'Vibrant' Asher-Smith surges to 200m success

Major training changes pay off for sprinter while Zharnel Hughes wins men's race

- Ben Bloom

There was plenty that Dina Asher-Smith chose not to say after running a championship record to retain her British 200m title yesterday, but there was enough that she did say. Most tellingly, she spoke with a big smile. It was, she revealed, immediately after a disappointing run at the Eugene Diamond League four weeks ago that she decided a major change was required and there was no time to wait.

Mid-season upheavals are rare in athletics, and Asher-Smith had only moved to Texas to work with the coach Edrick Floréal at the back end of 2023. But something and, for now, she does not want to reveal precisely what was not working. So, with barely more than one month until the Tokyo world championships, the former world 200m champion packed her bags and flew home to London.

Asher-Smith has run twice since: first finishing a fine second to the Olympic silver medallist Julien Alfred over 200m at the London Diamond League a fortnight ago, and then clocking 22.14sec to triumph in Birmingham yesterday. That was a time good enough time to make the Olympic podium last summer; one she has bettered only once since 2022.