Rising star Henrich daring to dream of LA Olympics

Just 12 months ago, 400-metre runner Charlotte Henrich was celebrating European Under-20 gold in Finland.

Fast forward a year and Henrich is no longer a promising young talent knocking on the door of senior athletics, but an athlete making her mark on the biggest tracks.

Ever since winning bronze with Great Britain in her first senior appearance at the World Athletics Relays in May, she has added accolades in her debut season.

The 20-year-old has become a Welsh record holder, a European Championship and Ultimate Championship silver medallist, and a Commonwealth Games finalist.

And now, Henrich has her sights firmly set on the biggest stage of all - the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

"I really want to go," Henrich told BBC Sport. "Even at Paris 2024, I never watched that event thinking that I could be there.

"I don't think I ever let myself dream that I could be there, and now it feels like a real possibility."

Born in France and raised in Kent after moving to England aged five, Henrich qualifies to represent Wales through her family, who hail from Carmarthen.

Her heritage allowed her to compete for Wales at the Commonwealth Games, where she finished fourth this summer, narrowly missing out on a medal.

Family support has been central to her success so far. By her own admission, she has grappled with self-doubt throughout her young career.

"In school I was very behind and I felt like everyone was a lot better than me," she admitted.

"Every single day I used to come home and say to my dad, 'I am rubbish at everything'.

"Now it's really nice to tell myself that I'm definitely not rubbish at everything."

After winning 400m gold at the 2022 European Under-18 Championships, Henrich felt she placed a "lot of unnecessary pressure" on herself.

"When you do well in your junior career, it can have a bit of a negative effect on your performance because you are so desperate to keep proving," she said.

"After under-18s, everyone was like 'you're under-18 European Champ!', and I didn't want to hear it. I didn't feel that I deserved it."

And though Henrich can now look back on those victories with pride, there are still moments when the youngster feels uneasy.

"It feels a bit abnormal and a bit weird," she said. "It's like, is that me? It feels like the things I've achieved, it's not me who has done it.

"It's just like this person's done this and I'm just here.

"I was talking to Amy [Hunt] at the end of Europeans in the lobby, and I was like, 'you're so cool, you've got four gold medals [at the Commonwealth Games]'."

Hunt's response has stuck with her.

"She told me that I am on this team as well. It was nice that I wasn't just a spectator."

You would be forgiven for thinking that Henrich's debut season on the senior stage has extinguished any remaining doubt about her ability on the track.

And with so many achievements packed into one season, it is no surprise that she is still trying to process it herself.

It was her impressive anchor leg that earned Great Britain silver in the mixed 4x400 relay at September's Ultimate Championship in Budapest.

That eye-catching result closed out a season in which Henrich shaved over a second off her 400m personal best and proved to herself that she belongs among the best.

"I'm quite proud of the way I manoeuvred it," she said of her silver medal-winning leg in Hungary.

"I was running and I was thinking that I could overtake her. I just had to stay strong.

"When you're on the track, you just kind of go into autopilot. That bit isn't stressful."

Henrich's nod of self-confidence began at the British Championships in June, where she set a Welsh 400m record for the first time.

Having started the year targeting a sub-51 second 400m sprint, Henrich clocked 50.58 to finish third in Birmingham.

In doing so, she beat Michelle Scutt's 44-year record, only to break it again less than a month later by running 0.13 seconds faster at the Diamond League event in London.

"It's been quite an unexpected year," Henrich admitted. "I've definitely gone above and beyond what I thought I could do.

"I knew that this year was going to be hard because the jump was always going to be big."

She said she really believed in herself after the British Championships.

"I ran a big PB, and I was like, 'this is great'," she added.

"I know that I'm still young and there are things that I'll hopefully improve. I'm working really well with my coach.

"This year has been very much me saying, 'let's see what we can do,' and now I've got the experience."

Now Henrich hopes for a "really exciting" future, with her focus firmly on the Los Angeles Olympics, where Wales' rising sprinting star is even allowing herself the chance to dream.

"A lot of people are too scared to dream because if it doesn't happen, it's going to be a big disappointment," she said.

"But now it's cool that I can say I want to be in LA. If I'm not in LA, then I'm going to be so disappointed.

"I've been thinking about LA a lot, and I think I will be thinking about LA for the next two years.

"It would mean a lot, especially because I've been dreaming about this since I was a kid."