Dina Asher-Smith Wins Long Awaited Gold Medal in the 100m2 min read

The 22-year-old who was a kit holder in London 2012 has battled injury, school commitments and high expectations to equal the current world leading time in the 100m and win the blue ribbon event in Berlin, Germany Tuesday evening.

The sprinter first burst onto the athletics scene in 2011 by winning her first international title at the Commonwealth Youth Games which took place in the Isle of Man.

She then went on to curate her title as Britain’s fastest ever woman by becoming the first to run under 11 seconds, running the record time of 10.99 in a 100m heat during the 2015 IAAF T&F World Championships in Beijing, a record which once again fell after yesterday’s race.

Her continuously strong performances at the British Outdoor Championships, in which she has won the titles of 100m champion in 2015 and 200m champion in 2016 and her 5^th place finish in the final at Rio 2016 put her in place to continually improve and push herself.

However her journey has not always been smooth. In early 2017 she broke her foot, which prevented her from adequately preparing for the IAAF T&F World Championships, in which she placed 4^th.

At that time, Asher Smith noted that “I’m absolutely over the moon to have done that with a broken foot but at the same time seven hundredth’s away from a bronze medal does suck”.

Other hindrances were at play too. Last year she graduated from Kings College London with a 2:1 Bachelor’s degree in History, but the process of obtaining it meant that she had to balance her commitments to school and her training.

In time, the picture began to change. Having recovered from her injury and committed to a demanding schedule of winter training, which including the sacrifice of not competing in the 2018 IAAF World Indoor Championships, she finally came out on top.

Getting off to one of the best starts of her career, she was able to lead the race from gun to tape and win it by daylight.

In the process, she defeated Dafne Schippers, who was the reigning 200m World Champion and was one of the favourites for the race.

After the race she was seen to be ecstatic, jumping and running with joy around the stadium in a way that as commentator Steve Cram noted that “it was clear that this meant a lot to her”.

Dina herself said: “I came here to be European Champion and I’m so happy to have achieved that but 10.85 is a really good time so I’m so happy to have achieved that”.

Her Coach, John Blackie said that “what Dina achieved tonight, European 100m Champion, new British record of 10.85; World lead is a result of the culmination of focus, dedication and excellence in execution.”

Dina will be making additional entrances in the 200m event, in which she is the reigning European Champion and the 4X100 relay.