Following a record-equalling World Athletics Championships, a buoyant British team considered driving back from Budapest after being stranded by flight cancellations.
The team won 10 medals to finish seventh in the medal table and match their best haul at a World Championships, first achieved in 1993.
The event finished on Sunday but due to the fallout caused by a data processing glitch, which has affected thousands of flights, several members of the GB squad remain in the Hungarian capital.
“We did a lot of searching. We were looking at driving back,” GB coach and former Olympic and World 4x400m medallist Martyn Rooney told BBC Radio 5 Live.
“We were looking at trains. Everything that we could. As soon as you started looking, they started disappearing really quickly.
“Myself, a couple of athletes, and a few coaches are going to be on a flight to Manchester on Thursday. Hopefully it takes off, hopefully we’re on it, and hopefully we’ll be back in the UK.”
Despite the delays, Rooney, 36, said that the team are in good spirits, and that the travel disruptions have not dampened the mood in the camp.
“We had a great championships,” he added.
“The guys are just riding that wave. There is a real good camaraderie between the guys and they are just bouncing around each other.”
Team GB’s standout performances in Budapest bode well for the Paris Olympics in 2024 and Rooney gave a special mention to Matthew Hudson-Smith, who broke a British and European record in the 400m at the Championships with a time of 44.31 seconds.
The 28-year-old’s training before Budapest was impacted by a foot injury that he said left him unable to walk.
Rooney described Hudson-Smith’s performance as “unbelievable”, adding: “To go to these championships with the summer that Matt’s had and actually still have the belief that he can go and deliver was incredible. It’s a record that stood for so long. Long may it continue.”
