As the British team bid arrivederci to Rome, and turned their sights towards July’s Olympics in Paris, the mood was cautiously upbeat. True, no one in the squad lit up the Eternal City with a performance for the ages. But 13 medals were won, and the biggest names delivered when their backs were against the wall.
The way Dina Asher-Smith ran a sub 11-second 100m, after the worst start of her career, to win individual gold left a lingering impression. Keely Hodgkinson also deserves enormous credit for rising from her sickbed and using her street smarts to retain her 800m title. There is also a growing sense that the women’s 4x100m squad – Asher-Smith, Amy Hunt, Desiree Henry, Asha Phillip and Daryll Neita – could do something special at the Stade de France.
