Seamus Derbyshire went viral after describing the men’s 4x400m squad as a ‘girl group’ at the World Championships last year, with the hurdler a surprise inclusion in the team.
Seamus Derbyshire has christened Great Britain’s much-changed relay team the ‘Sugababes’ and is backing them to deliver at the World Athletics Relays.
The 26-year-old went viral after describing the men’s 4x400m squad as a ‘girl group’ at the World Championships last year, with the hurdler a surprise inclusion in the team.
Now, he is back as a more permanent member at the World Athletics Relays as they prepare to secure places at September’s World Athletics Ultimate Championships and next year’s World Athletics Championships.
“The girl group is ever changing, we’re like the Sugababes,” the Stoke sprinter said. “We’re always gaining a new member and losing some but I think that shows how strong we are as a nation.
“We have so many different people that we can call on. We have definitely got some new boys, including myself, I still consider myself a new member to this team.
“We have also got some boys that are really experienced, we have got some of the guys from the Olympic medal-winning team, so it’s a really nice mix.”
Derbyshire revealed he was given just 45 minutes’ notice before the team bus left for the track ahead of the men’s 4x400m relay heat at the World Championships in Tokyo last September.
Alongside Lee Thompson, Toby Harries, and Charlie Dobson, all of whom are also in the squad in Botswana for this weekend’s World Relays, Derbyshire helped Great Britain to a season’s best time and a place in the final.
He did not run in the final, as the team finished sixth, but the experience was enough to make him rethink his debut World Championships appearance.
The Loughborough-based athlete, who works in a cafe in the town, had felt deflated after failing to get out of his heat in the men’s 400m hurdles.
He added: “The World Championships overall was a really great experience for me but I think it was also the first time I’d stepped into a major championship environment and felt some disappointment. I wasn’t too pleased with my individual event.
“But then at the back end, I got the surprise opportunity to run in the relay. I was really excited to have made a relay team because it had been an aim of mine for a while.
“It really allowed me to loop back and think of Tokyo as such a positive experience.
“It was a real reminder to me of how much I enjoy doing the sport and I really surprised myself at how well I picked myself up after the low to then put my best foot forward in the relay team.
“We ran well and it was so nice to get to experience being in a team environment at a championships, as I’d never necessarily had that before.
“Now getting to make the World Relays, as my first major relay competition, where I’m solely here as a relay runner, I don’t necessarily know if that would have happened without the experiences that happened at Tokyo last year.”
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