Dina Asher-Smith: Ready for anything
The illustrious individual sprint double will be the target for Britain's fastest woman ever at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics in 2021.
Athletics
Can anyone or anything stop Great Britain’s Dina Asher-Smith?
The elements certainly made an attempt to slow the 25-year-old sprinter down at the Diamond League athletics Grand Prix in Gateshead at the end of May.
The blustering headwind of -3.1m/s was no match for a mentally resilient Asher-Smith who recently shared with Olympics.com, that she learnt how to avoid outside factors distracting her, saying: “I am very good at minimising that.”
The conditions made the reigning 200m world champion's victory in the 100m event all the more impressive, not least because she left reigning 100m Olympic champion Elaine Thompson-Herah, two-time 100m Olympic champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, and emerging American talent Sha'Carri Richardson in her wake as she clinched first place.
Fraser-Pryce more recently tried to return the favour and divert attention away from the Briton after she recorded the second fastest 100m time by a woman, ever in 10.63s earlier this month (8 June). Can Asher-Smith respond at the British Athletics Championships from Friday 25th to Sunday 27th June?
The fact of the matter is that they are all trying, and why wouldn't they be?
Even with the Jamaican's new blistering time, Asher-Smith's dominant victory in the most complete field so far this year has demonstrated to even her fiercest of rivals that ahead of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, in 2021, she is a serious challenger.
“Oh sweet, I won!” the four-time European champion exclaimed in a disbelief that teetered on delight, when she looked back at the results board through the dribbling rain back in Gateshead, and realised the magnitude of her achievement.
It was the perfect British win in British weather.
Spotlight on Dina
There is perhaps another reason why the GB record holder was surprised with her win over the stacked field in the North East of England.
The last time Asher-Smith stunned her rivals was at the 2019 World Athletics Championships in Doha, Qatar, when she produced her record-breaking win in the 200m.
It was in that moment the spotlight truly fell on the young Briton.
The gold medal performance made her the first British woman ever to win a global sprint title.
When Asher-Smith went on to add silver medals in both the 100m and the 4x100m relay to her collection, it was clear that the sprinter was making rapid gains.
The speed of that progress is best considered in the light of her last Olympic outing in Rio 2016.
The then-20-year-old managed fifth in the 200m. The only medal she walked away with was a bronze in the 4x100m relay alongside teammates Asha Philip, Desiree Henry and Daryll Neita.
A change of pace for Asher-Smith
The global Covid-19 pandemic, however, halted the momentum that the London native had generated. The postponement of the Games resulted in a quiet 2020 for Asher-Smith, who was only able to compete sporadically in minor events.
But there were also some positives to be found in the forced break.
With the great strides being made in her development, she felt there had never been the time to digest its consequences.
“Even though everything in my life was progressive, it was changing quickly every single year. It was nice to step back and take a breath because it was a lot," she explained to The Argus.
The pause also meant that Asher-Smith’s coach was able to spend more time honing his charge’s craft.
John Blackie, who was awarded Coach of the Year in 2019 by BBC Sport, has worked with Asher-Smith since she was 8 years old.
Seeing even then her potential to win global titles, Blackie devised a gruelling strength programme for her during the long winter break, something she now attributes to her current good form.
“I’m much, much stronger physically than I was in 2019,” the Team GB athlete continued.
“I’ve been doing things my coach has been hoping I could do for many years - now I can do them. I’m hoping I can do them straight off the bat.”
The weight of a nation
“She won’t like me to say this, but it’s inevitable that she’ll be the poster child for Tokyo.”
The ominous words of Sebastian Coe, President of World Athletics, are writ large.
No British woman has ever won gold in the 100m or 200m at the Olympic Games.
That Asher-Smith will head to Tokyo as one of the favourites will undoubtedly mean she will go with the full hopes of an expectant British public.
“It’s very easy sometimes to get caught up in other people’s expectations of you, where other people think you should be, what other people think you should be doing,” said Asher-Smith to Olympics.com recently.
“I think that that’s a really nice position to be in, where you have the opportunity to touch so many people’s lives, to create a moment, and make so many people proud, make so many people feel emotion, make so many people scream at their TVs, cry if it goes well, cry if it doesn’t." - Dina Asher-Smith to Olympics.com
"I think that’s the power of sport, and I feel very fortunate that in pursuing my talents and kind of doing my job, I have the opportunity to touch so many people in their lives,” she added.
First though, the world 200m champion must undergo her final preparations before the main event.
Asher-Smith is back on track this weekend for the British Athletics Champs, with slightly better weather forecast than at her successful meet in May.
The eyes of the world, and her rivals, will be watching the movements of Asher-Smith on the eve of the Olympics very closely – but if they blink, they may well miss her.