How Dina Asher-Smith must wish this season was not yet crossing the finish line. The Briton again showed her class on a dank and grizzly evening in Brussels, going toe-to-toe with the Olympic 100m champion, Julien Alfred, in the Diamond League final – and leaving the world champion, Sha’Carri Richardson, trailing in her slipstream.
On a night where another Briton, Charlie Dobson, was an 80-1 shock winner of the men’s 400m, and Jakob Ingebrigtsen got revenge over Cole Hocker in the men’s 1500m, Asher-Smith proved again that she remains one of the world’s top sprinters. What made the 28-year-old’s performance so impressive was that she did not make her usual blistering start. Yet she clung to Alfred like a limpet, and made the Saint Lucian dig deep for her victory in 10.88sec, with Asher-Smith taking second in 10.92.
