Tokyo 2020 - Dina Asher-Smith tipped by coach Christian Malcolm to beat her PB to win Olympic sprint gold

ByNadeem Badshah

Published 28/07/2021 at 21:37 GMT

Ahead of making her Tokyo Olympics bow in the 100m heats on Friday, Christian Malcolm, The Olympic programme head coach for British Athletics, has compared sprinter Dina Asher-Smith to Linford Christie. He also believes Smith can beat her personal best of 10.83 in the 100m to win gold despite the threat of Jamaica's Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and become the first British woman to do so.

Dina Asher-Smith can break her 100m personal best to win gold and has the same aura about her as sprint icon Linford Christie, according to British Athletics coach Christian Malcolm.

The reigning world champion moved into the Olympic Village on Wednesday, later than her Great Britain teammates, having decided to stay longer in camp in Yokohama.

Asher-Smith’s main rival in the 100m and 200m is expected to be Shelly-Ann Fraser Pryce, who has run 10.63sec this year, nearly 0.3sec quicker than the British sprinter which makes her the second quickest woman ever behind Florence Griffith Joyner.

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Malcolm believes that the 25-year-old, who is due to start her Games in the 100m heats on Friday, would need to break her 100m personal best of 10.83 sec to win gold.

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The Olympic programme head coach for British Athletics said: “I think she will.

“It’s going to take that if she wants to be on top of the podium.

“But Dina knows that she knows she’s more than capable of doing that.

"We know Dina has got a great head on her shoulders. We know Shelly-Ann has as well. But do the rest of the girls?”

Britain's Christian Malcolm looks at the clock after his men's 200m semi-final during the London 2012 Olympic Games at the Olympic Stadium August 8, 2012.

Image credit: Reuters

Asher-Smith is aiming to become the first British woman to win Olympic gold over 100m or 200m.

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She won world 200m gold and 100m silver in Doha in 2019 and in the last Olympics in Rio in 2016 she took home bronze in the 4x100m relay.

Malcolm, a former 200m runner, added: “The one thing about Dina is that she’s built up in an aura of being able to win.

“It reminds me a little bit of Linford back in the day.

“Linford didn’t always run the fastest times, but he would always be competitive and able to beat these top guys when it mattered.

“I feel that Dina has that aura, too.”

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