It was an unexpected request.
Relay team-mates might ask for a snappier handover or a slicker start, maybe even a pair of spikes to borrow at a stretch.
But, when Alex Haydock-Wilson’s phone pinged this summer, Rio Mitcham wanted to borrow something else entirely. His name.
The pair went way back. They studied together. They raced against each other. They hung out as friends. However, Rio thought he had better check. After all, it could backfire on them both.
Haydock-Wilson’s phone lit up with a line of verse. “I’m with the boys at Euro Champs/ I told Haydock please if we get this medal/Can we share the champs.”
At this stage they hadn’t even set off for Munich but Mitcham, 23, was already polishing up a track about August’s European Championships.
His lyrics also weren’t shy about Great Britain’s chances with another line running “I’m a medalling kid like it’s Scooby Doo”.
Fortunately for Mitcham, Haydock-Wilson gave the OK and, just as fortunately for both, their on-track performances backed up the track.
Together they won 4x400m gold, while Haydock-Wilson also took bronze in the individual event.
“It was extremely confident,” Mitcham told BBC Sport. “Looking back I don’t really know what mindset I was in!
“I sent it to Alex and he said go for it. He was the biggest supporter of the song. Luckily we got the gold medal. Maybe the song manifested the real-life situation.
“I played it for all the boys while we were out there. They all seemed to be vibing with it and put their support behind it. We are all young and upcoming, even Matt Hudson-Smith, who has been around a while, is still on the rise.”
Mitcham’s audience is also on the rise. This autumn it went from a relay squad of six to a prime-time television audience of 3.3m as, alongside his older brother Alex, he performed on ITV’s The Voice, attempting to win round celebrity judges in a blind audition.
“On the stage of The Voice, I never felt more nervous in my life,” he said.
“I have been doing athletics so long, it is such a familiar feeling on the start line. I am not as used to being on the stage.”
American producer and performer will.i.am swivelled his chair to take the brothers – who perform as Smokiecoco – through to the next round.
Unlike in Munich, Rio didn’t end up on the podium. Smokiecoco were whittled out a fortnight later.
“We would have liked to progress through, but even being part of the experience, learning from the coaches and meeting the other talent, was great,” he said.
“A lot of people on the show advised us that they liked our energy and told us to keep being ourselves.
“Now the fun starts.”
The fun is also business for the brothers.
Alex works as a data analyst for a major record label. A maths graduate, he monitors how promotion strategies affect streaming numbers and sees how audiences can unite around an act’s personality.
Both brothers believe athletics could learn something.
“[American 200m world champion] Noah Lyles has made a few tracks, [British long jumper] Jazmin Sawyers went on The Voice herself a few years back and gave me some advice,” said Rio.
“The performances are so crazy and so impressive, but it is important athletes show there is a person, not just a machine, behind it.”
“It’s really great for athletics in the UK if there are people with strong personalities coming through,” added Alex.
“You see Dina Asher-Smith in the new Stormzy video. People like that are fantastic athletes who are part of pop culture outside their sport.”
Rio’s aim is to storm the scene on two fronts, rapping and running at the highest level.
“Athletics takes a lot of dedication and motivation, but I turn up every day, get the work done and then my mind is free,” he said.
“Music is my passion. That makes it easier. It doesn’t feel like work. Even if I am tired, I will hear a beat playing and my head will start nodding.
“I can picture how in other people’s minds it might seem weird, but to me it feels natural.
“I have this dream of crossing the line and then saying in my interview ‘hey Alex drop the track’ and he would release the track. That would be my perfect moment.”
A star simultaneously topping the charts and timing sheets would be perfect for his sport too.
