Dina Asher-Smith is not due to take her university finals for another two years but her graduation into sprinting’s highest echelons is being fast tracked. The 19-year-old has been smoothly impressive in Beijing, setting personal bests and leaving the track as the fastest qualifier in both the 200m heats and semi-finals. And the way she eased into Friday’s final in 22.12sec suggested more is to come. Kathy Cook’s British 200m record of 20.10 looks there for the taking. And so, with every stride, does a world championship medal.
Not that the history student at King’s College, London is getting carried away. “It’s great doing well in the heats and the semis but the final is where it counts,” she said. “I’m happy but I can’t let myself get caught up in the moment.”
In her semi-final she was far too good for the Jamaican Veronica Campbell-Brown, who has just the seven Olympic medals – including 200m gold in 2004 and 2008 – and nine world championships to her name.
And another Olympic and world relay medallist, the American Jeneba Tarmoh, was also left in her slipstream.
“I was quite nervous,” said Asher-Smith, who was the only British woman to reach the final after Bianca Williams and Margaret Adeoye both fell short.
“Campbell-Brown and Jeneba are such inspirations and Olympic champions. So I was quite happy I was able to ease down. And you kind of have to when you have one of the biggest races ever the next day.
The Dutchwoman Dafne Schippers remains the favourite after winning her semi-final in 22.36 with such ease that she was able to turn off the afterburners shortly after the bend.
The Jamaicans, meanwhile, are backing Elaine Thompson, who looked comfortable in coming through the first of three semi-finals in 22.13. But Asher-Smith admits she has surprised herself with her performances so far. And the biggest one may yet be to come.
From now until the final she will relax and try to visualise what might happen when she lowers herself in the blocks and hear’s the starter’s gun. Does she win in her mind’s eye? “You kind of have to or else there’s no point,” she laughed. “I’m excited for the final.”
There was a surprise in the women’s 800m semi-finals as Britain’s Shelayna Oskan-Clarke, who had a modest personal best of 2min 00.65sec before Beijing, improved it by nearly two seconds to qualify for the final in 1:58.86. “I’m so happy it seems to have come together at the right time,” said the 25-year-old, who is not on full lottery funding and so supplements her income as a personal trainer. “It’s just trusting in my ability, being here with the team, training with everyone, being in such great condition.”
While Lynsey Sharp and Jenny Meadows fell away to finish seventh and eighth in their respective semi-finals, Oskan-Clarke used her 400m speed to drive to victory and she now believes she is in shape to win a medal. If she does, she is likely to dedicate it to her coach Ayo Falola, who has terminal cancer and has only months to live.
Meanwhile, there was a partial redemption for Katarina Johnson-Thompson when she qualified for the final of the long jump alongside her fellow Britons Shara Proctor (6.68m) and Lorraine Ugen (6.87m) with a confident 6.79m.
But Johnson-Thompson, who blew her chances of heptathlon gold with three no jumps, admitted she had struggled to get over Sunday’s disappointment. “It has been really hard,” she said. “I stayed with my mum because I just didn’t want to bump into anyone. When people were nice to me that’s when I started to get upset. I didn’t want to see or have to talk to anyone.
“Today I felt a little bit flat but it’s just the heptathlete mentality,” she added. “You just have to get out there and do it. My body feels quite good, it doesn’t feel like I’ve done a full heptathlon.”
In the hammer, Sophie Hitchon put together the competition of her life to come a surprise fourth behind the Polish world record holder Anita Wlodarczyk, who settled the contest early with a throw of 78.52m. China’s Zhang Wenxiu was second with a throw of 75.92m, while France’s Alexandra Tavernier was third with 74.02m.
Hitchon, who broke the British record with throws of 73.65m and then 73.86m, said the result was bittersweet. “As an athlete it feels hard, because fourth is the agonising place but honestly I couldn’t have done anything more,” she said. “Two national records, two PBs in one competition – I loved it out there and it bodes well for the future.”
