Eugene Amo-Dadzie (born 22 June 1992) is a British

athlete An athlete (also sportsman or sportswoman) is a person who competes in one or more sports that involve physical strength, speed, or endurance. Athletes may be professionals or amateurs. Most professional athletes have particularly well-devel ...

who competes as a sprinter. He was a bronze medalist over 60 metres at the

2023 British Indoor Athletics Championships The 2023 British Indoor Athletics Championships were the national indoor track and field competition for British athletes, held on 18 and 19 February 2023 at Arena Birmingham. The competition served as a qualification event for the 2023 European ...

and the

2023 British Athletics Championships The 2023 British Athletics Championships was the national championships in outdoor track and field for athletes in the United Kingdom, which also served as a qualifying event for the 2023 World Athletics Championships. On 28 July, 51 British at ...

Career

Late starter

Amo-Dadzie didn’t start competing until he was twenty-six years-old, by which time he was a qualified chartered accountant. He competed at the British Athletics Championships for the first time in

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

, finishing fifth in his semi-final. A Woodford Green athlete, Amo-Dadzie ran a new personal best time over

100m The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been conteste ...

of 10.20 seconds to finish second at the

2021 British Athletics Championships The 2021 British Athletics Championships was the national championships in outdoor track and field for athletes in the United Kingdom, which also served as the main qualifying event for athletics competitors for the delayed 2020 Summer Olympics ...

in Bedford. In August 2022 he lowered his 100m personal best to 10.05 in Stratford. This placed him third over 100m by fastest time by UK athletes in 2022.

First British selection

In February 2023 he finished third behind

Reece Prescod Reece Prescod (born 29 February 1996) is a British sprinter. He won the silver medal in the 100 metres at the 2018 European Championships and bronze for the 4 × 100 m relay at the 2022 World Championships. Prescod is a two-time British ...

and

Jeremiah Azu Jeremiah Azu (born 15 May 2001) is a Welsh sprinter. Career He competed in the 2022 British Athletics Championships where he won the 100 metres in a wind-assisted time of 9.90 seconds. He has won multiple championships in the junior athletics ...

at the British Indoor Athletics Championships 60m race, held in Birmingham. They were subsequently selected for the Great Britain squad for the

2023 European Athletics Indoor Championships The 2023 European Athletics Indoor Championships will be held from 2 to 5 March 2023 at the Ataköy Athletics Arena in Istanbul, Turkey, the first time the event has taken place in this country although the venue did stage the 2012 IAAF World Indo ...

held at the Ataköy Athletics Arena in Istanbul. He qualified for the semi-finals of the

60m 60 metres, or 60-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field. It is a championship event for indoor championships, normally dominated by the best outdoor 100 metres runners. At outdoor venues it is a rare distance, at least for senior ath ...

on his major championships debut.

Breaking the ten-second barrier

On 16 June 2023 he clocked 9.93 seconds for the 100m at a meeting in

Graz Graz (; sl, Gradec) is the capital city of the Austrian state of Styria and second-largest city in Austria after Vienna. As of 1 January 2021, it had a population of 331,562 (294,236 of whom had principal-residence status). In 2018, the popul ...

, Austria to break the

10-second barrier The 10-second barrier is the physical and psychological barrier of completing the 100 metres sprint in under ten seconds. The achievement is traditionally regarded as the hallmark of a world-class male sprinter. Its significance has become less i ...

for the first time. In July 2023, competing at the British Championships in Manchester, he reached the final in the 100m and finished third overall. He was chosen to represent Great Britain at the

2023 World Athletics Championships The 2023 World Athletics Championships ( hu, 2023-as atlétikai világbajnokság), the nineteenth edition of the World Athletics Championships, are scheduled to be held from 19 August to 27 August 2023 in Budapest, Hungary. The city of Budapes ...

in Budapest in August 2023, to make his world championship debut at the age of 31 He reached the semi-finals of the 100 metres. Later that year he was granted UK Sport’s national lottery funded world class programme for the first time.

Personal life

From Rainham, Amo-Dadzie said he felt a responsibility to speak out to encourage BAME people to consider taking the

covid-19 vaccine A COVID19 vaccine is a vaccine intended to provide acquired immunity against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2), the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 ( COVID19). Prior to the COVID19 pandemic, an e ...

in order to quell concerns they may have. Eugene is married with children. His parents are of Ghanaian heritage and his mother worked as a social carer and his father worked on the London Underground. He has two sisters. After university he began working in accounting; as of 2023 he was working as a senior accountant for a subsidiary of Berkeley Group, St George plc.

References

External links

* British male sprinters Sportspeople from the London Borough of Havering People from Rainham, London 1992 births English people of Ghanaian descent Living people British accountants {{UK-athletics-bio-stub