The Daily Telegraph - Sport

‘A medal would have been fantastic, but you have to have tribulatio­ns’

Dina Asher-smith tells Ben Bloom there is no time for regrets over her World Championsh­ips

- For tickets to see the world’s best athletes at The Müller Grand Prix Birmingham go to www. britishath­letics.org.uk

Dina Asher-smith is not the kind of person who does glass half-full or half-empty conundrums. To her it is a case of just how full that glass is – because it is never, ever empty. Having earned the title of fastest British sprinter of all time before she had even left her teenage years, Asher-smith is one of life’s big optimists. So instead of dwelling on what might have been at the London World Championsh­ips last week, Ashersmith, 21, takes positives from the fact that she was even able to run, let alone post a season’s best time.

Instead of ruing missing out on a 200m bronze medal by just 0.07sec, she gleans strength from taking a quantum leap in such a short period of time since breaking her foot in February. It is a hugely admirable trait and one that leaves you wondering how on earth she manages it.

“Simply, because I’m young,” she says, laughing as ever. “If I was 28 and this had happened and I did that [finished fourth at a World Championsh­ips] then

I’d be a bit more angry.

But I’ve probably got another two or three Olympics in me. This is only my second

World Championsh­ips as an individual and I finished fourth. Especially with the year I’ve had, I’m really happy. This has arguably done more for me in the long term mentally than an easy season and getting a medal would have.

“That sounds entirely crazy as a medal would have been fantastic – I’d have loved that. But when you are young you have to go through trials and tribulatio­ns to make you realise what real problems are.

“You do not want to break your foot a couple of months before arguably the biggest athletics event you are ever going to participat­e in – well possibly apart from Rio – but at the same time I’d rather get all my learning experience­s and my mental tests in when I am younger. So when I am older I kind of have that mental prep to go out there and do the business when I am physically at my peak.”

It is an astonishin­gly mature answer for someone so young. Because there is little point denying it – had Asher-smith not fractured the navicular bone in her foot during a freak accident in training, not had an operation to insert a metal screw, not had six weeks on crutches and not only been able to put her running spikes back on in the middle of June, she would have been challengin­g for gold in London. Fortunatel­y for Ashersmith, she had a second bite at the cherry in the 4x100m relay, where she was part of the team that won silver behind the United States.

“With the relay girls it was slightly different because we’re already Olympic bronze medallists,” she says. “Did I think we’d come away with the silver medal? No. But you never know with a relay. You have to just see how it goes. But I’m so happy to have upgraded the bronze to silver.”

Unlike many of her team-mates who ensured they peaked for the World Championsh­ips, Ashersmith was only able to compete six times before London and is far from finished with the season.

Her next assignment sees her take on many of the world’s best, including double Olympic champion Elaine Thompson and Dafne Schippers, who won the world 200m title last week, over 100m at tomorrow’s Birmingham Grand Prix. Having improved with every 200m run in recent weeks,

Asher-smith looks certain to surpass her modest 100m season’s best of 11.41sec set in her season opener at the start of July.

“I’m really excited because I’m going to go in there and see what I can run,” she says. “Running a 22.22sec off not much training is really good, so I am hopefully looking to go a bit faster in the near future. As far as I’m concerned, with the season that I’ve had so far with injury, I’m back to my best.”

 ??  ?? Team effort: Dina Asher-smith, left, with Asha Philip, Desiree Henry and Daryll Neita after winning relay silver in London
Team effort: Dina Asher-smith, left, with Asha Philip, Desiree Henry and Daryll Neita after winning relay silver in London
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