Dina Asher-Smith powers to 100m gold for first major title in five years

• Asher-Smith takes first place in time of 10.99sec
• Britain’s Georgia Bell wins 1500m silver

Lightning in the sky, thunder on the track. And, on a wild night in Rome, the welcome sight of Dina Asher-Smith powering to a 100m gold medal again at these European Athletics Championships.

But Britain’s greatest sprinter was forced to recover from one of the worst starts of her career, which left her several metres down on her rivals. But she refused to panic, and showed considerable grit as well as class to come through in 10.99 sec.

That put her just 0.03 clear of Poland’s Ewa Swoboda, who claimed silver, with Italy’s Zaynab Dosso taking bronze. No wonder Asher-Smith whispered the words “Fuck me” as she crossed the line and gave a look that suggested she couldn’t quite believe she had pulled off this Italian job.

Incredibly, this was also the 28-year-old’s first major title since winning 200m at the world championships in 2019 – due to the pandemic, multiple injuries, including a hamstring tear six weeks before the Tokyo Olympics, and multiple other bad beats.

But here, at last, there was a sense of redemption, and of renewed hope. “I didn’t panic in my running,” she said . “But my head was a different story.

We have worked really hard on my technique, my mechanics, my top end speed,” she added. “And I was very grateful for that today. That’s not normally my style of race.”

It was also vindication for Asher-Smith’s decision last autumn to take the radical step of moving from Bromley in Kent to Austin, Texas. In the US she works under a new coach, Edrick “Flo” Floréal, a new training group, including 100m star Julien Alfred, and has also taken up golf and pottery.
Now she is trying to sculpt a better life on the track too – although she admits it is still a work in progress.
“I’m in a great place, but when you’ve got a few new things to get your head round sometimes it does take a little bit of time,” she admitted. “Overall I’m really happy that I’m six to eight months into a new setup and I’m here putting together performances like this back to back.”

But while Asher-Smith’s victory provided the biggest headline, this was a day when Britain’s women also won four other medals in the 1500m, half marathon, and 3,000m steeplechase.

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