Dina Asher-Smith: British Records, Times and Sprint Career

Every few years, British athletics produces a sprinter who makes the old records look soft — and with Dina Asher-Smith, the revised numbers have stayed put. Her 10.83 over 100 metres and 21.88 over 200 metres, both set at the 2019 World Championships in Doha, remain the fastest times any British woman has ever run. To see how much those records matter, it helps to place them beside the all-time greats — and beside the next generation now trying to chase them down.

100m personal best: 10.83 seconds ·
200m personal best: 21.88 seconds ·
British 100m record: 10.83 seconds ·
British 200m record: 21.88 seconds ·
World 200m record: 21.34 seconds (Florence Griffith-Joyner, 1988) ·
Olympic relay medals: 1 silver, 1 bronze

Key facts about Dina Asher-Smith

Seven facts, one pattern: each line of this profile tracks the same arc — a London start, a Doha breakthrough, and a pair of national records that still have no challenger from within British sprinting.

The takeaway: the table is tidy because the story is still short — Asher-Smith reached the top of British sprinting quickly, and the numbers have not needed updating since 2019.

What is Dina Asher-Smith’s fastest 100m time?

Dina Asher-Smith’s fastest 100m time is 10.83 seconds, set on 29 September 2019 at the World Athletics Championships in Doha (World Athletics (governing body)). She ran it while taking the world 100m silver behind Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce — the first of three medals she collected at those championships (Olympics.com (IOC platform)).

Why is 10.83 significant for British women?

• It is the fastest 100m ever run by a British woman, and it stands as the national record in her World Athletics profile (World Athletics (governing body)).
• It improved her own 2018 European Championship winning time of 10.85 (BBC Sport (UK broadcaster)).
• It also sits 0.34 seconds behind Florence Griffith-Joyner’s 100m world record of 10.49 from 1988 (World Athletics (governing body)).

That record had to be built in stages. In 2015, Asher-Smith became the first British woman to run a legal sub-11-second 100m, clocking 10.99 to improve the previous British record of 11.05 held by Montell Douglas (BBC Sport (UK broadcaster)). She lowered it again at the 2018 European Championships with 10.85, then produced 10.83 on the biggest stage in Doha.

The pattern: Asher-Smith built the British 100m record herself — three improvements across four years — and each new mark made the previous one look temporary.

What is the current British women’s 200m record?

The current British women’s 200m record is 21.88 seconds, set by Asher-Smith on 2 October 2019 at the World Championships in Doha (World Athletics (governing body)). That same race made her the 2019 world champion and the first British woman to win a major global sprint title (BBC Sport (UK broadcaster)).

Where did Dina Asher-Smith set her 200m British record?

• In Doha, Qatar, at the 2019 World Athletics Championships, on 2 October 2019 (Olympics.com (IOC platform)).
• It was the third time she had broken the British 200m record since 2015, after 22.07 and 21.89 (BBC Sport (UK broadcaster)).

The record has a longer backstory. Asher-Smith broke Kathy Cook’s 31-year-old British 200m record in 2015 (Royal Albert Hall Archives (institutional archive)). Her run of 22.07 at the World Championships that year was itself a British record and placed her fifth in the final (BBC Sport (UK broadcaster)). She then lowered the mark to 21.89 while winning the European title in 2018, before reaching 21.88 in Doha.

How does the British record compare with the world record?

• The women’s 200m world record is 21.34 seconds, set by Florence Griffith-Joyner at the 1988 Seoul Olympics (World Athletics (governing body)).
• Asher-Smith’s 21.88 is 0.54 seconds slower than that mark — the closest any British woman has come to it (World Athletics (governing body)).
• Her 100m record of 10.83 is 0.34 seconds behind Griffith-Joyner’s 10.49 world record from 1988 (World Athletics (governing body)).

The honest framing is that the world records are not part of the British record conversation. They have stood since before Asher-Smith was born, and the closest any British woman has come is exactly the 0.34 and 0.54 gaps in the rows above.

What this means: Asher-Smith’s 200m record is both the national ceiling and the international reference point — she is the athlete other British women now chase, while she herself is still chasing a mark set before she was born.

The implication: Asher-Smith’s national records are a static number in a sport defined by constant movement, waiting for the next challenger to reset them.

Who is the fastest British woman in history?

On the official record lists, the answer is Dina Asher-Smith. She holds the British 100m and 200m records, and the Royal Albert Hall Archives’ biography describes her as the fastest British woman in recorded history (Royal Albert Hall Archives (institutional archive)). Her 2019 world 200m gold made her the first British woman to win a World Championship 200m title (BBC Sport (UK broadcaster)).

Is Amy Hunt faster than Dina Asher-Smith?

• No — Amy Hunt does not hold the British 100m or 200m record, so her times sit below Asher-Smith’s on the national lists (World Athletics (governing body)).
• Hunt is the younger British sprinter most often discussed as the next challenger to those records.
• The race between them is really a race against time: Hunt’s best years are ahead of her, while Asher-Smith’s records are already on the board.

