More woe for Dina ...but gold for Muir
Frustration as Asher-Smith pipped to gold
THRee years and counting. There will surely come a time when Dina Ashersmith carries on her business of winning major races, but for now the baffling drought around Britain’s best-known athlete has extended to a duration no one thought likely.
To say she was a heavy favourite to stop the clock last night would be a huge understatement, in consideration of her standing against the rest of the field for the european 200 metres final.
But as with so much that has happened to her since she won the world title in 2019, great promise in the race was followed by an underwhelming finish.
In this instance it meant emerging on to the straight only a fraction behind the notoriously quick starter Mujinga Kambundji of switzerland, before failing to engage her usual turbo boost on the push to the finish.
Where we are used to seeing Asher-smith swing off the bend like a stone from a sling shot, this time she simply did not respond.
Despite qualifying fastest for the final by 0.2sec, and indeed being the only woman of the eight to go beneath 22sec this year — or any year for that matter — she did not have legs for a comeback. she crossed for silver in 22.43sec, a time that smacked of fatigue in a brutally busy summer, while Kambundji took gold in 22.32sec.
For Asher- smith, the season can hardly be called a failure when it has included a world bronze for the 200m and a personal best in the 100m. But honest reviews will hone in on the frustration at not taking an individual gold or two in Germany. That her 100m bid ended with cramps was unfortunate, and linked by Asher- smith to her period, but to come up short in the 200m was a true surprise.
she said: ‘I’m not super happy with silver but Mujinga put together a better race. she’s been improving for ages. Congratulations to her but I’m not super happy. I know I’m in better shape than that but at the same time I came second so it is what it is.
‘It’s been up and down but it’s been a good year for me. I’m still running and wanting to chase PBs. My next target is to run 10.7sec so I look forward to chasing that into september.’
Britain’s Jodie Williams was fourth. earlier, laura Muir dominated the 1500m on her way to taking her second gold medal at the distance in the space of 12 days, following victory in the Commonwealth Games.
As with that previous triumph, only Northern Ireland’s Ciara Mageean staged a significant challenge to the scot, but once again she was burnt off on the final bend.
In winning, Muir joined sally Gunnell, Denise lewis and Paula Radcliffe as the only British women in the past 50 years to take european and Commonwealth gold in the same year, and stands alone for doing so in the same season as taking a bronze at the worlds. she is amassing an immense body of work.
‘I said I wanted a medal at all three but two golds I’m so happy,’ said Muir. ‘In some ways this was the easiest because it was only two rounds but it was so tough mentally. It was (mentally) the most difficult race I have run.’
A short while later, Zharnel Hughes, who won 100m silver earlier in the week, took 200m gold in 20.07sec ahead of teammate Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake.
lawrence okoye took bronze for Britain in the discus.