<\/p>\n
On a filthy summer\u2019s night in Glasgow, Amy Hunt defied almost everything the elements dared to throw at her. The track was so wet that her fingernails were submerged underwater as she lined up. Her start was so horrendous it could have carried an X-certificate. And she spent most of the women\u2019s 100m final sloshing through puddles. It was nearly enough.<\/p>\n
But while she hit top speed late in the race, it was too late to catch the New Zealander Zoe Hobbs, who ran the race of her life to take Commonwealth Games<\/a> gold in a personal best of 10.93sec.<\/p>\n For Hunt there was at least a silver lining in coming second in 10.98, with Australia\u2019s Torrie Lewis claiming bronze, after so much went wrong.<\/p>\n \u201cI had a really, really terrible first 60m,\u201d Hunt explained. \u201cI am a legitimate starter. But today I got it really badly wrong. I was able to dig myself out of the horrendous ditch that I dug in the first half of the race, but I think gold was definitely there for the taking.\u201d<\/p>\n Hunt made no excuses about the cold and the rain, but said: \u201cIt was pretty gross on the start line. My fingers were underwater, which is a bit novel. But you have to roll with the punches at champs, and bringing away a medal is the most important thing, no matter what happens.\u201d<\/p>\n Indeed it was so wet that several of her fake fingernails had come off \u2013 afterwards she pointed to them and her silver rings. \u201cI need to start wearing some gold jewellery,\u201d she joked, after adding another silver medal to the one she won over 200m at last year\u2019s world championships in Tokyo<\/a>.<\/p>\n And while nine Team England athletes have pulled out of these championships in the past week, Hunt also made an eloquent case for why it was important to show up.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s really important as a track athlete,\u201d she said. \u201cWe don\u2019t get much representation in terms of media. We\u2019re not NBA players. We\u2019re not on TV three times a week and everyone\u2019s seeing our faces.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd it\u2019s really important in terms of my journey and my legacy as an athlete,\u201d she said. \u201cI don\u2019t want to go on my Wikipedia page in 30 years\u2019 time and just see one or two medals. I want to see lists and lists of medals.\u201d<\/p>\n Earlier on a night where conditions could hardly have been more spiteful, Cameroon\u2019s Emmanuel Eseme defied Australia\u2019s Lachlan Kennedy in the final strides to take gold in the men\u2019s 100m.<\/p>\n