As the national record holder for the 100m and 200m, Dina Asher-Smith is the fastest female sprinter in Britain – and she has enjoyed a sparkling senior career so far.
A six-time European gold medallist, Asher-Smith is also the 2019 world champion in the 200m and a two-time Olympic medallist in the 4 x 100m, having swept up a bronze in the discipline at both the 2016 Rio and 202o Tokyo Games. Thanks to her spectacular win in the 100m final at the 2024 European Athletics Championships in June, then her 200m victory at the UK Athletics Championships in July, Asher-Smith is now fired up to add some Olympic gold to her collection in Paris this August, where she’ll represent Team GB in both individual sprint events: the 100m and 200m.
She was even one to watch from an early age, having won the 200m title at the English Schools Championships as an Under 15, Under 17 and Under 20, as well as gold medals in the 200m and 4 x 100m relay at the European Junior Championships in 2013. That same year, at the age of 19, she was the youngest athlete selected for the British Squad at the World Championships in Moscow, helping the relay team to bring home a bronze medal.
However, despite her long string of accomplishments, disappointing results at the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest left Asher-Smith shocked at her own performance.
‘I was not happy,’ she tells Runner’s World UK at Nike’s On Air exhibition in April. ‘Having won that competition [in 2019] and more or less medalling in most World Championships since I’ve been in my 20s, it was frustrating knowing that I came into it running a 10.85… in the shape of my life. So I was very annoyed.’
The 28-year-old admits that she ‘did have niggles going throughout it’, but has since made some ‘big changes’. One of these includes parting ways with long-term coach John Blackie last autumn.
Asher-Smith had worked with Blackie since joining Blackheath and Bromley Harriers Athletics Club at the age of eight. He was named Coach of the Year at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards in 2019, after guiding her to the 200m world title in Doha that year. He said at the awards ceremony: ‘Dina is very special, so she is a pleasure to coach.’
Now based in Austin, Texas, under coach Edrick Floreal, Asher-Smith says that parting ways with Blackie was mainly to do with ‘personal stuff’, meaning that Blackie wouldn’t be able to join her at the Olympics in Paris this summer. Speaking fondly of their relationship, she says it ‘far descends sport’, but ‘if a person obviously can’t go [to the Olympics], we’ve got to make that work.’
The sprinter says she’s ‘definitely seeing benefits’ from changes to her training over the past year.
‘I’m genuinely feeling so excited for the 2024 season,’ she adds.
Indeed, this year Asher-Smith has already set a British indoor record over 300m of 36.77, beating Nicole Yeargin’s time of 36.80 which was set in Fayetteville last year.
Asher-Smith had previously run 36.41 outdoors in 2019, the same year that she set British records at the 100m (10.83) and 200m (21.88) and won her world title.
At the Jamaica Athletics Invitational on 11 May, she also took home a 200m gold medal with a time of 22:51.
Of her time in Austin, the sprinter says she’s been having ‘so much fun’.
‘The group is uber talented, training is really fast and the facilities are amazing. A change of environment has really helped [too]. When you’re in the sun you can do a lot of stuff sooner. I can be in [training] blocks months before I would have been in the UK.’
Turning her attention towards this summer’s Olympic Games, Asher-Smith has tunnel vision. ‘I want to win the Olympics and I want to run really fast,’ she says, firmly. ‘That’s it. But it’s one of those things every athlete you speak to will want. We’re here to be the best in the world and you’re working towards those big moments.’
At both the Rio Games in 2016 and Tokyo Games in 2021, she took home bronze medals in the women’s 4 x 100m relay. She says it would be ‘great’ for the women’s team to take home gold in Paris, however she doesn’t reveal if she will be part of the team. Asher-Smith was noticeably absent from the World Athletics Relays on Saturday 4 May in The Bahamas, where the men’s and women’s 4 x 100m teams all earned qualification for Paris.
Nevertheless, she says she’s excited for the Games to begin. ‘It’s obviously not a home games, but it’s really close to being one. It’s on our time zone, everyone’s going to be watching. I know a lot of people who will make the trip to Paris.’
Tokyo was ‘very different and very challenging’, she adds. ‘Even competing in an empty stadium. I’m just so eternally happy that we’re through that period now and to have a proper Olympics where it’s going to be roaring crowds and one that is so close to home.’
Asher-Smith is close to her family and says they ‘try to be at every race that they can’.
‘They’re like my number-one fans. They’ve been part of this crazy track and field journey from the beginning.’
But with her eyes set firmly on gold, how does she remain grounded and focused during such a momentous event?
‘I think I’m just naturally like that,’ she says. ‘’If you’ve got a goal and you want to achieve it, you do everything that’s within your power to run as fast as possible. That comes with being focused, that comes with being disciplined, going to sleep, eating right. That is what you should be doing if you’re taking your goals seriously.’
Off the track, Asher-Smith has long been interested in fashion; it has been a source of fun, empowerment and pride for as long as she can remember, she told Elle.
In 2018, she kicked off her modelling career with a stint on the catwalk for Off-White’s show at Paris Fashion Week. Asher-Smith appeared in a neon yellow bodysuit, with a zip pocket on the right leg, from the brand’s partnership with Nike.
And since moving to Austin, she’s also discovered a surprising new hobby – pottery. ‘All my friends are at the point where they’re rolling their eyes when I send them pictures [of it],’ she says, laughing. ‘But I’m loving it. I’m having a great time just having a creative outlet.
‘I think it’s healthy for everyone, not matter what job you’re in, just to find something that brings you joy. You don’t have to monetise it. It’s not about making it competitive or how well you can do it. It’s just trying something new.’