Tracksuit on as he luxuriates in a quiet Manchester airport lounge, Richard Kilty is relishing being back in his element. It has been four years since he last had the pleasure of waiting for budget airlines to compete in obscure parts of eastern Europe during the winter – a time occupied by injury, stints on the BBC athletics sofa, an Olympic medal won but snatched away, and the first steps into what he hopes will be a future coaching career. Now, belatedly, he has returned to his beloved indoor stage for the start of a farewell journey.
Kilty, the last British man to win a global sprint title – upsetting extraordinary 66-1 odds to claim world 60m gold a decade ago next month – has decided he has one more year in his battered legs. All being well, he will close his running career by avenging that heartbreaking Olympic 4x100m relay loss – caused by teammate CJ Ujah’s doping misdemeanour – in Paris this summer. But that all depends on his current graft.
