Richard Kilty has ripped into his fellow sprinter Reece Prescod for talking “fucking bullshit” after he suggested that CJ Ujah should not be ostracised for a drug ban that cost Team GB a 4x100m silver medal from the Tokyo Games.
Kilty is still heartbroken after losing his medal after Ujah tested positive for two banned substances in one of the worst scandals in British Olympic history. And he was angry when asked about Prescod, a reserve for the relay in Japan, becoming the first British athlete to publicly forgive Ujah last week.
“Reece is not in a position to forgive anybody because he hasn’t lost a medal,” Kilty said. “It’s fucking bullshit what he said to be honest, it’s as simple as that. I’m not going to be politically correct. People say that the sport needs more honesty, but he hasn’t lost an Olympic medal. Would he say that if he lost an Olympic medal?”
The Guardian can reveal that Prescod was also voted off the British 4x100m squad after failing to turn up on Thursday for relay practice in Loughborough, and as a result was nowhere to be seen when the two GB teams raced in Birmingham on Saturday.
However Kilty insisted the relay team were determined to make up for what had happened by winning gold medals in the world championships, Commonwealth Games and European championships later this summer.
“I don’t like to run angry,” he said. “We run better when we’re happy and right now it’s a very happy squad. But everybody knows how I feel. Anybody who has lost an Olympic medal, it’s heartbreaking. People can’t understand that until they’ve gone through it themselves.
“However it’s inspired me to press on for the next couple of years. We can go out there and win golds.”
Meanwhile the speed of the new track at the Alexander Stadium, which will host the Commonwealth Games, has been questioned by some of the world’s top athletes.
Speaking after finishing second in the 100m in the Diamond League meeting in a time of 10.18sec, the former world champion Yohan Blake said: “I don’t know whether it is the cold or what, but I know I am in great shape and the track was not quick. The breeze was positive. But I didn’t feel the bounce that I normally get.
Sign up to The Recap, our weekly email of editors’ picks.
“I have been running very fast in training and that wasn’t reflected out there and I should have at least run 10.0. Hopefully it was just because of the weather. I am the second-fastest man in history. I am faster than aliens so I am looking forward to coming back.”
It is understood that the track, which is made by the US company Beynon, is not its top-of-the-line “Olympic” standard but the next model down.
However the Canadian Olympic 200m champion Andre de Grasse said he was optimistic it would be quicker for the Commonwealth Games. “It was a little bit cold so it was hard to run fast,” he said. “But in August the weather should be good, so hopefully it will be faster.”