Forget, for a moment, notions of Britishness. Forget that Emma Raducanu might be the first British this, or the only British that. This is bigger than any falsely reflected glory, any Lilliputian concepts of identity.
What Emma Raducanu achieved in New York is unprecedented, anywhere. Unprecedented within these shores, unprecedented beyond. Unprecedented across all countries, all continents, any origin story you can name. She has no predecessor and, one imagines, no successor for the foreseeable future, too.
She could be no less surprising had she jumped out of the crowd, kicked off a set of high heels and won the Olympic 100 metres, running barefoot.