The fair version of the comparison is about trajectory. Asher-Smith owns the fastest 100m and 200m times a British woman has ever produced; Hunt is the generation trying to take them. Until a younger sprinter runs faster in an official race, the record book’s verdict stays with Asher-Smith.

The implication: to overtake Asher-Smith, a challenger has to beat two national records, not just win one race — and that is why the fastest British woman in history has held the title for so long.

Who is considered the world’s best female sprinter?

There is no official title in athletics that says who is the world’s best female sprinter. Championships and world records are the only permanent ranking, so the conversation is built on titles and times rather than a trophy. The names that come up most often are Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Elaine Thompson-Herah, Shericka Jackson and Sha’Carri Richardson, with Asher-Smith’s records keeping her in the same discussion.

What is Sha’Carri Richardson’s 200m time?

• Sha’Carri Richardson’s 200m personal best is 21.92 seconds, set at the 2023 World Championships — 0.04 seconds slower than Asher-Smith’s British record of 21.88 (World Athletics (governing body)).
• So on the 200m clock, Asher-Smith still holds the edge over Richardson.
• The margin is close enough that every shared final between them becomes a genuine toss-up.

The comparison matters because Richardson is the name most often raised in the same breath as Asher-Smith’s on global start lists. The numbers say Asher-Smith’s 21.88 is faster, even if only by four hundredths — a margin decided by a lean, not by a gap in class.

What this means: the “world’s best” debate has no official answer, but it has a reliable proxy — the record book — and Asher-Smith’s 200m time sits ahead of Richardson’s on that page.

What is the fastest female 200m time ever?

The fastest women’s 200m in history is 21.34 seconds, run by Florence Griffith-Joyner at the 1988 Seoul Olympics (World Athletics (governing body)). Griffith-Joyner also set the 100m world record of 10.49 in the same year (World Athletics (governing body)). Both marks have now stood longer than Asher-Smith has been alive.

Is Flo-Jo faster than Usain Bolt?

• On raw time, no — Usain Bolt’s 100m world record of 9.58 seconds is faster than Griffith-Joyner’s 10.49 (World Athletics (governing body)).
• The fairer comparison is with her own era: she set both world records in 1988, and nobody has matched either since.

For Asher-Smith, the Flo-Jo question works as a yardstick, not a target. The 0.34 and 0.54 second gaps between the British records and the world records show precisely how far the national mark sits from the all-time mark — close enough to measure, far enough to define.

The honest read: Griffith-Joyner’s 21.34 and 10.49 have survived every British challenge since 1988, which is exactly why her name still opens the conversation.

How Asher-Smith’s numbers stack up against the sprint elite

Four sprinters, one pattern: the national benchmark, the all-time benchmark, the current rival and the future contender form the full conversation around Asher-Smith’s records.

The read on the table is simple: Asher-Smith’s numbers sit between the all-time record and the current challengers, which is exactly where a national record holder wants to be — close enough to stay in the conversation, ahead enough to be the one being chased.

Timeline of a record-breaking career

Six dates, one pattern: every major step in Asher-Smith’s career came at a championship, not in a quiet off-season race.

The pattern in the dates: the gap between Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2021 — both Olympic finals — was filled with European and world titles, and the medals kept pace with the records.

What’s confirmed and what’s still unclear

Some questions about Asher-Smith are settled by the record book; others are not part of any official record.

The trade-off: an evidence-first approach settles every record question and leaves every ranking question open — which is the honest position for a career still in motion.

What the record keepers say

Three authoritative voices frame Asher-Smith’s standing in unusually clean terms.

The Royal Albert Hall Archives, in its official biography, reached for one label:

“The fastest British woman in recorded history.”

Royal Albert Hall Archives (institutional archive)

BBC Sport’s report on the 2019 final used the same first-time framing:

“First British woman to win a major global sprint title.”

BBC Sport (UK broadcaster)

World Athletics, the governing body, files the numbers with no embellishment:

National records — 100m: 10.83 seconds; 200m: 21.88 seconds.

World Athletics (governing body)

The through-line: two of the three voices reach for “first” or “fastest” language, and the third just lists the numbers — the records do the arguing by themselves.

Where Dina Asher-Smith stands now

Asher-Smith’s records are now the baseline for British sprinting, not just a personal highlight. They have stood long enough to look permanent, but record books are not museums — someone is always timing themselves against the same marks. For British sprinting, the decision is clear: keep developing challengers such as Amy Hunt who can pressure the 10.83 and 21.88, or let Doha 2019 become a high-water mark that nobody in the next generation is fast enough to reach.

Related reading: Dina Asher-Smith: Biography, Best Times, Net Worth, and Comparisons · Dina Asher-Smith: Records, Achievements, and Comparisons

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