British sprinter Dina Asher-Smith has split with her long-time coach John Blackie just a few months before the Paris 2024 Olympics.
Dina Asher-Smith, 27, who won bronze in the 100m at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, was coached by Blackie since she was at the age of eight. She will now train under Edrick Floreal in Austin, Texas.
It comes after disappointing results at this year’s World Championships, where Dina Asher-Smith finished eighth in the 100m final and seventh in the 200m.
She announced her coaching change with an emotional statement on Instagram.
“After 19 years, John Blackie and I have ended our coach-athlete partnership. My life changed by meeting him and I will forever be grateful to him. His intellect, patience and dedication has taken me from an energetic eight-year-old to a world champion with over 20 international medals and many Olympics, World, Commonwealth and European finals. John and I will, of course, remain close friends. Thank you to John and thank you to all my team in London whose talents and hard work have helped me realize so many dreams to date”, wrote Dina Asher-Smith in her emotional post. “My next chapter will be led by Edrick Floreal based out of Austin, Texas. I’m very excited to join his talented training group as we head to Paris 2024” adds her post.
Under the coaching of John Blackie, Dina Asher-Smith established herself as Britain’s most famous sprinter and one of the best in the world. She won bronze medals in the 100m at the last two Olympics – in Rio 2016 and in Tokyo 2020, and also won gold in the 200m at the 2019 World Championships in Doha.
It was her last major championship as she missed out on the 2022 world 100m bronze by 0.02 seconds.
