Joy Eze-Getting Faster

Joy Eze – getting faster

Joy Eze is just 20 but she seems to have been around for a long time.  Go back to 2017, when she was just 13 but she was already running about 30 races in the year.  2025 has been a breakout year for her with her first GB senior vest. But more of that later.

It all started when Joy was still at primary (elementary) school and always running round the school playground.  Everything changed when she met Michael Donnelly and was invited to join his training group when she was just 10.   

In 2021 (aged 17) she was aiming or the European Under 18s Championship.  When it was cancelled due to COVID, but the Europeans U 20s were going ahead that became the goal – but it was a big ask. She had just broken 12 seconds for the first time but the 100m standard for the Europeans was 11.6.  At the Loughborough International she ran 11.65 and made the team but 11.65 was hardly a time to threaten the best.  She recalls the 2021 European U20s (in Tallinn, Estonia): “So then I just went to the competition full of excitement. I think I was probably 11th ranked or 13th rank maybe. But I just kept improving throughout the rounds (11.52, 11.48) and by the grace of God I came third in 11.44 That was my first international medal.

In 2022 she ran in the World Under 20s in Cali, Colombia and reached the semi-finals.  In 2023 the Europeans Under 20s were in Jerusalem. She had struggled with injuries in 2023 and went to Jerusalem according to her ranking (and her PR of 11.44) unlikely to reach the final.  But Joy is a fighter who has a habit of putting in a performance when it matters. She won her heat with a windy 11.28: she won her semi with a legal PR of 11.37 and then won the final with 11.39. She recalls: “I just went there with confidence knowing I didn’t have pressure, didn’t have a target on my back. And again I kept improving throughout the rounds. And yeah, it felt really good to win because it was like showing that I’m still relevant, that I’ve still got it and I’m still here to stay”.

This year she came second in the GB Indoor Champs in 7.25 behind Bianca Williams and was on her way to the European Indoors in Apeldoorn, Netherlands. She had run 7.19 to win the British Universities Indoor Championships (BUCS) so entered the GB Champs and trials with confidence: “I’m  a very a logical person, if I see that I’m top three, then in my mind I’m thinking I can at least finish top three. But again, it’s going out on the day and replicating the BUCS run. I wasn’t really focused on making the team in that competition.  Because I already had the qualifying time, I was more focused on medalling, but then obviously medalling means selection. I wasn’t thinking I need to make team. I was thinking medal. My aim is always to leave a championship with something where a PR or medal or both”.

Being at the senior European Indoors was an experience which was “very surreal because I’m so used to watching these championships, thinking about who’s gonna win the sprint and this time I was actually in the event. So it was nice to see that my hard work has paid off. At the start of the season I had the aim to go to Europeans, but could I run the qualifying time? Is this possible? I was not too sure, but let’s have a go anyways. And then when I actually ran the time, it was like my goal has actually become a reality”.

She ran 7.25 to make the team and then 7.20 and 7.25 to make the semi-final but not the final. Her assessment was mature and sensible: “At first I was disappointed – I’m very critical of myself. Because every athlete aims high, I wanted to make the final and I wanted to do well. But in hindsight it was a very good performance. I put together 2 of my fastest times ever, my third fastest time ever.  It took me time to reflect and be like, actually I did really well. If I had run that time this time last year, I would have been bouncing off all the walls! I was able to run and not have pressure on me as it was my first one  and therefore it allowed me to soak in the atmosphere and get used to being at that level but next time, I’ll be there to make my mark.

Joy gives a lot of credit to her coach, Michael Donnelly, with whom she has worked since she was 10. “He’s very consistent, very hard working. He’s very intentional. He likes things to be on point all the time, in every training session. He loves helping people. His philosophy is that if he can bridge the gap between an individual making progress and being successful in a certain area of life, he will try his hardest to do that. He’s a really good figurehead  in my life to look up to and to try and emulate in everything that I do. He’s a Christian like me. So that really shows that foundational belief in systems within his life that align with the Christian life that shows just how selfless he is and helpful with other people”.

As Joy moves on from the experience of her first senior championship, what, I wondered would constitute a good year for her? “A good 2025 would be to PR in the 100 and 200 and pick up medals where I can and just see where that takes me.  Making the European U23 team is a goal and if it takes me to a senior international vest again, then so be it. But my main focus is just bettering myself, bettering the little things that I need to improve in – my start, my pickup and my acceleration, just all the different phases of the race to put together perfect races when I need to”.

Joy referred to her coach’s Christian faith and that is something she shares with him

“I need to trust in God, trust that He will help me, that He didn’t bring me this far just to leave me here.  I have a story and that story is going to have ups and downs. It’s just reminding myself that I must do everything within my strength and then leave everything else to God and allow Him to take absolute control, to trust Him, in things that I don’t even understand myself”.

Joy has come a long way in a short time but the story is just beginning.