Florence Griffith Joyner’s imposing and controversial women’s 100m world record of 10.49sec could finally fall this summer, Dina Asher-Smith has forecast.
The British sprinter insisted that the rapid improvements in spike and track technology meant “nothing is impossible” for modern athletes – including surpassing Flo-Jo’s iconic 100m and 200m records set in 1988.
Last summer the Olympic champion Elaine Thompson-Herah ran 100m in 10.54 on the lightning-fast track in Eugene where the world championships will be staged in July. And Asher-Smith predicted that with a stronger tailwind and more boisterous fans behind the athletes, history could be made.
“I think someone can break it, definitely, given the advantages of shoe technology, definitely given the increase in track technology,” said Asher-Smith, who runs her first 100m of the season at the Birmingham Diamond League on Saturday. “I ran in Eugene and that track was great.
“That, plus all the advantages – the competition, nice winds, amazing crowds, we have all been starved of crowds because of the pandemic.
“We shouldn’t put limits on ourselves,” she added. “When you stop thinking about limits and focus on the processes, who knows what can be achieved? Everything seems impossible until it’s done.”
If Griffith Joyner’s 100m world record was to fall it would be greeted with relief by many fans. At the time eyebrows were raised about the American’s rapid improvement, although she never failed a drugs test, as well as whether the wind gauge was correct when she set her record.
And when Asher-Smith, whose personal best of 10.83 is a British record, was asked whether she might be the one to break it, she did not demur. “If I said no, what would you say?” she asked. “Crazier things have been done and nothing is impossible. I’m excited to go out there and put together some really good races. Who knows?”
Asher-Smith’s confidence is based on a belief that she is a far better athlete than when she won the 200m world title in 2019 – her only frustration being that she has not been able to show it due to the pandemic and a hamstring injury before last summer’s Tokyo Olympics.
“It’s been a long, long time since I ran a PB and I’m definitely one of those people who tries to PB year on year,” she said. “It has been annoying. But I’m confident in the work that I’ve done. Just how much of a different person, different athlete I am since 2019 – it’s light years away. When I peak, which is championship time, it will be amazing to lay down some really good times.”
Asher-Smith is the headline act in a mouthwatering Diamond League that features multiple Olympic medallists in action, including the Britons Keely Hodgkinson and Laura Muir in the women’s 800m and 1500m respectively, Josh Kerr in the men’s 1500m, and Holly Bradshaw in the pole vault.
A capacity crowd of 16,000 will cheer the athletes on, and the event will be shown live on BBC One. But Asher-Smith conceded that the sport needed to do more to attract bigger audiences.
“A Netflix show would be brilliant,” she said. “It would provide a really good insight to get to know what we are like. I would also like to have more events in the major cities, maybe get some more street races back. Make sure we have lots of fun, energetic, energised events. I think that should be the priority to engage Gen Z.”
It would also help if athletes were more forthcoming in interviews and the hugely likable Kerr did that this week when he said he “didn’t want to be on a yoghurt pot”.
That was an oblique reference to UK Athletics’ sponsor Müller, which has used British stars to promote its yoghurts, but it did not go down well with all his teammates. On Friday, Kerr took the controversy in his stride.
“How boring is our sport when that’s making headlines for three days?” he joked. “We need sponsors but I just like to have a bit of fun.
“And from a personal standpoint, I’ve been in the sport since I was nine years old and I want to be at the top of the world. When I do that, then we can start talking about me being a poster boy for cereal boxes and yoghurts.”
