Page 96 - Powerlist 2019 - Digital Edition

Profiles

NEW Dina Asher-Smith
2019
British record-holding sprinter

Dina Asher-Smith is shaping up to be one of Britain’s
greatest female athletes.
The 22-year-old won the 100m, 200m and 4x100m at the
2018 European Championships, and she is being tipped for
great success at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
Four-time Olympic champion Michael Johnson said about
her: “I have been watching British athletics with the BBC
since 2002 and in all that time I have not seen anyone like
Dina Asher-Smith.”
She was the fastest teenager ever over 60m and 200m,
and holds the British records for both the 100m and 200m.
In the 4x100m relay, she won a silver medal at the 2017
World Championships, and bronze medals at the 2016 Rio
Olympics and the 2013 World Championships. She is also the
2016 European Champion at 200m, the 2014 World Junior
Champion at 100m, and the 2013 European Junior Champion
at 200m.
Asher-Smith, who hails from Orpington, Kent, first broke
the British 100m record with a time of 11.02secs on 24 May
2015, in Hengelo, before becoming the first British woman
to break 11 seconds when she ran 10.99 at the London
Anniversary Games on 25 July 2015.
When finishing fifth at the 2015 World Championships,
she broke Kathy Cook’s 31 year-old British record for the
200m, running 22.07secs. She also finished fifth in the 200m
final at the 2016 Olympics.
Incredibly, she achieved all of the above while studying
for a degree at Kings College, from where she graduated
with a 2:1.
Sport

92 Powerlist 2019