TEAM GB PAIR DINA ASHER-SMITH AND DARYLL NEITA AGONISINGLY MISS OUT ON OLYMPIC MEDALS IN WOMEN'S 200M FINAL BY JUST 0.02 AND 0.03 SECONDS - AS FORMER WORLD CHAMPION INSISTS SHE IS 'PROUD' OF HER PERFORMANCE

Team GB had a double Olympic medal chance in the women's 200m final
Dina Asher-Smith and Daryll Neita finished fourth and fifth respectively
USA sprint star Gabby Thomas dominated the race to win Olympic gold

The pixels of a photo finish denied Dina Asher-Smith a medal in the final of the 200m on Tuesday night. It will serve as some consolation to her that she was at least in the race and competitive.

Just three days after bailing out of the 100m in a blur of anger and disappointment at the semi-final stage, taking fourth place was a show of progress.

But plainly there will be a nagging ache and it will primarily come from falling only 0.02sec short of her first individual Olympic medal. That bronze instead went to Brittany Brown, with her US team-mate Gabrielle Thomas taking the gold in 21.83, 0.25 ahead of the 100m champion Julien Alfred.

If there is a regret for Asher-Smith it will be contained in the knowledge that replicating her season’s best of 22.07 would have been good enough for silver.

Alas, it was not to be and so the 28-year-old will have to rely on the 4x100m relay, in which she has taken bronze at the past two Games, to salvage this trip.

The former world champion said: ‘I feel good and I feel proud. I was told I had to get out and keep going and if you die, you die. Women’s sprinting is incredible right now – if you go back to 2012 these kinds of times would have all done phenomenally well.’

Daryll Neita followed her fourth-placed finish in the 100 with fifth in the 200m, 0.01sec behind Asher-Smith. Her Olympics have had a far more uplifting feel.

She said: ‘It has been a fantastic Games for me. I know my time is coming – I have to be a little bit more patient.’

Earlier, Matthew Hudson-Smith qualified fourth fastest for Wednesday’s 400m final, but his time of 44.07sec was wildly misleading. Coming off the final bend, the 28-year-old was well clear of the field before easing up to such an extent in the last 70m he effectively walked over the line. He still beat the 2022 world champion Michael Norman by 0.19sec.

Given Hudson-Smith has been the quickest man in the world this year, his status as favourite for gold does not appear misplaced after global bronze and silver medals in the past two seasons.

Neither Lina Nielsen nor Jessie Knight progressed from the 400m hurdles semi-finals. Elizabeth Bird set a British record in finishing seventh in the 3,000m steeplechase and Jacob Fincham-Dukes took fifth in the long jump.

2024-08-06T20:23:36Z dg43tfdfdgfd