'It feels odd to be a role model for other women': Dina Asher-Smith on the Road to Tokyo 2020

From Women's Health

The 24-year-old Olympian, missed out on a 200m podium finish in Rio in 2016 – but she's been chipping away at her time ever since.

Since then, she’s brought home 200m and 100m gold at the 2018 European Championships in Berlin, not to mention her record-breaking 200m win at the World Championships Doha last year. In the blink of an eye (21.88 seconds, to be exact) the Nike athlete became the 200m World Champion and fastest ever British female. And Britain's hope for Tokyo 2020 gold.

It's been a long day for the young Londoner on the set of a documentary for Nike (Dina’s the star, naturally) when we meet her, tucked into the back of a repurposed double-decker bus in the parking lot of Norman Park Athletics Track in Bromley – both the set of the doc, and her usual stomping ground.

'I've been coming to the same track since I was 8 years old,' she says 'Being here, training in my community and with my friends – it's the best way to stay happy. And a happy Dina is a fast Dina.'

Despite the long hours she’s spent racing around the track in front of the cameras (par for the course, probably), it's clear how comfortable she is here. She greets WH with the mega-watt smile she’s famous for and a big hug – because being Britain’s fastest woman doesn’t begin and end with the track. And she'll be the first to tell you so.

'I've been coming to the same track since I was 8 years old,' she says 'Being here, training in my community and with my friends – it's the best way to stay happy. And a happy Dina is a fast Dina.'

It's clear how comfortable she is here. She greets WH with the mega-watt smile she’s famous for and a big hug – because being Britain’s fastest woman doesn’t begin and end with the track. And she'll be the first to tell you so.

We sat down with Asher-Smith to talk about her gruelling regime, her love of London and her penchant for apple crumble.

Being a role model

‘It feels odd [to be a role model to other women] I have to say, because in my head I’m just still trying to go and be the best athlete that I can be. It’s very humbling, because it reminds you that what you do on track resonates with other people. That what I do is more than “just running”. So it reminds you [of] the power of sport and it that sometimes what you’re doing on track is bigger than just that moment.’

Workout regimen

‘I’m in the gym 3 days a week – on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. It’s all about making sure that I’m getting stronger for the track. I do a lot of bodyweight work: things like press ups and pull ups. There’s also lots of coordination, stability and core work. I’ll usually have one of my strength and conditioning coaches there guiding me through each session, telling me if I’m doing it right, making sure I’m moving efficiently. My favourite kind of work out involves power work – something that involves lots of explosive pushes, throwing of med balls, stuff like that.’

Track sessions

‘I’m at the track on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday. Again, it varies day to day, depending on the programme. The whole session usually takes between 2 and 2 and a half hours. I’ll start with 30 minutes of prep work with the physio and masseuse, to get my body in the right positions to run. Then I do mobility stretches, activation work and go into drills to prepare my body for movement ­– so movements like low skips just to get my heart rate up. Once that’s done, we get to the actual running. You only end up sprinting about 20 minutes in total. Obviously, that’s not 20 minutes of [constant] running. We’ll do various reps – 100m, 200m, 50m – with our recovery in between. We’ll cool down for about 15 minutes after that, then have half an hour of massage. It’s what you need to do to make sure you run well.’

Keeping motivated

‘I don’t ever really “not feel like it” [when it comes to training]. Mainly because I just have to – if you want to get better and you want to be faster you have to work hard. And obviously, working hard involves going to the gym and doing your best. So, it’s never really a matter of not doing it. It’s just a case of showing up, being awake, alert and ready to perform to your max.’

Fuelling right

‘For breakfast, I’ll probably have something like eggs, fruit and granola. Just high protein, healthy. I’m not really huge on things like protein shakes. I try to get everything from natural sources so [for protein], perhaps like a yoghurt, lots of fibre, making sure I’m getting [an] array of vitamins, antioxidants. But I definitely tend to go for food-based nutrition [over supplements]. When it comes to treats, it changes year on year. Depends what I’m craving but at the moment, definitely apple crumble.’

Preventing injury

'Well, making sure that your body is strong and stable, coordinated is the most important part of injury prevention – we call it prehab. There’s no point looking at your body’s weaknesses after you’re injured. That’s too late. So you’ve just got to make sure that your body’s able to balance the load properly and whether it can cope with the training that you’re putting it through, whether it can cope with the speed you’re hopefully going to run at – which I do both on the gym and the track.'

Downtime

‘I have one rest day a week, which I’ll use to see my friends for a coffee, chill or just sleep. I think most athletes just sleep. It’s just – when you’ve got a rest day, you need to use it. Rest. Go for a coffee. See your friends. Netflix. I love a bit of Netflix – I just finished Dynasty. It was amazing. Before that, I was watching ‘You’ which was also really good.’

Good luck charms

‘I don’t have good luck charms or anything like that because I always just think, the one time you lose it, you’ll have a breakdown.’

Travelling

‘I’m from the suburbs, the leafy part of London, so I guess I miss the calm and the nature when I’m away ­– which sounds very contradictory to the stereotypical view of London. But obviously London has its quiet bits as well and I like the calm. Also, I like the diversity. All the nice restaurants too!’

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