Dina Asher-Smith, photo by Getty Images /World Athletics
Dina Asher-Smith has decided to not compete at the Euro Indoors 2021, to be held in Torun, Poland. Stuart Weir has some comments…
Dina Asher-Smith out of Euro Indoors
It has been announced that Dina Asher-Smith has ended her indoor season and will ever not compete in the European indoors in Poland next month. Dina run in two indoor meets in Germany, Karlsruhe and Düsseldorf winning the prelim and finals in both with a best time of 7:08.
Dina Asher-Smith, 2021 ISTAF Dusseldorf, photo by ISTAF Dusseldorf
In Karsruhe she spoke with enthusiasm about having her first indoor season for years: “I haven’t run 60 m since 2018 because I normally train through and focus on the outdoor season. I am genuinely excited to give it a real attack this year. I have absolutely no idea what I can do. It’s a very long time since I’ve run a 60 in earnest. I’m just going to go out and run as quickly and hopefully be successful throughout the season.
I haven’t done an indoor championship since 2016 – that’s an entire Olympic cycle and I am a different athlete now so it would be fun to do an indoor championship. [2016 World Indoors Portland second in semi 7.11. DNS final]
“I would love to go to the European indoors but in this strange year I will have to be flexible with my plans. I’d love to get the British record but we will see. It has been a strange year and I’ve had a big gap in racing. I’m gonna go out and perform the best I can and does that produces some amazing fast performances then I’ll be happy. So hopefully.” 7.08 is two hundredths of a second short of Asha Philip’s British record and so the record remains for the moment.
Dina Asher-Smith, photo via TV by Stuart Weir
Following her Karslruhe race she said of her performance: “I was really happy. . I thought my starts were good but they could be better – I’m a perfectionist! Obviously it’s been a strange year for all of us and a very long time since I competed on the international stage [2019 World Championships] and I haven’t done in an indoor 60m for three years – so I wasn’t sure what to expect. But to run my fastest ever season opener and to equal my PR – I’m really happy and excited to see what the next races bring. The indoor season in 2021 is more important than ever because we’ve missed a whole year of competition. We decided that I would focus on the indoor season mainly in order to be sharp going into the outdoor season in the Olympic year. While the year has been really weird, we cannot forget that the biggest prize in track and field is up for grabs this year”.
After she said “It was good, it was OK. I am happy to be back running again. It has been quite a long time since my last race, in 2019. I am looking forward to the next ones.
“I was very surprised how well I started the day before yesterday, in Karlsruhe. That was a shock because I knew I was in good shape but sometimes you take a bit of time to get warmed up. I was very happy to come out and run a 7.08 and I was happy to do some good performances here as well.”
On her own Twitter account, she added: I took the win in Dűsseldorf. Pleased to have put together some strong performances over the past few days and end the racing drought! Now for a few days’ work and then onto Liévin. Thank you for all the support, seeing your tweets and picks made me smile. Loving being back”.
Then the tight quad put paid to Liévin and rest of the indoor. The key is in the statement above “we cannot forget that the biggest prize in track and field is up for grabs this year”. Dina is always an athlete with an eye on the big prize and who, with her team, know what the right preparation is for the big one.
