It has been a while since Dina Asher-Smith has enjoyed the thrill of leaving high-class 100m sprinters in her slipstream, but there were reassuring hints of her imperious best as she held on for victory in front of her home fans in Birmingham.
In her first major win since suffering a hamstring injury before last year’s Olympics, Asher-Smith exploded out of the blocks and had enough in the tank to fend off the fast-finishing Tokyo bronze medallist, Shericka Jackson, to win by 0.01sec.
The time – 11.11sec – was nothing special, especially in an era of super spikes, but on a blustery day and on a new track that worryingly seemed to lack the speed and zest of most modern surfaces, she was not complaining.
“It was good for my first 100m of the season against a very strong field,” said Asher-Smith, who beat team-mate Darryl Neita into third and the Olympic 200m bronze medallist, Gabby Thomas, into fifth. “I’ve never been much of a time person because sometimes you can execute a recipe of movements and it’s a mad headwind or it’s freezing cold. I just don’t think it’s ever wise to get bogged down in whether it’s a good time, although I’ll take it.”
The 200m world champion in 2019 also hinted there was plenty more to come as she seeks to make up for lost time due to the pandemic and injury. “I feel like I’ve progressed and have more scope in both 100m and 200m,” she said. “We’ve worked really hard over the past three years to get that. In 2019, I was just a different person, mentally, and in a different position physically.”
Asher-Smith was the headline act of what was the first major event to be held at the Alexander Stadium, which has been renovated at a cost of £72m for the Commonwealth Games. But there were plenty of other impressive performances from British athletes, with the standout being Keely Hodgkinson who led from the front to win the women’s 800m in 1min 58.63sec – nearly a second clear of her nearest rival.
“Having run 1.55 last year, my aim this year is to be running 1.58s, 1.57s, 1.56s regularly,” said Hodgkinson, who won Olympic silver in Tokyo. “I didn’t want to lose today, I want to be more consistent and beat people regularly.”
There was also a front-running victory for another Olympic silver medallist, Laura Muir, as she marked her return from injury in the 1500m in 4min 02:81sec, ahead of Australia’s Jessica Hull. “To come here and win in my first race of the season I am really, really happy,” said Muir. “The win was more important than the time especially as it was quite windy out there.”
There was a shock in the men’s 100m as the pre-race favourites Trayvon Bomell and Zharnel Hughes made false starts and Canada’s Aaron Brown won in 10.13 having not originally been entered in the race.
“I was just coming to do the relay and then I asked to get in the 100m,” he said. “They only put me in the B race and then the A race opened up so I did all three and it paid off.”
Trailing far behind were three Britons: Nathaneel Mitchell-Blake, who ran 10.31, Adam Gemili in 10.38 and Reece Prescod in 10.65. The BBC pundit Michael Johnson was especially critical of Hughes’s efforts, saying: “Hughes has false-started every race I’ve seen him entered over the last year. At this point he’s taking a lane that should go to someone who’s going to finish the race.”
Matthew Hudson-Smith has had a torrid time with injuries in recent years but there were hints of his best as he won the 400m in 45.32. “I always thought I could come back but it is great to actually prove it,” he said.
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Britain’s 1500m Tokyo bronze medallist Josh Kerr was fifth in a race won by Abel Kipsang in 3:35:15, although less than a second separated the top six.
Another British Tokyo medallist, Holly Bradshaw, failed to clear a height in a pole vault competition won by the American Sandi Morris in 4.73m.
