Dina Asher-Smith in race to be fit for Commonwealth Games after relay nightmare at World Championships | News News

The 26-year-old, who won 200m bronze on Thursday, pulled up with an injury ahead of the final changeover with Daryll Neita in the 4x100m on Saturday; Elsewhere, skipper Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake insists it is time to look to the future after Great Britain’s men’s relay bronze.

Dina Asher-Smith (centre) faces a race against time to be fit for the Commonwealth Games

Dina Asher-Smith faces a race against time to be fit for the Commonwealth Games after suffering a relay nightmare at the World Championships.

She continued racing to hand the baton over but it halted the squad’s momentum and Neita could only cross the line in sixth with the team clocking 42.75 seconds in Eugene.

The USA beat Jamaica – who included Shericka Jackson, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Elaine Thompson-Herah – to gold with Germany third.

Asher-Smith was coy about the nature of the problem – although it appeared to be an hamstring issue on her left leg – but only has nine days until the 100m on the opening day of the athletics of the Commonwealth Games on August 2.

“I’m still stunned. If I’d felt anything in the warm-up I’d never have run. I’m shocked. It’s just something that I couldn’t continue with. I feel really bad,” said Asher-Smith, due to run the 100m and 4x100m relay in Birmingham.

“I hope it’s nothing serious because I have got a lot more races to do this year. I feel awful. I felt good, we were running well,” she said.

“I will have to go and have a check with my physio but I just feel a bit confused because I felt fine coming in, went around the bend and my legs just stopped corresponding with me.

Asher-Smith’s team-mates console her after the race

“I was literally like ‘what is happening? Body what did you do to me?”‘

When Asher-Smith collected the baton from Lansiquot, Great Britain were third but despite Neita’s brilliant run they were unable to pull anything back.

Neita said: “She did amazingly well to keep running. I saw her face and I was like: ‘No, no, no, don’t give it to me’.

“I didn’t want to run away from her because I saw her face and it didn’t look nice. The fact that she wanted to get the baton round just shows what a team player she is and what a fighter. She’ll be fine.

“When you watch it back you will see how much we were in the lead. This is just a freak thing.

“The main thing is Dina gets herself right and she’s ready for the Commies.”

Lansiquot also supported Asher-Smith with the squad embracing on the track after the race.

She said: “We win together, we lose together. All that matters is, ‘are you ok?’ We know how good we are. It’s just not our day and the most important thing is getting back on track.”

‘Time to look to future’ after GB bronze

Skipper Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake insists it is time to look to the future after Great Britain’s relay bronze.

The 28-year-old helped the 4x100m men’s relay squad to third at the World Championships on Saturday.

Jona Efoloko, Zharnel Hughes, Mitchell-Blake and Reece Prescod finished behind Canada and the USA in 37.83 seconds in Eugene.

A new team helped banish some of the pain from last year’s Olympics when Hughes, Mitchell-Blake, Richard Kilty and CJ Ujah won silver, only to be stripped of their medal following Ujah’s positive drugs test.

Mitchell-Blake said: “It’s fuel for the fire going forward. We cannot control the past, we can control the present and ultimately that dictates the future and that’s what we’ve got to focus on.

“There are no demons, we’re all blessed. We get a medal every year, it’s becoming normalised and under appreciated.

“I feel relay medals are brushed under the rug due to our consistency on the men’s and women’s teams. When the medal tables come out there are always relay medals and we step up every year.

“We all stepped up and we have shown over the years our quality consistently now. Everyone has shown they are capable of stepping in.

“Ultimately, the aim is to come away from the next world champs with a gold and go onto Paris. It is a stepping stone, we will get better and we have got to raise our game going forward.

“We will enjoy this moment together, appreciate the fact that we got a medal and refocus after this to the rest of the season.”

Prescod ran just his second senior relay, after his debut in the heats, with Efoloko also drafted into the team for the first time.

“I got asked to do a job for the team. It was my first relay and I wanted to deliver for the team. I’m glad they trusted me and I was glad to be part of it. It’s a whole new cycle now,” said Prescod.

Earlier, Jess Judd and Eilish McColgan finished 13th and 11th respectively in the 5,000m final, which was won by Ethiopia’s Gudaf Tsegay.