Richard Kilty facts for kids
Kilty at the 2014 IAAF World Indoor Championships
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| Nationality | British (English) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 2 September 1989 Middlesbrough, England |
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| Education | Northfield School and Sports College | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.84 m | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 82 kg | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Sport | Athletics | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Event(s) | Sprinting | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Club | Gateshead Harriers | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Achievements and titles | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal best(s) | 60 m: 6.49 (Sopot 2014) 100 m: 10.01 (tottenham 2016) |
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Medal record
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Richard Kilty (born 2 September 1989) is a British sprinter. He competes in both indoor and outdoor races, including the 60, 100, 150, and 200 metres. Richard is known for his amazing starts and is a specialist in the 60 metres and relay races.
He has won many big titles. He is a former World and double European Champion in the indoor 60 metres. He also won a silver medal at the World Athletics Championships. As part of a team, he became a European and Commonwealth champion in the 4 × 100 metre relay. Richard is one of the few British athletes to have won medals at almost every major championship.
Richard is a key member of the Great Britain relay team. He helped the team win a silver medal at the 2019 World Athletics Championships in 2019. He has won gold medals in the Commonwealth Games and the European Athletics Championships as a relay runner. He also won gold in the European and World Indoors as a 60-metre specialist. He has also won medals in the World Athletics World Relays.
At the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Richard and his teammates originally won a silver medal in the 4 × 100 metres relay. However, in February 2022, the team was disqualified. This happened because one of his teammates, CJ Ujah, was found to have broken anti-doping rules. Three years later, in 2024, Richard was part of the Great Britain team that won a bronze medal in the 4 × 100 metres relay at the Paris Olympics.
Richard was coached by Olympic champion Linford Christie for several years. In late 2013, he started training with American coach Rana Reider. Richard is the 2014 World, and 2015 and 2017 European Indoor 60 m champion. He also won many British national sprint titles when he was younger. This included being the UK junior 100 m champion and a two-time English Schools national 100 metres champion. He runs for Gateshead Harriers at the British club level.
People call him "The Teesside Tornado." His fastest times are 6.49 seconds for 60 m, 10.01 seconds for 100 m, and 20.34 seconds for 200 m.
When he was younger, in 2011, he was ranked first in Great Britain for the 200 m in the Under 23 age group. He ran it in 20.53 seconds. He won a silver medal at the 2011 European Athletics U23 Championships with the British 4 × 100 metres relay team. For most of 2011, he trained without a coach or funding. Despite this, he still achieved his best times in the 100 m and 200 m.
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Richard's Early Career
After winning the World indoor sprint title in 2014, Richard shared his family's struggles when he was young. In 2001, Richard broke the UK record for 60 m for 12-year-olds. Since then, he has competed for Great Britain at all youth levels. He said, "It's been a crazy journey. I actually won my first national title [in 2001] while living in a homeless hostel." At that time, he shared a small flat with his parents and four brothers and sisters. His father, Kevin Kilty, was a sprinter himself and later became a bodyguard. He has always been Richard's biggest supporter.
In July 2006, Richard won the English Schools Championships in the 100 metres. He was in the Intermediate age group (under 17) and ran it in 11.0 seconds. The championship was held in Gateshead. He won again in July 2007 at the Senior level (age 17–18), running 10.73 seconds. Richard was chosen as a captain for the GB team at the 2008 IAAF World Juniors. He reached the semi-finals in his favourite 200 metres event. Later, he moved to London in 2011 to train with coach Linford Christie.
Richard won the 60 m race at the 2009 "Athletics Ashes" England Vs Australia Great North City Games. He finished in 6.67 seconds.
Aiming for the London 2012 Olympics
In 2012, Richard improved his 60 m best time to 6.61 seconds. He had to stop his indoor season early because of a small hamstring injury. He felt he was in good shape to run even faster. Later that year, at a meet in the United States, Richard set new personal bests. He ran the 100 m in 10.23 seconds and the 200 m in 20.50 seconds. His 200 m time was good enough for the "A" qualifying standard for the London Olympics.
However, he couldn't improve these times later in the season. At the British National trials for the London Olympics, Richard only entered the 200 metres. He ran well in the heats but finished last in the finals. He said his hamstring muscle "pulled" during the race.
