Dina Asher-Smith put one last dollop of icing on her stunning week in Doha by winning another silver medal in the 4x100m relay – and become the first British athlete ever to win three world athletics championship medals.
Asher-Smith, who glided to gold and silver in the 200m and 100m earlier in the week, ran a storming second leg as Britain’s women took silver behind Jamaica. Minutes later the British men’s 4x100m team repeated the trick, breaking the European record to come second behind a stacked US quartet, to bring Britain’s medal haul to five at these world championships.
Afterwards Asher-Smith praised her teammates, Daryll Neita, Asha Philip and Ashleigh Nelson, for helping her achieve an historic hat-trick – especially as Philip had to replace Imani-Lara Lansiquot, who aggravated a thigh injury just before the race. “We all handled the situation fantastically,” said Asher-Smith, after the British team had come home in a season’s best 41.85sec. “It is a testament to our experience as a squad. We have done how many championships now? We have the experience to switch people around and it was almost a PB with no practice in warm-up areas. This is a team event, and it is testament to our hard work.”
Neita, meanwhile, lavished compliments on Asher-Smith. “She knows how proud we are,” she said. “She’s been doing her thing since day one. She’s killing it, she’s smashing it. She’s a G. You are doing bits, darling. You are doing bits.”
Philip, who ran a superb first leg before passing the baton to Asher-Smith, added: “Imani wasn’t feeling 100%. I was ready as a team member. In the relay you have to be ready for any situation. Imani didn’t feel comfortable and stood aside as she didn’t want to put team into jeopardy.”
If anything the British men’s team of Adam Gemili, Zharnel Hughes, Richard Kilty and Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake were even more impressive on the night, setting a European record of 37.36 to take silver behind a US team that ran 37.10 – the third fastest time in history – despite Hughes feeling a hamstring niggle just before the race. “It felt incredible,” said Kilty. “What more could we ask? It took the third fastest time in history to beat us. That was the best team America have ever assembled. Zharnel, what a warrior. He went through a pulled hamstring to deliver me that baton. And we’re so proud of each other.”
It has been quite some transformation for Britain’s men’s squad, who for the best part of a decade were a byword for incompetence and rancour.
Incredibly, having been disqualified or having messed up in five of six major global finals between the 2008 Olympics and the 2015 world championships, they have won a gold and a silver at the last two global events.
So what changed? Those inside the team say that after the nadir of nadirs at the 2015 world championships – when the team turned on each other in Beijing after bungling their final changeover – they had help from British Athletics’ lead performance psychologist, Jen Savage, who has spent the last few years turning strife into harmony.
“Jen Savage has been absolutely amazing,” said Kilty. “And the work she’s done has been incredible. But we had to buy into that. You know, we’re like a family. We have so much faith in each other, it’s just amazing.”
“I believe we can run 36 seconds,” he added. “We get faster every single year no matter who is in the team.”
However on the night they were no match for the US squad of Christian Coleman, Justin Gatlin, Michael Rodgers and Noah Lyles, who blitzed to glory. When it was put to Kilty that Coleman had faced issues with missing doping tests and Gatlin had been banned twice, he added: “I don’t want to be the one to cause controversy again but you all know my thoughts.”
Elsewhere, both Laura Weightman and Eilish McColgan ran personal bests as they finished seventh and 10th in the women’s 5,000m final.
Weightman, who ran 14min 44.57sec, said: “It’s mixed emotions I think. I’m delighted with my PB, but I know I’m in 14:30 shape and when the gap was made I couldn’t cover it. There’s a lot more to come and in my first global championships to come seventh I am delighted.”
Meanwhile McColgan, who was 10th in 14:46.17, added: “I knew from training that I was in great shape but it is not easy going out and setting the pace for everyone. It’s a little bit frustrating. I would have liked to have pushed into that top eight.”
The race was won by Kenya’s Hellen Obiri in a championship record 14:26.72, while her compatriot Margaret Kipkemboi was second just under three seconds back. The German Konstanze Klosterhalfen, who was coached at the Nike Oregon Project by Alberto Salazar until his drug ban last week, took bronze.