Dina Asher-Smith received high-powered backing to rule the world this autumn - despite being beaten in Birmingham.
Britain’s sprint star turned on the style to finish second in a high class 200 metres behind Shaunae Miller-Uibo at the Muller Grand Prix.
Asher-Smith, 23, led off the bend before being reeled in by the Olympic 400m champion, who is unbeaten in two years over her two distances.
But Miller-Uibo quickly put the smile back on her young rival’s face by then revealing that she will not be running the 200m in Doha - and tipping Asher-Smith to strike gold.
“Dina is doing extremely well and I think it’s going to be her time,” said the Bahamian. “I’m really excited for her. She’s definitely stepping it up.”
No female British sprinter has ever won a world title. Linford Christie took 100m gold in 1993 but that is the height of it.
Despite leaving Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and reigning 200m world champion Dafne Schippers in her wake with a time of 22.36 seconds, Asher-Smith refused to get carried away.
“I don’t really think of things like that,” she said when asked if she is now the one to beat.
“I do feel like I’m in that world level now. That was like an Olympic or world final so it would have been a silver.
“But my coach John (Blackie) always says we don’t run on paper. Obviously that isn’t funny, it’s a dad joke, but it is very true.
“I ran well here, great, but it doesn’t really mean anything because it is what happens in the three rounds in Qatar that matters.”
It was a day of near misses for Britain who ended the Birmingham Diamond League without a home winner for the first time since 2011.
But there were encouraging signs in the men’s 100m from Adam Gemili, who matched the time 10.07secs time of former world champion Yohan Blake but was given second place by eight thousandths of a second.
Katarina Johnson-Thompson also pulled a rabbit out of the hat with a 6.85-metre long jump - her best for four years.
But she too had to settle for a minor podium place, one centimetre behind her great heptathlon rival Nafi Thiam.
Lynsey Sharp continued her fine year with second in the 800 metres, while European 400m champion Matthew Hudson-Smith made a welcome return after a run of injuries, clocking 45.55secs in his first major race of 2019.
