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Dina Asher-Smith: Why British sprinter could win Olympic gold at Tokyo 2020

Dina Asher-Smith: Why British sprinter could win Olympic gold at Tokyo 2020

Great Britain's Dina Asher-Smith completed a European Championships sprint double in Berlin on Saturday. The 22-year-old, who broke her own British record to win the 100m, left world champion Dafne Schippers trailing to take 200m gold in 21.89 seconds, the fastest time by a woman this year.

Eight-time world champion and four-time Olympic champion Michael Johnson assesses her chances of winning Olympic gold in Tokyo in 2020.

I have been watching British athletics with the BBC since 2002 and in all that time I have not seen anyone like Dina Asher-Smith.

There have been athletes who have shown as much if not more potential in their junior career. British sprinting at junior level has always been good.

But at this point in their career, someone who has continued to improve year after year, can compete against the best in the world and has the full package, physically, mentally and in terms of their attitude? No. I don't think I have seen anyone like her. And I think the facts would support that.

There hasn't been anyone who has got to this point where they are a global medal contender at such a young age, other than Jessica Ennis-Hill.

Mo Farah took a lifetime to realise his potential, and if you look at Greg Rutherford, nobody ever expected that either. He just happened to hit a time in the long jump when it was a bit easier to win championships. No disrespect to Greg because I have always said you win against the people who you are up against.

How much faster can she go?

Dina can go faster. How much faster is a difficult one. She's obviously still very young and still learning the 100m and 200m from a race strategy point of view.

I am sure she and her coach can still find some improvements from a speed and power standpoint.

The other way is in terms of her competitiveness. She has shown in the last couple of years and in Berlin that she is a great competitor as a race favourite. She won't be the race favourite - she'll be one of the favourites - over the next two years at the World Championships and Olympics. That is a different way of competing.

How fast can she go? Given the times that she has run here, any improvement at all and she is in medal contention, even gold-medal contention.

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