John Regis (athlete)

Regis's most significant successes in individual events came when competing in the 200 metres. He was the first British athlete to run under 20 seconds for the distance, and still held the UK record for the event in 2023 before it was finally broken by Zharnel Hughes. He was an indoor world champion and an outdoor World Championship runner-up at the distance, and also finished sixth in the event at the 1992 Olympic Games. ^{[citation needed]}

Regis also achieved considerable success running in relay races, winning major international medals in both the 4 × 100 metres relay and the 4 × 400 metres relay. Most notably, he ran the third leg for the British 4 × 400 m relay team at the 1991 World Championships in Tokyo, helping them defeat the heavily favoured team from the United States and claim the gold medal. He was also a part of the British 4 × 400 m team in 1990 which set a European Championship record for the event. On 3 March 1991, Regis was a member of the British team which set the world indoor record for the rarely contested 4 × 200 metres with a time of 1:22.11, which has not yet been bettered. ^{[citation needed]}

Regis was a six-times British 200 metres AAA champion after winning the British AAA Championships title in 1986, 1987, 1990, 1992, 1995 and 1996^[1][2] and a four-times UK Athletics Championships winner in 1985, 1987, 1991 and 1993.

In 2000 Regis and fellow sprinter Marcus Adam were recruited for bobsleigh training with the British team. Adam went on to compete in the 2002 Winter Olympics.^[3]

Growing up, Regis competed for Lewisham at the London Youth Games.^[4] He was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 1994 Birthday Honours for services to athletics.^[5] In 1989, he opened an all-weather running track at Wellesley Recreation Ground (known as "the Well") in Great Yarmouth.

He was a cousin of former England international footballer Cyrille Regis.^[6]

Regis's 15-year-old nephew, Adam Regis, was stabbed to death on Saturday 17 March 2007 in Plaistow, Newham, east London.

• 100 metres – 10.07 sec (Split, Yugoslavia, 28 August 1990)
• 200 metres – 19.87 sec (Sestriere, Italy, 31 July 1994, former UK record)
• 400 metres – 45.48 sec (Walnut, California, US, 17 April 1993)