Britain’s 200m world champion Dina Asher-Smith equaled her personal best (PB) over 60m, as she clocked 7.08 seconds in winning the women’s final at Karlsruhe’s indoor meet on Friday in her first race for well over a year.
“I was really, really happy,” Asher-Smith told the Daily Telegraph after having just missed the British record.
“It’s been a strange year for us all and been quite a long time since I’ve competed on the international stage, so I wasn’t quite sure what to expect — but to equal my PB is really good,” Asher-Smith said.
Photo: AP
Less than six months before the Tokyo Olympics get underway, Asher-Smith dominated the field, with the meet held behind closed doors due to COVID-19.
Compatriot Asha Philip, the 2017 European indoor champion, was fifth in a time of 7.22 seconds, short of her British record time of 7.06 seconds.
Asher-Smith was the fastest semi-finalist, clocking 7.11 seconds, in her first indoor race for three years and her first international race for 15 months.
“We missed a whole year of high-level competition,” said Asher-Smith, who wants to focus on the indoor season to ensure that she is “race sharp going into the Olympic outdoor season.”
“While the world has been really weird, we can’t forget that we have the biggest prize in track and field up for grabs this year,” Asher-Smith added.
The British sprinter is set to race in Duesseldorf today and Lievin on Feb. 9.
The 25-year-old could also run at the European Indoor Championships in Turon, Poland, on March 5 to 7, for which she has already qualified.
Britain’s former European bronze medalist Elliot Giles claimed victory in the men’s 800m, when he ran 1:45.50 ahead of France’s 2017 world champion Pierre-Ambroise Bosse, who finished third.
Kenya’s world steeplechase champion Beatrice Chepkoech clocked 8:41.98 in winning the women’s 3,000m final.
Cuba’s world indoor champion Juan Miguel Echevarria won the men’s long jump with a season’s leading distance of 8.18m. There was a surprise in the women’s shot-put as Portugal’s Auriol Dongmo threw a PB of 19.65m.
It added nearly half a meter to the previous world leading distance of Germany’s Christina Schwanitz, who finished in fifth place.
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