Dina Asher-Smith won 100m gold in the European Athletics Championships on Sunday, marking her first major title in five years as she showed strong form ahead of this summer's Olympic Games in Paris.
The 28-year-old Brit was lagging slightly behind after a slow start but recovered superbly to finish the race in pole position with a time of 10.99s. She last won the title at the 2019 Championships in Berlin.
Asher-Smith finished 0.3s ahead of Poland's Ewa Swoboda, while Italy's Zaynab Dosso took bronze after a photo finish decision was made at the Stadio Olimpico.
In the journey to the final, Asher-Smith set the bar high, recording a time of 10.97s in the semifinal -- the fastest of any European woman this year.
Following the setback in 2022, where she finshed last in the World Championships 100m final, Asher-Smith moved to Austin, Texas to persue her training with coach, Edrick Floreal. Asher-Smith will be hoping to repeat her good form in Paris this summer, where she continues her chase for her first individual Olympic medal after a hamstring injury impacted her performance at Tokyo 2020.
"It's just a step towards Paris, a step in the right direction," she told British media.
"I'm in a great place. That's not normally my style of race but I'm happy I was able to run another sub-11 performance in a different way."
"We've worked really hard on my top-end speed, on my form and relaxation. I didn't panic in my running," Asher-Smith said.
The athletics competition at the Paris Olympics will take place from Aug. 1-11 at the Stade de France.