'One last Olympics' - Why Kilty chose to come back

Richard Kilty ran a season-best 60m indoor time of 6.61 seconds in Poland in February

As the 10-year anniversary of his shock World Indoor championships 60m gold medal approached, Richard Kilty was contentedly coaching for British Athletics, offering expert analysis as a BBC Sport pundit and thinking of "hanging up the spikes" after being "riddled" with injuries.

The last British sprinter to become a world champion, Middlesbrough's Kilty - known as the 'Teesside Tornado' - looked to be winding down a career which had also earned him European gold at 60m and 4x100m level.

Then his thinking changed.

"I just felt, in October and November, my body was OK and I still had the passion and drive inside me," Kilty told BBC Look North.

"I thought, 'no, the will to get up and train every morning and desire to win is still there.'

"I couldn't call it a day 10 months before the Olympics. I was going to put my foot down and give it my all for one last Olympics."

Kilty stopped receiving British Athletics funding in 2023 but has made a compelling case so far in his bold bid to compete in Paris in August, a month before turning 35.

A series of impressive indoor and outdoor performances preceded Kilty forming part of the men's 4x100m relay team, which secured Olympic qualification for Team GB after finishing second in their heat to France in the Bahamas at the start of May.

"We weren't going out to win - it was to safely qualify," said Kilty. "That was amazing to be part of.

"A week later, I came back and ran 100m in 10.16 seconds. That's the fastest I've run in eight years, which is incredible.

"I'm really excited and in a really good place. Whatever leg I'm put on, I know I'm going to deliver a really good performance."

There is a strong sense of unfinished business for Kilty because of the agony he suffered when he was denied a 4x100m silver medal at the 2020 Olympic Games after team-mate CJ Ujah failed a doping test.

"I don't have an Olympic medal any more; it's gone," Kilty said, having described himself as "devastated" at the time.

"My son is now seven and he understands what's happened. I had to explain to him that I had to hand the medal back.

"The motivation is certainly to win another Olympic medal and close the curtain on a great career.

"The whole of the North East has backed me massively. We've never really had any sprinters from there.

"I've always based myself there. The support has been tremendous and I'm ever so thankful."

It is a measure of how much Kilty's daring decision has paid off that he is also considering competing beyond 2024, although his commitment to coaching and media duties means that could prove another tough call.

"It's a strange one because I'm now starting to run really, really fast," said Kilty, who has fought back from Achilles tendon and shoulder surgeries during his career.

"There might be the temptation, if I have a really big year, to do one more year," he said.

"After the Olympics, I'll have an honest reflection and see where I want to go with my life. I'm just trying to live in the moment and really enjoy every moment."

Kilty said he was "heartbroken" after being stripped of an Olympic silver medal because of a failed doping test for CJ Ujah (far left)