If by wide strafes you mean just strafing to change directions in the air, I can assure that performing such a move is almost impossible due to the loss of air control when a certain speed is reached. However, if there was a way to remove that cap, it would just be like regular strafing, moving the mouse to the left while pressing "a" and right while pressing "d".
First of all, no, that is not a "wide strafe" that is just a regular strafe (roughly explained above), I would consider a wide strafe from 180 or similar, which are possible in other source games, for instance Half Life. Second of all, no, you do not need a wide strafe to start and afh nor an ash, but it does give you a bigger window to get the hop, since it gives you more speed. Lastly, I would recommend joining our discord server for inquiries like this one since we have easier access and most questions will probably be answered in the span of a few minutes.
Starting today, runs that require video proof (top 25) and runs beyond that where video is the only form of proof, now require audio, as recording audio for only the game is now a native OBS feature.