Daryll Neita has lifted the lid on her relationship with Dina Asher-Smith, admitting she wants to “destroy” her British sprint rival despite the pair frequently combining to win Olympic and world relay medals together.
Domestic competitors before they even reached their teenage years, the pair have risen through the ranks together for more than a decade, with the 100m and 200m British record holder Asher-Smith habitually coming out on top. Neita has edged closer over recent years and the latest edition in their long-running rivalry provides an interesting subplot to a high-class 200m at the London Diamond League on Saturday – the final high-profile athletics event before the Paris Olympics.
“It’s a very interesting dynamic that we have as sprinters where we are racing each other week in week out and yet we want to destroy each other, we’re not friends during the year,” said Neita, when asked about the pair’s relationship.
“When it comes to the end of a championships and we’re in a relay, we have to get the job done. We have to come together as a team. I feel like we’re very professional and we’re able to race each other and want to be the best, but when it comes to being a team and working together we want to get the job done and have a great dynamic.
“On the track, as a team, we know how to work together, but in separate lanes, against each other, it’s a different story.”
The British duo are unlikely to have it their own way at the London Stadium, where they take on a trio of fast Americans, including the world leader, Gabby Thomas, as well as Asher-Smith’s training partners Julien Alfred, of Saint Lucia, and the Irish sensation Rhasidat Adeleke.
Several of Britain’s Olympic medal hopefuls will also be competing, including the Olympic and world 800m medallist Keely Hodgkinson, the world 400m medallist Matthew Hudson-Smith, the world heptathlon champion Katarina Johnson-Thompson and the world indoor pole vault champion Molly Caudery.
Fresh from winning his first British title, the university student Louie Hinchliffe faces a stacked 100m field that contains his compatriot Zharnel Hughes – returning from the injury that caused him to miss the British Championships – and the reigning world 100m and 200m champion, Noah Lyles.
Also fine-tuning her Paris preparations is the Dutch 400m hurdler Femke Bol, who last week moved second on the all-time list behind her arch-rival Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone.
Theirs is one of the most eagerly anticipated showdowns of the Olympics, and Bol credits the American with pushing her to a new personal best of 50.95sec, behind McLaughlin-Levrone’s world record of 50.65 set last month. Only one other woman has ever gone below 52 seconds.
“A couple of years ago if you had told me people would be running 50 with hurdles I wouldn’t have believed it and now I’m one of them doing it,” said Bol. “It’s really inspirational and motivational how she’s racing and seeing how much she’s raising the bar.
“The moment you see someone do it, there is something in your head that thinks: ‘Maybe I can also do it’. That has, for sure, pushed me to become better and also dream bigger.”
