So dogged was Dina Asher-Smith’s pursuit of her first individual world medal that she refused to allow bread, sweets or wine to touch her lips for several months before arriving in Doha. Now, though, she can savour something even sweeter: a stunning 100m personal best, a new national record of 10.83sec and, most of all, a sparkling silver medal.
“I woke up with this intention and, when I stood on the line, I thought: ‘Right, this is your time’.” she said, beaming from ear to ear after finishing behind the legendary Jamaican Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, who blasted to victory in 10.71. “I would have loved to have won. But this is more than you can ask for in a world.”
The power of Asher-Smith’s smile as she spoke had enough megawatts to light up the Khalifa Stadium. The great tragedy was that barely a thousand spectators were there to witness it. It made a mockery of the decision to take these championships to Doha. What is the point of venturing into new territories when the response is such staggering apathy?
Of course Asher-Smith craved gold. But it was no disgrace to lose to the 32-year-old Fraser-Pryce, who claimed her fourth 100m world championship title, one more than Usain Bolt. Add in her two Olympic titles and her 13 times under 10.80sec, more than any other woman in history, and she has a legitimate claim to be considered the greatest ever. Even more remarkably it came after the birth of her child, Zion, last year. As Asher-Smith admitted: “I am a championship performer and I would have loved to have won. But Shelly-Ann did a fantastic performance. That is why she has so many titles and is a legend.”
Asher-Smith – who become the first British woman since Kathy Cook in 1983 to claim a world championship sprint medal – spent Sunday morning watching Great British Bake Off to help her relax and she certainly looked comfortable as her name was announced before the start, blowing kisses to the sparse crowd.
Fraser-Pryce, meanwhile, waved regally, like an empress, before delivering again. Marie-Josie Ta Lou took bronze in 10.90, with the Olympic champion Elaine Thompson fourth in 10.93. The good news for the Briton, however, is Fraser-Pryce will not be in the 200m when it begins on Monday evening as her coach doesn’t think she is ready to double up after coming back from having a baby, while Ta Lou also admitted she may have to pull out because of a slight niggle. That, surely, should leave the path clear for Asher-Smith to grab gold in the longer race, although she was quick to play down expectations. Nevertheless it is only two years since the 23-year-old from Kent finished a history degree at King’s College, London. Since then, she has been busy scribbling fresh chronicles of her own. Last year she became the first British athlete to claim a treble of European titles at the same event. Now she wants to be the first UK athlete to win three medals at a world championship. On this evidence who would bet against her?
Certainly Fraser-Pryce was impressed. “I cannot tell you what Dina is capable of,” she said. “That is a question for her. But it is a remarkable feeling to line up against women like that who can fight to the line. Dina had a PB and that is awesome. She will inspire a lot of athletes in Britain that you don’t have to come from the US or Jamaica.”
Meanwhile there was gold for another track and field legend as Allyson Felix won her 12th world championship title – and the first since having a baby last year – in the first-ever running of the mixed 4x400m relay. The Polish team put their two male athletes in the open legs and led by 50 metres after the second lap but their anchor leg athlete, Justyna Swiety-Ersetic, was eventually swallowed up by the US team, who won gold, the Jamaicans, who took silver, and Bahrainian team, who claimed bronze.
However there was disappointment for Britain’s team of Rabah Yousif, Zoey Clark, Emily Diamond and Martyn Rooney who finished fourth after a poor final baton change.
Denise Lewis, the former Olympic gold medallist and BBC commentator, has joined the chorus of those criticising the decision to stage the World Championships in Doha, calling the attendances "shocking" and accusing the IAAF of “letting athletes down massively”.
The event, which usually takes place in August, has been beset with tiny attendances and complaints of excessive heat and humidity by numerous athletes, including the world decathlon champion Kevin Mayer, who said it was a “disaster” to come to Qatar.
Lewis has now waded into the row that has overshadowed these championships, saying the event was even worse than she expected. “We waited until October to have stands like this – empty. It’s shocking,” she said. “I don’t think it’s right. Our governing body has let our athletes down, massively. I didn’t expect it to be this bad. The athletes deserve people, an energy and an atmosphere to thrive on.”
The Guardian broke the story last week that only 50,000 tickets had been sold for the 10 days of competition – and that thousands of migrant workers with free tickets would be bused in to help fill the stadium. And even though some of the stands have been blanked out and the capacity of the Khalifa International Stadium reduced from 40,000 to 24,000, it has often been barely half full.
The IAAF has also been accused of treating some of its stars as guinea pigs by making marathon runners and race walkers compete in 31C heat and high humidity.
And on Sunday evening Adam Gemili also expressed his frustration, saying that even the sparsely attended British championships in Birmingham was better. “It’s a weird world champs,” he said. “It’s very strange. It makes the British Champs look quite good! You do notice it.”
Gemili shrugged when asked whether the IAAF had made the right decision. “It’s not in our hands. We have no say. We get told to turn up and run and that’s what we do. It makes no difference to us. Hopefully Goldie Sayers can get on the commission. She does great stuff and is passionate about track and field. If she gets selected things will start happening.”
There also looked to be no more than 1,000 spectators watching on Sunday night when Dina Asher-Smith won a silver medal, leading the BBC's Steve Cram to say: "The sad thing for me is that it was in front of a pretty empty stadium. This must be the least amount of people I've ever seen at a major championship."
Sean Ingle
And there was also heartbreak for Britain’s Holly Bradshaw as she finished fourth in the women’s pole vault despite a leap of 4.80m – only one centimetre short of her outdoor personal best. The 27-year-old, who was dropped by Nike earlier this year, admitted: “It does hurt a little bit. The hardest thing for me is there was a moment where I felt I almost had my hand around a medal.”
The gold was claimed by the Russian Anzhelika Sidorova, competing as an authorised neutral athlete, with a clearance of 4.95m while the American Sandi Morris took silver and Katerina Stefanidi of Greece ended up with bronze. There was also no joy for Britain’s three men in the 800m semi-final as Elliot Giles, Jamie Webb and Kyle Langford all crashed out. Langford, who was fourth in London 2017, looked particularly unlucky as he was bumped and barged in the final straight and looked exasperated when asked if it had affected his chances of making the final.
“One million percent,” he said. “I was closing quicker than anyone in the home straight, and I was making good ground. But the Kenyan three times cut me up. They have ruined the race.”
