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Kilty still living the dream

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It has been the year which has changed Richard Kilty’s life and on Saturday night in Marrakech it could end just like it began - with a win. 

In world terms, it would be fair to say not that many people might have heard of the Great Britain sprinter before an indoor season where he transformed himself.

As he said in an interview this week with thenorthernecho.co.uk: 'If you’d said everything that was going to happen this year when I was battling my way through the winter, I would have laughed in your face and wouldn’t have believed you.'

But now he can believe - and the proof is in the four medals he has won this year.

Kilty, 24, from Teesside in the north east of England, will find himself in the heat of the drama of the final event this evening on the opening night of the IAAF Continental Cup when he runs for Europe in the 4x100m relay.

Infact, it is running for Britain as the quartet representing the continent are all his domestic teammates, with Kilty joined by Daniel Talbot, Harry Aikines-Aryeetey and James Ellington.

They were all part of the British squad which won gold at the European Athletics Championships in Zurich in August, just a few weeks after Kilty had been part of the English team that took silver at the Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh.

Another medal - this time bronze - came at the World Relays in the Bahamas in May but it was the events of March which really set him up.

Unleashing a brilliant burst of speed, Kilty won gold in the 60m at the World Indoor Championships in Sopot when few might have expected him to be standing at the top of the podium.

He talked at the time about how he thought about quitting as he had no income and had to train on the road because he could not afford to pay to run at his local track.

Yet when his name is announced in the Le Grand Stade tonight, he might just take a deep breath to digest once more what a year it has been.

As he added this week: 'To come away with four medals is amazing, and it’s completely changed things for me. There’s still much more that I want to do, and that makes me hungry going into next year.'



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