Page 37 - Summer2018Gazette

Club News 37

The next objective would be And there was more to come Although in danger of being in
the European Championships in the 4 x 100M relay. It was Dina’s shadow for much of the
in Berlin, and she set about the the first time that Dina had year Adam continued to show
task of gaining selection for it. run an anchor leg but she did fine form throughout the sum-
In the Diamond League events so with devastating effect for mer leading into the European
in June Dina clocked 10.92 the British team, taking over Championships clocking 20.21
for a new 100m UK record in the baton in fourth place. She in Oslo in the 200m. At the
finishing second in the Oslo cruised past three other athletes British Championships he won
event, and went on to win the to easily bring the team home a silver in the 200m in 20.26
Stockholm 100m in 10.93. Her first and by some margin to narrowly losing out having led
selection for the Europeans earn her third gold medal of until the final few strides.
was secured at the British the championships.
Championships in Birmingham However he would save his
in July when she broke the Meanwhile Adam Gemili con- best for later at the European
championship best performance tinued to make steady progress Championships. Moments after
with a clear win in the 100m from his own injury setbacks of the women had secured their
in 10.97 for her third sub 11 previous years although 2018 victory in the relays, the men’s 4
second clocking of the season. would bring for him mixed x 100m relay teams were on the
She rounded off this pre-games fortunes. He was anxious to track and with Adam running
campaign at the Diamond compete in the Commonwealth the third leg. Right from the
League Anniversary Games Games and like Dina was aware gun the Great Britain quartet
in late July with a season’s best of the challenges of having to were in pole position and poised
of 22.25 even though she only peak early in the year. “You to take the lead when Adam
finished fourth. don’t want to kill yourself” he took the baton. A powerful
said. “It [the Commonwealth leg from him put them into a
And so on to Berlin where Games] is quite an early season comfortable lead and ensured
Dina was competing in both thing; it changes the prepara- that they won the gold medal
sprint distances this time. She tion. You have to try to run fast from South Africa and Jamaica.
smashed her own UK record in April and then really try to For him the cloud of the Gold
with 10.85 and became the run fast in August at the Euro- Coast in April would have a
joint fastest women in the pean Championships”. gold lining.
world this year when she won
the European 100m title, thus At the Gold Coast however his Wilfred Orton
becoming the first British hopes were not realised. Adam
woman to win this event qualified as second fastest
since 1962. Then in the 200m athlete for the Commonwealth
she ran arguably even better Games 100m final in 10.11 but
beating Dafne Schippers into had to be withdrawn with an
second place smashing her abductor strain on doctors’ ad-
own British and club record vice, which meant then he could
and dipping under 22 seconds not also be part of the England
for the first time with 21.89 team in the 4x100m relay. He
such performance being the revealed after the race – which
world fastest this year by a was won by Jamaica’s Yohan
female athlete. Blake – he had been struggling
with a thigh injury.