In Pictures: Zharnel Hughes and long-time girlfriend Shenel Francis announce pregnancy as the latter shows off baby bump

Zharnel Hughes and his long-time girlfriend Shenel Francis have announced that they are expecting their first child. The two have been together since 2018 but kept their relationship under wraps until 2022.

Notably, Shenel serves as a dental hygienist at Jam Smiles Dental and is also a social media influencer. She graduated from the University of Technology in Jamaica with a Bachelor's degree in Dental Hygiene in 2021.

Zharnel Hughes took to his Instagram to make the announcement. In the post, he shared multiple adorable pictures of himself and Shenel, including his girlfriend flaunting her baby bump.

One can catch a glimpse of the pictures here:

Hughes featured at the 2024 Paris Olympics in the men’s 100m and 4x100m events. In the 100m event, he qualified for the semifinals after clocking a 10.03s to finish third in Heat 8. However, he couldn’t advance to the final, coming sixth with a time of 10.01s in his semifinal heat.

The 29-year-old bounced back strongly in the men’s 4x100m relay as he played an instrumental role in Great Britain’s bronze medal triumph (37.61s) at the quadrennial games, behind Canada (37.50) and South Africa (37.57). With this, he earned his first Olympic medal after facing heartbreak at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, where Hughes lost his medal after teammate C.J. Ujah tested positive for two banned substances.

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Zharnel Hughes opens up on girlfriend buying journal that helped in training and tracking progress

Zharnel Hughes at the European Championships Munich 2022. (Photo by Amin Mohammad Jamali/Getty Images)

Zharnel Hughes once revealed how journaling helped him in his training and competitions, as well as tracking his progress and emotions. In an interview with British GQ magazine ahead of the 2023 World Athletics Championships, he spoke on this, adding:

“In 2018, my girlfriend bought me a journal, and I just started writing down my thoughts on training, what I have coming up and how I'm feeling going into competition. Before going to bed, I'll reflect on the day I had: what can I work on, what could be better going into the following day or week. Consistency is key to being successful, and writing things down helps me stay on top of things.”

At the World Championships in Budapest, Hughes had his most successful outing as he bagged his first individual medal with a bronze in the 100m, clocking a time of 9.88s to only finish behind Noah Lyles and Letsile Tebogo. He had previously bagged two medals at the World Championships, both in the short sprint relay events, including a silver in 2019 and a bronze in 2022.