Azu 'looking forward' after 'bittersweet' Olympics

Wales' fastest man, Jeremiah Azu, says he is excited about returning to his old coach in Cardiff after a "bittersweet" experience at the Paris Olympics.

The Welsh record holder in the men's 100m has left coach Marco Airale and his training base in the Italian city of Padova, where he had been since 2022.

Under Airale, Azu reached his first Olympics in Paris last summer, where he recovered from individual disqualification to help Great Britain to relay bronze.

But Azu, 23, has opted to return to the guidance of coach Helen James, who encouraged him to take up athletics as a teenager.

"She has a way with her words that makes my mind start to believe I can do these things," Azu told BBC Sport Wales.

"Every time I came back, she would always fill me with confidence and I feel like that is something I didn't have over the last couple of years.

"So yes, I'm just taking it back to the beginning."

Azu previously trained under James from 2017 to 2022.

In the duo's final season together, Azu won the UK men's 100m title - becoming the first Welshman to do so in more than half a century.

He then finished fifth at the Commonwealth Games and won European bronze.

Afterwards he moved to Italy to train under a new coach in a new environment.

He went on to become the fastest Welshman of all time over 100 metres, ran sub-10 seconds for the first time and was last summer selected for his first Olympics.

A false start saw him disqualified from his 100m heat, but he came back to win bronze in the men's 4x100m relay.

"It's a bittersweet one," he said.

"I look at the medal and I see joy. I also see pain and thinking what could have been.

"I wouldn't change it. It's part of the journey. I can only look forward now."

After welcoming Azu back into her training group, James says they are aiming to pick holes in every run he does so they can fine tune every little detail.

They are already plotting out a route to an Olympic gold medal at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

But their focus will be as much on his mentality as his technique.

"I think it's 90% mental," Azu says.

"You can train as hard as you want but, at the end of the day, everyone is talented. So when you get to that start line it's who believes they can do it.

"Working on that mental side is what I believe is going to give me the edge in the coming years."

Azu began 2025 with 60m victory in Sunday's Welsh Indoor Championships, and asked what his goals are for the coming year, his answer is short and sweet - to reach the men's 100m final at the World Championships in September and consistently run under 10 seconds.

Back home in Cardiff, he feels he is in the perfect place to achieve those goals.