Asher-Smith in form
Race walker Tom Bosworth says having already achieved his dream of reaching an Olympics, the most important thing is that he now makes the most of the opportunity.
The Tonbridge AC star won the TeamGB 20k race walking trials near his base in Leeds to rubber-stamp his place having already achieved the Olympic qualifying standard with his time of 80.41 set in Slovakia in March to break a 28-year-old British record.
Four years ago, Sevenoaks-born Bosworth was just 19 seconds short of the qualifying time for London in a race lasting more than an hour and 20 minutes and admitted: “I have thought about that number a lot since then – luckily this year the time was While Adam Gemili and Jack Green were already part of TeamGB in 2012, Dina AsherSmith spent that glorious summer as a volunteer at the Games and running at Ashford, Tonbridge and Canterbury. The 20-year-old sprint star, from Orpington, won the Kent Championships at the Julie Rose Stadium and helped her club Blackheath & Bromley to success in the Southern Athletics League Division 2 South East the month after the last Olympic medals were handed out. This time she’s hoping to be on the podium after being chosen to contest the 200m and 4x100m relay in Rio. Britain’s fastest woman – who broke British records in the 60m, 100m and 200m last year and one thing I didn’t have to worry about.
“I had to tick all the boxes and I’ve done that. I had the time behind me but I couldn’t afford to be complacent.
“I am lucky enough to have built a bit of a gap on my competition but I still had to go out there, focus and make sure I have got automatic selection.”
Bosworth’s Olympic qualifying time set in the IAAF Race Walking Challenge in Slovakia would have secured a medal at three of the past seven world was crowned European 200m champion last month – heads to the Games in fine form after clocking her fourth fastest ever 100m time, in the London Anniversary Games into a strong breeze. She claimed: “I was happy. Headwinds are the most annoying thing for a sprinter. I am in PB shape. I was disappointed not to have run a personal best but that’s just my own high standards. I was happy with myself especially as it’s not my favourite distance, I’m going for the 200m in Rio.” Asher-Smith’s national 200m record of 22.07sec came as she took fifth in the World Championship final in Beijing last year, a race won by Rio favourite, Holland’s Dafne Schippers. competitions and although the 26-year-old admitted that thoughts of a podium finish were his dream, he wanted to improve on his showing at the World Championships in Beijing last year when he was outside the top-20. He said: “I can’t wait. I’m looking forward to it all but the thought of being on the start line is the one that keeps coming back to me. The most important thing, now I am there, is that I make the most of it. “I have done everything I possibly could to give myself the best chance.” The Rio race walk starts at 6.30pm BST next Friday (August 12).