Dina Asher-Smith wins first event in 16 months

British sprint star Dina Asher-Smith clinched the World Indoor Tour event  in Germany to launch her preparation ahead of Olympics.

After the deep freeze came the heat as Dina Asher-Smith crushed the field in Germany on Friday night to get her Olympic season started.

In her first competitive meet for 16 months, Asher-Smith matched her 60metres personal best with a 7.08secs victory at the World Indoor Tour event in Karlsruhe.

While the race was only a warm-up step towards the European Indoors in March, and in turn those championships serve merely as a preparatory exercise for the Olympics, Asher-Smith’s times in Germany were worthy of no

Her heat, which she won in 7.11sec, was her first indoor race for almost three years and her run in the final ranked 14th in the world across the past six seasons.

Clearly, her plan to train and finesse rather than compete through the dud season of 2020 has left her in strong shape – the 200m world champion led from the blocks and crossed 0.08sec ahead of France’s Orlann Ombissa-Dzangue.

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Asher-Smith, who races in Dusseldorf on Sunday, said: ‘It’s a long time since I competed so to equal my personal best I am really excited for what the season brings. We wanted to focus on the indoor season to make sure we are sharp going into the Olympics.