‘This is a reset’: Reece Prescod roars into form after giving up gaming

When Reece Prescod turned up at the UK Athletics trials last year, he was 8kg overweight after bingeing on fast food and cake from Deliveroo while enjoying epic eight-hour Call of Duty sessions deep into the night. Despite the 26-year-old’s highly unorthodox preparations, he still made the Tokyo Olympics, only to false start in the 100m semi-finals. There was also a gnawing sense that Britain’s most talented male sprinter was letting his extraordinary talent seep away.

A year on, Prescod is a changed man. As he heads to Manchester again for the UK trials for next month’s world championships in Eugene, Oregon he has sold his PlayStation 5, swapped fast food for cooking at home with Prep Kitchen, and worked hard to turn belly flab into lean muscle.

The results have been startling. Last month, he ran a personal-best 9.93sec at the Golden Spike meeting in Ostrava, despite going into a notable headwind, which put him within a stride’s length of Linford Christie’s 29-year-old British record of 9.87. He believes there is a lot more in the tank. “I feel this is a reset,”he says. “A reset for Reece.”

The key to becoming fitter, happier and more productive, he says, was selling his computer. “It was quite a sad day. But with Call of Duty, I had to ask myself why I was playing it? Was I actually enjoying it or was I just upset about everything that was going on – and wanted to drown myself and just play games and eat food and stuff like that?

“I had to face a harsh reality with myself. I was using the PS5 to distract me.”

With commendable honesty, Prescod also admits that while he was talented enough to break 10 seconds for 100m four times and win European championship silver in 2018, he was not fit enough to win gold at a major