A jubilant British team, fresh off tying a record at the World Athletics Championships, considered driving back from Budapest when their flights were cancelled.
With 10 medals, the team tied its previous best finish at the World Championships, set in 1993, and placed seventh overall.
Although the competition concluded on Sunday, several members of the GB squad are still in the Hungarian city as a result of the aftermath created by a data processing issue that delayed thousands of flights.
“We looked around quite a bit. GB coach and Olympic and World 4x400m medalist Martyn Rooney said on BBC Radio 5 Live that the team was considering driving back.
Trains were the subject of our gaze. We put out 100% of our efforts. As soon as you began to look for them, they vanished.
On Thursday, a group of us (a few coaches, a few athletes, and myself) will be flying to Manchester. If it takes off and we’re on it, we’ll be back in the UK in no time.
Rooney, who is 36 years old, noted that the team’s spirits have remained high despite the travel delays.
“We had a great championships,” he said.
The dudes are just riding the wave right now. The guys get along great and seem to enjoy bouncing off one another.
Rooney praised the efforts of Team GB in Budapest, saying that they bode well for the 2024 Olympics in Paris. He singled out 400-meter runner Matthew Hudson-Smith, who set a new British and European record with his timing of 44.26 seconds at the Championships.
The 28-year-old says he was unable to train due to a foot issue that he sustained before Budapest.
To go to these championships with the summer that Matt’s had and actually still have the belief that he can go and deliver was remarkable,” Rooney said of Hudson-Smith’s performance. It was the longest-standing record. To God that it lasts forever.
