Dina dashes away fears of rustiness
AFTER the deep freeze came the heat as Dina Asher-Smith crushed the field in Germany last night to get her Olympic season started.
In her first competitive meet for 16 months, Asher-Smith matched her 60metres personal best with a 7.08sec victory at the World Indoor Tour event in Karlsruhe. Cobwebs? Nothing of the sort.
While the race was only a warm-up step towards the European Indoors in March, and in turn those championships serve merely as a preparatory exercise for the Olympics, Asher-Smith’s times in Germany were notable.
Her heat, which she won in 7.11sec, was her first indoor race for almost three years and her run in the final ranked 14th in the world across the past six seasons. Clearly, her plan to train and finesse rather than compete through the dud season of 2020 has left her in strong shape — the 200m world champion led from the blocks and crossed 0.08sec ahead of France’s Orlann Ombissa-Dzangue.
Asher-Smith’s British team-mate Asha Philip, the 2017 European Indoor champion, was fifth in a modest 7.22sec.
Asher- Smith, who races in Dusseldorf tomorrow, said: ‘It’s a long time since I competed, so to equal my personal best, I am really excited for what the season brings. We wanted to focus on the indoor season to make sure we are sharp going into the Olympics.’
Meanwhile, British athletes have criticised the Government for the rule change which means they have to quarantine for 10 days when they return from training in Dubai. On
Thursday, the Government banned flights from the United Arab Emirates and scrapped elite-sport travel exemptions.
It is understood that around 12 British Olympic hopefuls were left scrambling to get home indirectly on Friday.
Race walker Tom Bosworth, who flew back via Frankfurt and will now have to source a treadmill to train at home, said: ‘It is incredibly frustrating. If we leave with (Government) clearance and exemptions from quarantining, those have to be honoured or at least give us time to change our plans.’