming; it’s much easier to be the up-and-coming underdog than to have a target on your back. That isn’t the case for Jeremiah Azu, the reigning world indoor 60m champion. In fact, you get the sense he relishes it.
The 24-year-old is in fine form, setting a European leading time over 60m at the World Athletics Indoor Tour Silver meeting in Berlin earlier this month. That mark – 6.47 seconds – took him to third on the British all-time list and broke the Welsh record. He also won the 200m at British national championships with a personal best of 20.77 in February, sealing the sprint double, and believes that is a strong starting point to becoming a “complete sprinter” over 60m, 100m, and 200m.
Unsurprisingly, he is full of confidence ahead of the World Athletics Indoor Championships, which take place in Torun, Poland this weekend.
Speaking to The Independent and other media ahead of his title defence, he says: “I've got a real peace about this whole thing. I'm excited for it, I've always said I want more pressure on myself. I've always believed that I'm an athlete of that calibre. I think I'm right where I want to be.”
Is he going to retain his title? “Yeah, yeah,” he nods confidently, matter-of-factly. “I believe so.”
Far from his crown being a burden to bear, it has actually made him more relaxed. “People try and make out like it's pressure going in defending it, I think I've got the advantage of most of the competitors there [in that] I've actually gone and done it.”
Last year’s title in Nanjing, China was even more hard-earned as a series of injury niggles prevented him from reaching his best form throughout the year. This time around he has had an injury-free winter and has started his indoor season with a bang.
Rotterdam-born and of Ghanaian descent, he grew up in Cardiff and is a proud Welshman. Felling Dwain Chambers’ 6.42s British record isn’t a target in and of itself, but he believes it will come with the speed with which he is winning races - and possibly as soon as this Friday. He only ran a 6.4 twice last year, both in major finals, and says ominously, “I’m ahead of where I was then. I've seen more come off times when you put people in those environments.”
He has a busy summer ahead, with the European Championships in Birmingham and Commonwealth Games in Glasgow major goals. “It's going to be an amazing summer for a lot of British athletes,” he says. “We'll remember this year for the rest of our careers.”
Another target is the inaugural World Ultimate Athletics Championships, which is set to star Olympic and world champions alongside Diamond League winners and the top athletes based on rankings. It’s another attempt to modernise track and field, this time spearheaded by governing body World Athletics, as the sport grapples with a lack of engagement outside its marquee events. The high-profile Grand Slam Track series failed catastrophically; the sport’s governing body will hope this glitzy event doesn’t have the same fate.
Azu says: “I'm intrigued by it. I hope everyone else that's in the top goes so we can really have a good battle. In an off year [between Olympics and world championships], it'd be good to see the rest of the world still compete at that top level.
“Naturally the first time with anything you don't know how it's gonna go, but I think it'll be successful. I think we've done the sport the same way for the last like 50 years, so why not try and make it a bit more exciting.”
His life hasn’t significantly changed since becoming a world champion; he still finds time to sing in his local church band when he’s at home in Cardiff, and was there for a Mother’s Day service this weekend, only a couple of days before travelling to Poland.
There was no major celebration after Nanjing, with his focus firmly on becoming a father for the first time. His son Azaire was born shortly before he claimed the 2025 European indoor title. “It was more just to appreciate the life change that took place for me,” he explains. “[Fatherhood has] turned my life around completely, and I'm loving the person that it's made me.” Azaire was in the crowd for the world championships in Tokyo last September and will be watching on in Torun too – “but obviously he's got no idea what's going on,” Azu smiles.
Fatherhood, and his faith, are the pillars of Azu’s life. He credits his faith for the “discipline” he needs as an athlete: “I believe that I'm working on my talent which is a God-given talent which requires me to put my all into it,” he explains. “I think a wasted talent is one of the saddest things on earth.
“I've been very vocal about how much it's shaped me, and I think you can see it in the way I compete. I don't stand on the line with fear because there's bigger things than me, there's bigger things than track and field, and I think that all stems from my faith.”
That single-minded dedication is immediately apparent in our conversation. So too is just how unruffled he is by external forces. Asked who he expects his challengers to be in Poland, he says, “I don't know who's there, so I guess we'll find out”. He hasn’t seen anything on social media because he just posts “what I need to post”, then logs off: “I'm quite intentional with what I let in. There's a lot of junk on social media. It's not making me quicker, so I'm just like, why am I wasting time doing all this scrolling.”
He is polite about his competitors but otherwise uninterested. Do his rivals afford him more respect, now that he is a world champion? “For me that doesn't really matter, if you want to respect me or you don't. It's more just if we get along, not because of the accolades that we've got as athletes, but because we respect the work it takes to just be at this level.”
Will his form and confidence be daunting for his rivals? “It might be, it might not be. Myself, I wouldn't ever look at someone else and think, oh my gosh. The athletes that I'm racing, we're at the level now where I don't really think the mind games work. It's just who can hold their nerve when the final gun goes off.”
One crucial thing the world title has given him is an increased sense of self-belief, which could make the difference in a final expected to come down to the finest of fine margins.
He says: “You kind of prove to yourself that you know you can achieve what you believe, and that's something I've always prided myself on, not just thinking I can do something, actually going through and doing it. I've been very vocal about how important confidence is in athletics. This Friday is gonna be a new challenge, but I've always wanted to be in that position.”
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