Euro Athletics Junior Champs Flash Quote - Women's 200 mtr
20th July 2013Dina Asher-Smith – European Junior 200m Champion – 23.29 (-2.2m/s)
It’s still sinking in! I just went in there with the aim of getting a PB, but to get gold instead is just fantastic.
I really wanted to get a good start and run a good bend, and it was quite good, but if you saw Desiree’s bend that was perfection. Once I came off the bend I just told myself to relax in the home straight as I tend to tighten up there, which means I run slower, so I just tried to relax and I guess I did.
In a championship anything can happen. I could have false started, had a bad day or even a bad championships, so just having a fast PB coming into the championships isn’t really enough.
As a young athlete you always watch these people who you hear about all the time in your country, and you watch them come here and win gold and just think, I want to be like that. To be one of them is just out of this world and I’m so happy.
Desiree Henry – European Junior 200m Silver Medallist – 23.56 (-2.2m/s)
I am absolutely over the moon. I said that I wouldn’t mind coming second to someone as great as Dina. She’s had an amazing season and it was a championship performance – she’s done it on the day so I’m really happy for her.
London 2012 made me realise that anything can happen at a major championships and that it’s all about the performance on the day. Going into championships, rankings don’t really matter, it’s all about getting to the final and then running your own race on the day.
To be fair, I was ranked fourth going into the final, so to come back with a silver medal that just shows that it’s all about what happens on the day.
We’ve still got the relay to come – imagine that, putting all of us together in one team – it’s going to be amazing.