British sprinter

Geraldina Asher-Smith (/ˈdiːnə ˈæʃɜː smɪθ/; born 4 December 1995) is a British sprinter. She is the fastest British woman in recorded history and has been listed in the Powerlist as one of the UK's most influential people of African/African Caribbean descent, most recently in the 2021 edition. Asher-Smith has won a gold medal in the 200 m, silver in the 100 m, and another silver in the 4×100 m relay at the 2019 World Championships, breaking in the individual races her own British records with results which still stand. Aged 24, she was the first Briton to win three medals at a World Championships. At the relay event, she earned medals from the 2016 Rio Olympics and 2020 Tokyo Olympics, and also from the 2013 and 2017 World Championships.

Asher-Smith won the 2013 European Junior 200m *le, 2014 World Junior 100m *le, and in July 2015, she became the first British woman to legally run under 11 seconds for the 100 m. She then broke Kathy Cook's 31-year-old British 200 m record when finishing 5th at the 2015 World Championships, and in this distance, she placed 5th at the 2016 Olympics and 4th at the 2017 World Championships. Asher-Smith is also a four-time European individual champion, and one-time 100 m Diamond League champion.

Contents

• 1 Early life and education
  • 1.1 Junior compe*ions
• 2 Professional athletics career
• 3 Major compe*ive record
  • 3.1 Personal bests
  • 3.2 International compe*ion
  • 3.3 Circuit wins and *les
  • 3.4 National *les
• 4 See also
• 5 Notes
• 6 References
• 7 External links

Early life and education

Asher-Smith was born in Orpington, London. Her parents are Julie and Winston. She attended Perry Hall Primary School. From 2008 to 2014, she attended Newstead Wood School in Orpington. Asher-Smith achieved 9 A stars in her GCSEs. In August 2014, Asher-Smith got 3 As for her A-Level exam results which allowed her entry into King's College London to study history. Upon receiving the results, she called it "the best morning" of her life. She graduated with a 2:1 BA in 2017. Asher-Smith is a supporter of Manchester United F.C.

Asher-Smith is coached by John Blackie. In 2009, she ran the 300 metres in 39.16 sec to set the current World age 13 best. She has won the English Schools Championships 200m *le as an Under 15 (2010), U17 (2011) and U20 (2013). She won the 2013 event in a time of 23.63 seconds into a strong headwind.

Junior compe*ions

Asher-Smith (center) at the 2013 European Junior Championships

At the 2012 World Junior Championships, Asher-Smith finished 7th in the 200m final in a then personal best time of 23.50 seconds. She said afterwards that "I am elated to have made the final and achieve a PB in the process, and I'm looking ahead to next year in Italy."

In 2013, she earned two gold medals at the European Junior Championships in Rieti, winning the 200m in 23.29, before joining Yasmin Miller, Steffi Wilson and Desiree Henry to win the 4 × 100m relay and break the UK junior record. The British squad originally finished fourth in the final but were promoted to the bronze medal after the disqualification of the French team. Asher-Smith was shortlisted for the 2013 BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year.

At the 2014 World Junior Championships in Eugene, Asher-Smith won the 100 metres running 11.23 secs.

Professional athletics career

Asher-Smith was part of the winning Great Britain team for the 4 × 100 m relay at the London Grand Prix meet and was the youngest athlete selected for the Great Britain and Northern Ireland Squad for the 2013 World Championships in Moscow. Along with teammates Annabelle Lewis, Ashleigh Nelson and Hayley Jones, she won a bronze medal in the 4 × 100 m relay.

At the 2014 European Athletics Championships in Zurich, she qualified for the 200 m final but pulled up with a hamstring injury on the bend.

She took the silver medal at the 2015 European Athletics Indoor Championships for the 60 m. It was the first time in 30 years that a British female won a medal in the event. In doing so, Asher-Smith equalled Jeanette Kwakye's British record of 7.08 s and, being 19 years old, became the fastest ever teenager at 60 m. She first broke the British 100 metres record with 11.02 secs on 24 May 2015 in Hengelo, before becoming the first British woman to run a legal time under 11 seconds, with 10.99 secs on 25 July 2015 at the London Anniversary Games. She then finished fifth in the 2015 IAAF World Athletic Championships in Beijing with a time of 22.07, a new British record.

At the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio, Asher-Smith finished fifth in the 200 metres, in 22.31 seconds, then won a bronze medal with her teammates Asha Philip, Desiree Henry and Daryll Neita in the 4 x 100 metres relay in a British record of 41.77 seconds.

