How Dina Asher-Smith must wish this season was not yet crossing the finish line. The Briton again showed her class on a dank and grizzly evening in Brussels, going toe-to-toe with the Olympic 100m champion, Julien Alfred, in the Diamond League final – and leaving the world champion, Sha’Carri Richardson, trailing in her slipstream.
On a night where another Briton, Charlie Dobson, was an 80-1 shock winner of the men’s 400m, and Jakob Ingebrigtsen got revenge over Cole Hocker in the men’s 1500m, Asher-Smith proved again that she remains one of the world’s top sprinters. What made the 28-year-old’s performance so impressive was that she did not make her usual blistering start. Yet she clung to Alfred like a limpet, and made the Saint Lucian dig deep for her victory in 10.88sec, with Asher-Smith taking second in 10.92.
Far behind was Richardson, who eased up and finished eighth, as Asher-Smith put a disappointing Paris Olympics – in which she failed to reach the 100m final and came fourth in the 200m – behind her.
Afterwards Julien said she had been inspired by negative comments after she lost to Richardson in Zurich last week. “I wanted to prove to myself that I deserve to be here,” she said. “Because after Zurich I watched the race on YouTube to analyse it – and I read some comments that said I was a one time thing.”
“These performances give me a lot of courage for next year,” Asher-Smith added. “I’m used to the European weather, but still, it was cold today.”
There are 82 Olympic medallists in Brussels for the two days of the Diamond League final, which marks the culmination of the outdoor season. However tired bodies combined with unseasonably chilly 12C temperatures and wet weather were never going to make for super-quick times.
The conditions certainly seem to affect Britain’s Matt Hudson-Smith, who was favourite for the 400m until he pulled up on the back straight with what appeared to be cramp.
That seemed to set the race up for the London 2012 gold medallist, Kirani James, and the American Vernon Norwood. But over the last 50 metres, Britain’s Dobson flew home to win in 44.49 ahead of James.
Dobson, who won a silver medal at the European championships but then failed to make the Olympic final in Paris, was understandably delighted. “I could have never imagined to have won tonight,” he said. “I am so happy. I just tried to run my own race and to enjoy myself.”
Another Briton, Georgia Bell, also put in a hugely impressive performance to take a sparkling second in the 800m behind the 2023 world champion, Mary Moraa.
Bell’s preferred event is the 1500m, in which she won bronze at the Olympics. However she had enough zip in her legs to take the race to Moraa – going past her with just under 200m to go before the Kenyan fought back to win in a season’s best 1min 56.56sec, nearly a second clear of Bell.
In the men’s 1500m, Ingebrigtsen saw off Hocker, who beat him in the Olympic final, and the American’s compatriot Yared Nuguse, who outsprinted him last week in Zurich to win in 3:30.37.
The women’s 400m was won with ease by the Olympic champion, Marileidy Paulino, in 49.45 – a time that was nearly a second clear of that of the American Alexis Holmes. However, it also left the 35,000 crowd in the King Baudouin Stadium wondering what might have been.
Because 11 minutes earlier, in an exhibition race, the American Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone ran 49.11 to go even quicker. It would have been some race between the pair. However McLaughlin-Levrone was not allowed to compete in the official event having not raced in the Diamond League all season.
“I felt the cramping,” said McLaughlin-Levrone, who broke her own 400m hurdles world record en route to gold in Paris. “That’s why I chose to run with long paints, just to be safe. But I felt strong during the race.”
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There was no pole vault world record for Mondo Duplantis, who decided to stop after a winning clearance of 6.11m because his legs were sore. “I had some good jumps tonight and I’m really happy about that performance,” the Swede said.
“Now it’s time to celebrate my beautiful season. I will drink some good Belgian beers tonight for sure.”