Team GB chose only two men for the 200 m, even though they could have sent three. Richard was not selected for the Olympic team. He was also left off the team for the European Championships. Officials said he wasn't included because of his recent hamstring injury.
Missing the 2012 London Olympics
Richard was very disappointed about not being chosen for the 2012 London Olympics. British Athletics officials also stopped his funding, which was his only income. Richard had met the qualifying time for the 200 metres. He believed he should have been the third runner for the UK, even with his hamstring problem. But the team selectors decided not to fill the third spot. This meant he missed the chance to compete at home in front of his family and friends.
After his funding was cut, his family supported him. Richard told the BBC, "I couldn't have become world champion without my parents, especially my dad." He explained that his family didn't have much money and his dad sacrificed jobs to fund his athletics. He hopes his story can inspire others from his hometown, Teesside. He wants them to know that no matter their background, they can achieve their dreams if they never give up.
A Tough Year in 2013
After his appeal to be included in the 2012 Olympics failed, Richard thought about quitting athletics. He felt "let down" by British Athletics. He had to rest because of his hamstring and struggled without any funding.
Richard took almost six months off from training in late 2012. He later said he was very close to leaving the sport and even thought about joining the army. Looking back at 2013, he told Sky Sports, "I considered quitting because I had no income." He couldn't even afford to get to the track to train.
In January 2013, he started training again. After four weeks, he entered his first race, winning the 60 metres at a local championship. However, his time was just outside the qualifying standard for the 2013 European Indoor Championships. He again struggled to improve his early season form. In spring 2013, he started lifting weights and training near his home, with his father helping him.
More Disappointment at the 2013 World Championships
The 2013 outdoor season brought a big improvement in the 200 m for Richard. He ran his personal best of 20.34 seconds in Switzerland in July 2013. A week later, at the British National Championships, Richard focused on the 200 m. He had the fastest start in the heats. But in the finals, he finished second.
When the team for the 2013 World Championships in Athletics in Moscow was chosen, Richard was left off the 200 m team. However, he was included as a relay team member. He ran the first part of the 4 × 100 m relay in the heats, helping the team qualify. But in the finals, another runner replaced him. The British team finished third but was later disqualified for an illegal baton handover.
Things Get Better in Late 2013
In October 2013, British Athletics gave Richard funding again. It was at a lower level, but it helped him greatly. This funding allowed him to move and train full-time with other top athletes. He joined the British Athletics High Performance Athletics Centre at Loughborough University. Richard said this move was important because there weren't enough elite sprinters to train with in his hometown. A training camp in South Africa also greatly improved his fitness and attitude.
Winning Big at the 2014 World Indoor Championships
At the 2014 British Indoor Championships, Richard ran his fastest 60 metres time of 6.58 seconds. In the finals, he ran 6.53 seconds, finishing third. Only the top two runners usually go to the World Indoor Championships. But Richard was added to Team GB when another runner got injured. This was his first chance to represent Team GB as an individual at a major senior competition.
Richard made the most of this opportunity. In the semi-finals at Sopot, Poland, he ran even faster, with a time of 6.52 seconds. Then, on 8 March 2014, he won the 15th World Indoor Athletics Championships 60 m indoor title. He set a new personal best of 6.49 seconds. In both the semi-final and final, he had the fastest reaction times at the start. The final race was one of the closest in history, with all eight runners finishing very close together.
Richard's Fast Starts
Richard is known for his incredibly fast reaction time at the start of races. This is measured by special pads in the starting blocks. He often reacts to the starting gun in less than 0.130 seconds. This is much faster than many other sprinters. Rules say that if a runner reacts faster than 0.10 seconds, it's a "false start," and they are disqualified.
Before his big win at Sopot, Richard had not broken the 10-second barrier in the 100 m or the 20-second barrier in the 200 m. These times are seen as necessary to be among the world's best sprinters. As of July 2016, his best outdoor times are 10.01 seconds for the 100 m and 20.34 seconds for the 200 m.
- As of June 2014, only five British men had run under 10 seconds in the 100 m: Linford Christie (9.87), Dwain Chambers (9.97), Jason Gardener (9.98), James Dasaolu (9.91), and Chijindu Ujah (9.96).
Personal Life
Richard Kilty is married to Dovilė Dzindzaletaitė, who is a triple jumper from Lithuania. They met at an athletics event in London. They have a child together.
See also
In Spanish: Richard Kilty para niños
