Cambridge graduate, world silver medallist: The inspiring story of Amy Hunt, British 'academic badass and track goddess'

When Amy Hunt crossed the finish line with a confirmed silver medal in the women's 200m final at the Tokyo 2025 World Championships, the British star sprinter was in disbelief before bursting into celebration and skipping down the track elated at what she had just achieved.

The race, which saw the supreme dominance of USA's Melissa Jefferson-Wooden blast to victory in an incredible new Personal Best (PB) of 21.68s, thus completing the sprint double after claiming the 100m title days earlier in a championship record of 10.61s, Hunt edged out Jamaican sprint great Shericka Jackson for second place as she clocked 22.14s.

Her performance was the final icing on the cake for a consistent 2025 season, which saw her progress notably, arriving in Tokyo having set PBs over 60m, 100m, and 200m.

Hunt achieved a significant PB of 7.09s in the 60m during the indoor season. She also moved up to fourth on the British all-time 100m list and into the nation's fastest three in history over 200m when she booked her place in the world final, replacing Kathy Cook as the second-fastest British woman with a new best of 22.08s.

That performance strengthened her belief before the final, where she seized her moment.

"I just beat some amazing girls and I can't believe it," she said in an interview with BBC Sport.

"I am showing that you can do everything. Anything you set your mind to, you can be the best at everything."

Before Hunt's silver medal-winning global recognition in Tokyo, it took a six-year period of overcoming various obstacles to finally fulfil her potential.

In 2019, she set a girls' under-18 200m world record. One year later, Hunt was named as one of the 'faces to define the decade' by Vogue magazine.

Unfortunately, she couldn't live up to this as she ruptured her quadriceps in early 2022, which disrupted the start to her senior career. Not letting the setback affect the course of her dreams and life, she balanced her sporting ambitions with studying English at the University of Cambridge.

Hunt would go a total of six years before managing to run a 200m PB again, doing so at the London Diamond League in July this year, after being part of Great Britain's 4x100m relay quartet that took silver at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

"I am so proud of myself for choosing the harder path," the 23-year-old added. "I could have chosen an easier way out many times. I chose to go to Cambridge to get a degree - in part for myself to look back on and be proud of, but also to show other young sports people, other young girls that you don't have to give up education.

"You can be an academic badass and a track goddess."

Hunt's 200m silver was her first individual global podium, and with her injury woes behind her, the academic badass and track goddess will gun to prove that her moment of glory in Tokyo was no fluke and she's indeed here to stay as one of the faces to define the next decade in women's sprinting.