(Reuters) – British sprinter Dina Asher-Smith believes that Florence Griffith Joyner’s long-standing 100m world record could be in danger this season due to considerable advancements in spike and track technology.
Griffith Joyner’s controversial mark has stood for 34 years after the American ran 10.49 seconds at the 1988 Olympic trials. She also set the 200m world record in Seoul later that year, winning in 21.24 seconds.
Olympic champion Elaine Thompson-Herah last year clocked 10.54 in the 100m in Eugene, where the world championships will be held in July, with Asher-Smith saying that the track was ideal to break the record.
“I think someone can break it, definitely, given the advantages of shoe technology, definitely given the increase in track technology. I ran in Eugene and that track was great,” the 200m world champion told reporters.
“That as well as all the advantages of the competition – domestic and international. We shouldn’t put limits on ourselves. Everything seems impossible until it’s done.”
The 26-year-old will compete in the 100m at a Diamond League meet in Birmingham on Saturday after finishing third in the 200m in the season opener in Doha.
There will be no showdown with Olympic champion Thompson-Herah, however, after the Jamaican withdrew from the event earlier this week.
Asher-Smith, who took bronze in the 4x100m relay at the Tokyo Olympics last year, has a packed season ahead of her with the Commonwealth Games and European Championships also on the agenda.
“I’d like to double up at the Worlds and Commonwealths and, with the Europeans, we will definitely be a bit more mindful of how the World Championships is and how I feel coming off that,” she said.
“It is a really tight turnaround.”
(Reporting by Dhruv Munjal in Bengaluru; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
