Dina Asher-Smith runs the 60m in Torun
Dina Usher-Smith will compete in the 60m at the World Indoor Championships later this week. It will be his first World Indoors appearance in 10 years after being a semifinalist in Portland. In 2015, he won a silver medal at the European indoor championship.
Dina has a new coach this year. In 2023, he left his coach of 19 years. John Black, connect Edric Floreal Austin in Texas. Two years later, he returned to London, but has now relocated to work at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. Michael Ford.
When I spoke with him last week, I asked him about his decision to compete in an indoor championship for the first time in years. He told me. “I’m just having fun, to be honest. I run the 100, 200, sometimes the 400 – I think I’ll run the 400 outdoors soon because the relay meets in America start right after the World Indoors. I have to talk, but it might sound like I’m running a hot 400 like everyone else can get down. Take the short sprinters, but I was just having fun, but like I said, it was very fluid because you have to have setbacks or things don’t go their way, but it can be fun. I’ve always been a great starter and the last few years I’ve been in the first leg of the relay, I’ve just had some really fun opportunities starting there.”
So far this year he has run 7.08 to win the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix in Boston, followed by a 7.10 to win at the Millrose Games in New York and a 7.05 to win the GB Champs. He said of GB’s victory. “I’m really happy with that time. After all, I came here to win, to perform well and to have a good championship, so I’m happy that I was able to develop the stages. 7.0 is always great so I’m really happy. Women’s sprints have been a major event for the past decade. As an athlete, it always forces you to bring your A game to any race.”
He enjoys being back in Texas, describing Coach Ford as “very nice, very calm, very kind and everything makes a lot of sense, and that’s all you really want as an athlete, right? It’s what you want as a person in life, and it just isn’t, and sometimes that’s all you need.” He added that chasing after Trayvon Bromell during practice wasn’t always fun.
“I think it’s due to the temperament of my new coach and the environment he creates. When you reach a certain point in your career, you realize the importance of the relationships you have. Obviously I have my own goals and my goals coming into the season. It’s all very much about how your career will go. What kind of events do you want to host? Don’t always go 100% planning. So things have been very fluid and evolving and I’m just grateful that we’re in a place where the progression and evolution of our indoor season has put us in a good position going into the World Indoor Championships.
And as Laura Muir says, “a happy athlete is a fast athlete.”
