Having had a chance to reflect, she is adamant there is not any element of frustration. “No, not at all,” she says. “To have got a medal, I would have had to taken 0.6 seconds off by personal best in the course of one season. That’s just not possible. I ran the fastest I could have done, I broke the British record. Of course a medal would have been nice but I was happy, I’m still happy.”
In what is the last month of her teenage years, Asher-Smith needs to prepare herself for the fact that however modest she chooses to set her goals in public, the expectation will have risen from a public desperate for a sprint star — male or female — to take on the world’s best.
But she is happy with the challenge of bettering herself on the track and in every facet of her life. It is less in her blocks and more in her books that she plans to do that having just started the second year of her history at King’s College London. “History has really opened my eyes to things,” she says.
“It makes me better thinking as a historian but also as a person.”
It is with that in mind that there was never any suggestion she would defer her degree by a year to focus on Rio. The 19-year-old even politely scoffs at the suggestion as though the mere consideration is madness. As well as a place with Team GB, this year entails French Revolution, political ideology from Aristotle to Machiavelli and, after the events of last year, befittingly a focus on China. For an avid historian, somewhat surprisingly Asher-Smith does not like to look back on her own track exploits.
She allowed herself to cast an eye on the events of last season while holidaying in Mexico but more to see where and what she can improve. So going into 2016 what is missing? “I’ve got a few things to improve on but I don’t know if that’ll translate into faster times,” she says.
Her trajectory to date would suggest this Olympic year will top anything already achieved even though her mouth says otherwise.
Dina Asher-Smith is shortlisted for the 2015 Sunday Times and Sky Sports Sportswomen of the Year Awards in association with Vitality, celebrating women in sport at all levels. Watch on Sky Sports 1 and Sky 1 tonight from 9.30pm
