Dina Asher-Smith made a comfortable start with victory in her 100m heat
(Picture: Action Images via Reuters)Dina Asher-Smith and Reece Prescod eased through their 100 metre heats on the opening day of competition at the UK Athletics Championships.
World 200m champion Asher-Smith, who will defend her title in Eugene next month, ran 11.16 seconds in the first round of the 100m as she looks to book another slot on the British team.
Asher-Smith is joined by Daryll Neita in the semi-finals after she ran 11.04 seconds to win heat three.
“The aim was to qualify, come back tomorrow and lift it a bit. I’m good, I’m excited, I’ve been wanting to do another 100m for a few weeks after Prefontaine (Diamond League),” said Asher-Smith.
“There are a few things I’ve been wanting to work on and what we’ve worked on over the past few weeks.
“I have some more technical things I want to make sure I get right in these races ahead of Eugene.”
The 26-year-old’s chances of improving on the silver she won in Doha in 2019 were already boosted after Sha’Carri Richardson failed to progress in the 100m at the US trials.
Earlier in the afternoon, Reece Prescod clocked 10.22 seconds in an easy run with the sprinter having run a huge personal best of 9.93 seconds in Ostrava last month.
“It just gave me a bit of confidence. The previous week I was a bit upset with the relay (a DNF in Birmingham) and then I took that momentum into the next weekend and went for it,” he said.
“It was nice to be in that kind of field and feel comfortable with it. There is so much to do this season and I want to do it bit by bit.”
Keely Hodgkinson finished second in her 400m heat in 52.90 seconds, behind Victoria Ohuruogu, to progress as the 20-year-old uses the distance to build her speed for the 800m ahead of the World Championships.
“I’ve already got the auto qualifier for the 800m and I really wanted to compete but I thought I don’t have to do the 800m so I won’t. I wanted a challenge, the event is really deep,” she said.
“Because of the problems in the winter with the quads I haven’t been able to attack the speed work I wanted to. That’s the aim, work on the speed and see what happens.”
Meanwhile, Laura Muir, who won Olympic silver last year, stormed to victory in her 1500m heat in four minutes 11.34 seconds.