On 17 February 2017, Asher-Smith broke her foot in a training accident, but still managed to secure fourth place in the women's 200m and a silver medal as part of the Great Britain 4 × 100 m relay later that year at the 2017 IAAF World Athletics Championships in London.

Asher-Smith at the 2019 World Championships in Doha

In 2018, she went to Australia early to train and get used to the conditions prior to the Commonwealth Games scheduled to take place in Gold Coast, Queensland in that country. She qualified for the final, and came away with a Commonwealth bronze medal with a time off 22.29 seconds. England ladies, including Asher-Smith, qualified for the 4x100 m relay final, where they won gold in a time of 42.46 seconds, beating one of the favorites, Jamaica. At the 2018 European Championships in Berlin, Asher-Smith won both the 100m and 200m metres *les, improving her British records to 10.85 and 21.89 secs, becoming the first British woman in history to run below 22 seconds for 200 metres, and moving to 22nd on the 200 metres world all-time list (35th at 100m). She won a third gold medal in the 4 × 100 metres relay. Asher-Smith was named women's European Athlete of the Year for her success in October. She was later hailed by IAAF president Sebastian Coe as the next sprint sensation in athletics.

Asher-Smith won the silver medal in the 100 m at the 2019 World Championships in a new British record of 10.83 seconds, finishing second behind Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce. She was the first female British sprinter to win, over 100m or 200m, an individual medal in the world championships since Kathy Cook in 1983. On 2 October, she became the World Champion in the 200m, setting a personal best and new British record of 21.88 seconds.

Going into the 2021 season, Asher-Smith was a strong medal favourite for the short sprints at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Her season was off to a promising start in May when she won the women's 100m final at the Gateshead Diamond League against a world cl* field, besting athletes such as Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Blessing Okagbare, Marie-Josée Ta Lou and Sha'Carri Richardson. She followed this up in late June when she won the 100m final at the 2021 British Athletics Championships, in a time of 10.97 seconds. The clock had originally reported 10.71 seconds, which would have been a substantial national record, however this was corrected a few minutes later. She came into the Olympics having gained selection in the 100m, 200m and 4 x 100 metres relay, however failed to qualify for the 100m final after placing third in her semifinal in a time of 11.05 seconds, which was not enough to gain a fastest non-automatic qualifying spot. Subsequently, she revealed in an emotional interview that she had actually sustained a hamstring injury during the finals of the British championships, and that she would be pulling out of the 200 m. Nevertheless, she managed to return to contribute to the 4 x 100 metres relay, aiding Great Britain in setting a new national record of 41.55 seconds in their heat, followed by a bronze medal in the final behind Jamaica and the United States. She later bounced back to end her 2021 campaign with season's bests of 10.87 seconds and 22.04 seconds towards the end of the Diamond League circuit, the 200m in Brussels and 100m at the final in Zurich.

Major compe*ive record

Asher-Smith (right) at the 2018 European Championships Asher-Smith (center) with her gold medal at the 2018 European Championships

Personal bests

International compe*ion

Circuit wins and *les

• Diamond League champion (100:m): 2019
  • 2016 (1) (200 m): Stockholm Bauhaus-Galan
  • 2018 (1) (100 m): Stockholm Bauhaus-Galan
  • 2019 ; (1) (100 m): Brussels Memorial Van Damme; (2) (200 m): Doha Diamond League, Stockholm Bauhaus-Galan
  • 2021 ; (1) (100 m): Gateshead British Grand Prix; (1) (200 m): Rome Golden Gala in Florence (MR)

National *les

• British Championships
  • 100:m: (4) 2015, 2018, 2019, 2021
  • 200:m: (1) 2016
• British Indoor Championships
  • 60:m: (1) 2015
  • 200:m: (1) 2014

See also

• 100 metres
• 100 metres at the World Athletics Championships
• 200 metres
• 200 metres at the World Athletics Championships
• List of World Championships in Athletics medalists (women)
• 2018 in 100 metres
• 2020/21 in 60 metres

Notes

References

External links

• Dina Asher-Smith at World Athletics
• Dina Asher-Smith at European Athletic *ociation (archived)
• Dina Asher-Smith at ThePowerOf10.info
• Dina Asher-Smith at Diamond League
• Dina Asher-Smith at Olympics.com
• Dina Asher-Smith at Olympedia
• Dina Asher-Smith at the British Olympic *ociation