Team GB legend Darren Campbell excited for main sporting summer time

Team GB sprinting legend Darren Campbell believes Great Britain’s athletes are on the right track in what is set to be a big year for their sport in this country.

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Team GB sprinting legend Darren Campbell believes Great Britain’s athletes are on the right track in what is set to be a big year for their sport in this country. Not one but two major championships will take place in the UK during the summer, with the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow coming before the European Athletics Championships occur in Birmingham.

Campbell knows about peaking at the right time, as he was part of the 4x100m relay team who sensationally won gold, ahead of the United States, at the 2004 Olympics in Athens while he also claimed silver in the 200m in Sydney four years prior. He was buoyed by Keely Hodgkinson breaking the long-standing indoor 800m world record at an event in Lievin, France, in February and believes competing on home tracks will inspire the British team.

Campbell said: “Obviously, in my current position, I’m at the front end of it and the preparations are going well in regards to the team. I can’t say too much about individual athletes, but we’re all excited to have a home Commonwealth Games off the back of a successful Paris Olympics. It’s an opportunity to build and grow.

“I know what it’s like to compete in a home Games (Campbell competed in Manchester in 2002) and I know it’s one of those special moments that you’ll never forget in your career. I know off the back of the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham that the crowd is going to be immense for the Euros, so I’m going to be excited to be there. The British crowds always give everything, and I can guarantee the athletes themselves will give everything also.”

Campbell is UK Athletics’ head of sprints and relays and believes Great Britain has a strong group of sprinters who could be competing for medals in the months ahead. With the likes of Dina Asher-Smith, Amy Hunt and Daryl Neita on the women’s side and Zharnel Hughes, Matt Hudson-Smith and Charlie Dobson on the men’s, British athletics fans will have plenty of hopes to cheer on.

Campbell said: “We’ve got so much talent, the future athletes coming through as well, it’s an exciting time for British athletics and as an organisation. We’ve probably got one of the best generations of athletes when it comes to depth, with possibilities of winning medals, but no medals are just given out. Sometimes they make it look easy and sometimes it’s extremely difficult, but you just want to see people be successful. We’re all excited and I’ll try and play my part.”

Campbell was speaking at the 2026 Youth Sport Trust Awards which spotlighted the dedicated and innovative approaches from schools, trusts, and individuals who have used the power of sport to make a positive impact on children’s health and wellbeing throughout the year. Campbell said: “To recognise people that are doing the work day in, day out with young people, trying to inspire them, trying to change their lives is just important.

“It’s a night where they get to celebrate, shed a few tears, give our rounds of applause and see some of the fruits of the work that they’ve done. Sometimes you only need one person to believe in you, and for me it was my PE teacher, when other teachers had decided how my life was going to be. I still had hopes and dreams and he was one of the few people who believed in that – you don’t forget people like that.”

The Youth Sport Trust Annual Conference Awards, sponsored by Sports Directory and Outdoor Play and Learning, celebrate schools, settings, trusts, and individuals who, working alongside Youth Sport Trust, have made a real and impactful change to the lives of young people. Find out how the Youth Sport Trust is building brighter futures for children through sport and play: https://www.youthsporttrust.org/