Dina Asher-Smith 'proud' of London sprint and on track for Worlds glory in Doha

Sprint finish: Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce edges Dina Asher-Smith into second place in the 100m final at the Anniversary Games
PA

Dina Asher-Smith is adamant she will peak in time for the World Championships after being pipped to a home win at yesterday’s Anniversary Games.

Asher-Smith dipped under 11 seconds for the 10th time in her career in the 100metres, with a time of 10.92sec, but it was not enough to eclipse Jamaica’s Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, who won in 10.78sec to continue a resurgent 2019.

“It’s about making sure I can improve in each race before the World Championships,” said Asher-Smith, looking ahead to the Doha event at the end of September.

“It’s going to be a really good World Championships. We’ve planned it so we work backwards from the Worlds. I’ll just keep training and working harder to make sure I’m in the best shape I can be.”

At the London Stadium, where she first aspired to be an Olympic and world champion as a kit carrier for athletes at London 2012, Asher-Smith believed she could have caught two-time Olympic 100m champion Fraser-Pryce.

“I came here wanting to win my home Diamond League, wanting to run a 10.8, but to run two low sub-11s, to have placed really highly in that kind of field, which would have been a World or Olympic final, I’m really proud of myself,” she said.

“I wouldn’t say I was frustrated because, when you’ve got such high-calibre women, it makes you raise your game as well.

“It’s great for me. I’m a competitor, I always want to do as well as I can. I always want to run quicker. To get to low 10.9, I really can’t moan. I always try to be as close as I can. Not that close today, but it’s a learning experience.”

Fraser-Pryce was full of praise for Asher-Smith after picking up the win at the stadium where she won the second of her two Olympic titles.

She said: “Female sprinting is at a height I have never seen before, it’s just remarkable. Dina had two solid clockings in less than one hour. I look forward to having more competition with athletes like Dina, who are aggressive and passionate about what they do.”

The event also marked a surprise return to athletics for London discus thrower Lawrence Okoye, who turned his back on the sport to compete in NFL with several teams, including the San Francisco 49ers.

Okoye, who turned down a place to study law at Oxford University to make a name for himself in the NFL, threw a best of 60.80m — some way short of his British record 68.24m — to put him in a lowly ninth place.

He believes he still has a 70m throw in him, however. “It’s definitely possible. We’ll see how things go,” he said. “We don’t know how things are going to pan out. This is a nice opportunity to come back into the stadium. I’m enjoying being in London and I liked competing here today.”

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