After a year spent living a new life in Austin, Texas, Dina Asher-Smith is back in London making up for lost time. He had spent weeks since the Paris Olympics rollercoastering around the city seeing family and friends, going out for coffee and dinner, and even going clubbing.
He calls it his “normal life”, as if athletics is another world, and perhaps this is the part of leaving that he never considered: coming back. It has made him realize how much he missed home.
“I’m definitely a London girl,” she says, speaking from her new home in the capital. Soon he would be called back to his training base in Texas. “Obviously the warm weather there is very pleasant, but I like the crowds, I like riding in black cabs and talking to the driver, I like the restaurants, I like to see my friends. I’m building a community here.”
He managed to cram in the week-long Indian wedding of a school friend in between two impressive performances on the European circuit of the Diamond League.
“There is no way the wedding will go ahead and I won’t be there. After I returned from Paris we spent the whole day wedding dress shopping. It was a good way to end a season that has changed a lot for me.
Asher-Smith made the bold move to the US last winter, amicably parting ways with long-time coach John Blackie. He teamed up with renowned US coach Edrick ‘Flo’ Floreal to work with a raft of leading sprinters, including Olympic 100m champion Julian Alfred.
The decision has been proven. Although a tearful 100m semi-final elimination may be the lasting image of the Olympics, it hardly describes the season. He bounced back to finish fourth in the 200m final and win silver in the 4x100m, in a summer that started with 100m gold at the European Championships and ended with a bang at the Diamond League.
After spending years immersing himself in new ideas, surrounded by impossibly high standards, Asher-Smith has breathed new life into his career, staying fit and running as fast as ever.
“I’m really excited because I’m running in track and field right now, which I owe to shaking up the environment,” she said. “There’s nothing wrong with me being in London – I really love my previous coach, John, he’s like another father. It’s just that sometimes a change is mentally good and stimulating. It brings a new perspective and makes everything really fun again.
“It has a new point of reference, and people with new eyes look at you and say, ‘Oh, you can do that, crazy’, and I just take it and be like, it’s normal for me.”
I made a mistake, then I corrected it, and went and did really well in the last three Diamond Leagues
Asher-Smith in the Olympic 100m exit
This is the first time in Asher-Smith’s life that he has lived elsewhere for a sustained period of time and he is, he admits, a fish out of water in Austin.
“It’s really hot. I wake up every day and the first thing in my head is to make sure I’m hydrating. I know that if I don’t prepare for the day drinking water, drinking electrolytes from the moment I wake up, my training will not go smoothly…
“Just being able to experience a different way of life is really stimulating. He likes barbecue, he likes tacos. The biggest change is what he does to relax, which is to relax in the pool with his friends,” he laughs, “which is good for me too .”
He has an interest in the upcoming US election, while managing to keep any conversation close. “Austin is a liberal city,” he smiles. “I think it’s interesting because I got a history degree, so that’s how I see it, but nobody talks about it. It’s not like England where everybody has an opinion. Maybe if I was in New York or LA it would be different, but you don’t will understand, trust me, it’s wild.”
Asher-Smith is just two months away from the Olympics and life has been busy since then – she has just finished filming an Amazon commercial with fellow British record holder Zharnel Hughes where “we’re having a lot of fun, just laughing”. He has been working hard to make progress and learn from the Olympic 100m event, with a tortured relationship. Twice has ended at the semi-final stage in tears: in Tokyo due to a niggling injury, and in Paris after what he called a mistake in his mental approach.
“I made a mistake, then I corrected it, and then I did well in the last three Diamond Leagues. Sometimes it’s just about the attitude and the energy you bring to the starting line. Different emotional moods work for different people. When you’re in a new coaching setup , this is what you think about on the road.
“No one in this life, including athletes, is perfect. But all you can do when it happens is learn from it and not make the same mistakes and move on.
His Diamond League performances – running 10.88, 10.89 and 10.92 – proved that Paris was behind him, as he knocked on the door of the British record of 10.83. In the race, he took part in a battle with the new sprint queen Alfred, as well as Sha’Carri Richardson from America.
Ahead of next year’s World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, there is a sense that the fit Asher-Smith could challenge for the individual global title, six years after winning the 200m world championship in Doha. In the end, that’s why he left his London comfort zone. And in 2025, their new surroundings may be more comfortable.
“I’m very happy to attack the Worlds, to return to the cycle of training again in a program that I know works for me, and works for my body, the biggest thing that you fear when you make a change. . I hope to attack in the year second, when I only know and what is to come, and when everything is not new.
Dina Asher-Smith and GB teammate Zharnel Hughes have helped Amazon deliver faster ahead of Prime Big Deal Days, a two-day deal event on October 8 and 9. To watch in action visit www.instagram.com/amazonuk/
