Dina Asher-Smith was devastated after coming “so close” to a 100m medal at the World Athletics Championships… but the Brit insists she is at her best and ready to defend her 200m title
- Dina Asher-Smith finished fourth in the 100 meters at the World Championships
- After narrowly missing out on a medal, she couldn’t hold back tears afterwards
- However, she still has the 200m left to run in Oregon, USA later this week
- Asher-Smith won the event at the 2019 World Championships in Doha
- She believes she can run a personal best and looks forward to defending her title
It’s one of the cruel truths of sport that sometimes your best just isn’t enough. Dina Asher Smith found this out agonizingly at the World Championships, her British record of 10.83 seconds in the 100m final leaving her in the annoying fourth position.
“I’m so disappointed it didn’t get me on the podium,” she said. ‘I was so close.’
Jamaican Sprint Queen Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce propelled to her seventh global 100-meter title, her time of 10.67 seconds was the fastest of them all – and all at the age of 35.
Dina Asher-Smith was sorely disappointed after finishing fourth in the 100m
Shelly-Ann Fraser Pryce took gold, Shericka Jackson took silver and Elaine Thompson-Herah took bronze while Jamaica completed a clean victory over the medals
Asher-Smith finished 0.02 seconds behind bronze medalist Elaine Thompson-Herah and the result was profound.
“I’m annoyed but I’ll get some sleep, recover, chat with my coach, probably cry a little,” she said before looking down at the 200m where she is the defending champion after her gold in Doha 2019. “If you When you’re in PB (personal best) form the world really opens up to you because you still don’t know what you’re capable of.”
It’s been a tough year for Asher-Smith, who recently lost her grandmother and admitted off-track issues kept her from playing her best for most of the summer.
“You have to be really emotional in the room,” she said. “I couldn’t do that for much of the season. I was in shape from the start, but my brain was elsewhere.
Asher-Smith is now aiming to defend the 200m title she won three years ago
“I’ve had some things in life that I’ll probably talk more about after the 200m.”
At 26, Asher-Smith should have a lot more medal chances and she sees Fraser-Pryce as an example of how to get faster with age.
“Watching Shelly-Ann gives me goals,” she said. “People say, ‘When are you going to retire?’ and I’m like, ‘Who knows now?’
Asher-Smith’s 200m best this season is 22.27 seconds, but she looks good to challenge the British record of 21.88 seconds that saw her win the 2019 world title.
Meanwhile, Britain have two strong medal chances in Tuesday’s 1500m final with Josh Kerr and Jake Wightman.
Josh Kerr is a realistic medal hope for Britain after winning his 1500m semi-final
Jake Wightman could also figure his chances of making it onto the podium after reaching the final
Kerr, the Olympic bronze medalist, rode to victory in his semi-final while Wightman made a good impression in his semi-final by finishing third.
“I’m here to put on a show, I just want to put in an amazing effort,” Kerr said. He added that the finale here will be “the accumulation of 15 years of really hard work” and that he plans to give “everything” he’s got.
“You’re going to watch me hopefully play the best game of chess I’ve ever played in my life,” he said.
Wightman has been in brilliant form this summer and is hoping to banish the memory of last year’s Olympic final in which he finished a disappointing 10th place.
“It’s a great opportunity to make amends,” he said. “It’s as tough as it gets, but I feel like I’m running better than last year.
“I’m 28 now, getting old, and I don’t get too many opportunities like this.”
