Dina Asher-Smith: The Fastest British Woman in History

Ask a British athletics fan to name the fastest woman the country has produced, and the answer comes quickly: Dina Asher-Smith. The numbers justify the certainty — 10.83 seconds over 100m, 21.88 over 200m, both national records on the governing body’s profile (World Athletics (track and field’s governing body)). Beyond the stopwatch sits a 2019 world title, Olympic relay bronzes, and a cluster of fan questions about Amy Hunt, Jamaica, money and marriage that this article separates into verified fact and open rumour.

Born: 4 December 1995, Orpington, England ·
100m record: 10.83 sec ·
200m record: 21.88 sec ·
World title: 200m, Doha 2019 ·
Olympic relay medals: Bronze, 4×100m, 2016 and 2021

Key facts

One table, one snapshot: two national records and the relay medals around them.

Who is the fastest British woman in history?

Dina Asher-Smith is the answer, and she has been since she reset both records in the same week in 2019. Born in the London borough of Orpington on 4 December 1995 (Royal Albert Hall archive (verified biographical entry)), she competes primarily in the 60m, 100m and 200m (Dina Asher-Smith official website (the athlete’s own profile)). The “fastest British woman” label is not a committee decision; it is a math problem. Her 10.83 and 21.88 are simply the two fastest legal times any British woman has recorded (World Athletics (track and field’s governing body)).

Who is the fastest woman in the UK?

• 100m — Dina Asher-Smith, 10.83 seconds (World Athletics (track and field’s governing body))
• 200m — Dina Asher-Smith, 21.88 seconds (World Athletics (track and field’s governing body))
• Both records set at the same World Championships in Doha, September 2019 (World Athletics (track and field’s governing body))

Those times date to one meet. She ran 10.83 on 29 September 2019 and 21.88 on 2 October 2019, both in Doha (World Athletics (track and field’s governing body)).

How do Asher-Smith’s British records compare with historical British sprint times?

Her margins matter. The 10.83 leaves a gap on the British all-time list, and the 21.88 did the same for the half-lap distance. What this means: every young British sprinter today trains against a baseline set by one athlete — two records in one championship week.

What are Dina Asher-Smith’s major achievements in athletics?

The headline is the 2019 world title, but the full record runs deeper. In Doha she won gold in the 200m, silver in the 100m and a relay bronze — three medals at one World Championships, a first for a British athlete (Olympics.com (official Olympic profile)).

World title in Doha

• 200m gold, Doha 2019 (Olympics.com (official Olympic profile))
• 100m silver, Doha 2019 (Olympics.com (official Olympic profile))
• First British athlete with three World Championship medals at a single edition (Olympics.com (official Olympic profile))

The 200m final was the anchor — a 21.88-second run that delivered both the title and a national record (World Athletics (track and field’s governing body)). That relay bronze completed the set, but the two individual medals were the statement.

Olympic relay medals

• 4×100m relay bronze, Rio 2016 (Olympics.com (official Olympic profile))
• 4×100m relay bronze, Tokyo 2020 (Olympics.com (official Olympic profile))
• Relay best of 41.55 seconds, run on 5 August 2021 (World Athletics (track and field’s governing body))

Britain’s relay success tracks her presence. The team reached the Olympic podium in Rio and again in Tokyo, and the 41.55 best came in the Tokyo final itself (World Athletics (track and field’s governing body)).

Earlier titles

• 2013 European Junior champion in the 200m and 4×100m relay (King’s College London (institutional biography))
• 2014 World Junior champion in the 100m (Dina Asher-Smith official website)
• 2018 European champion in the 100m, 200m and 4×100m relay (Dina Asher-Smith official website)

Her senior breakthrough came at the 2018 European Championships in Berlin, where she swept all three sprint events (Dina Asher-Smith official website). The pattern: a decade of progression — junior titles, a European treble, a world 200m crown, and relay medals at two Olympics.

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

10.83 seconds, set on 29 September 2019 in Doha (World Athletics (track and field’s governing body)). It is the British record and the fastest time a British woman has ever run.

10.83-second 100m

The run came in the 100m final at the 2019 World Championships, where she finished second. Two days later she won the 200m in 21.88 (World Athletics (track and field’s governing body)).

How the time ranks

• First British woman to legally break 11 seconds for the 100m, in 2015 (Royal Albert Hall archive (verified biographical entry))
• British 200m record of 21.88, also set in Doha 2019 (World Athletics (track and field’s governing body))
• Two national records held simultaneously — a rarity in British sprinting

Ranking context is simple: on the British lists, Asher-Smith sits alone at the top of both distances. The trade-off: a sprinter’s peak is short, and 2019 was hers — but the records still stand, which is the only statistic that counts.

Is Amy Hunt faster than Dina Asher-Smith?

Short answer: not yet. Amy Hunt is a British sprinter born on 15 May 2002 in Newark-on-Trent, and the available summary of her career places her seventh in the 100m at the 2024 European Championships (Estonian Wikipedia (available biography summary)).

Amy Hunt as rising British sprinter

• Born 15 May 2002 in Newark-on-Trent (Estonian Wikipedia (available biography summary))
• Seventh in the 100m final at the 2024 European Championships (Estonian Wikipedia (available biography summary))
• Part of the British 4×100m relay team in the same period (Estonian Wikipedia (available biography summary))

The comparison table below shows the gap: the left column carries two national records and a world title; the right column carries promise and a European final.

Who holds the 200m world record?

• All-time 200m world record — Florence Griffith-Joyner
• Asher-Smith’s 21.88 is the British record and a world-title-winning time (World Athletics)
• Hunt’s public times have not yet entered that conversation (Estonian Wikipedia)

The all-time 200m world record is held by Florence Griffith-Joyner. Asher-Smith’s 21.88 won her a world title but sits behind that mark; Hunt has not released times that change the debate. Why this matters: comparisons to Hunt are projections, not results — records are the only honest scoreboard.

Is Dina Asher-Smith Jamaican?

No. Dina Asher-Smith was born in Orpington, England, and represents Great Britain in international athletics (Royal Albert Hall archive (verified biographical entry)). The Jamaican question comes up a lot; the answer does not change.

Birthplace and nationality

• Born in Orpington, south-east London, on 4 December 1995 (Royal Albert Hall archive)
• Competes for Great Britain and Northern Ireland (World Athletics (profile country listing))
• No official record lists any Jamaican affiliation (Dina Asher-Smith official website)

Her affiliations are consistent across every official database: British on the birth record, British on the team sheet. Orpington is a south-east London suburb; the passport, the accent and the team vest all trace to England.

Why the Jamaican question comes up

It happens to fast sprinters everywhere. The assumption is cultural, not factual: elite sprinting has been defined by Jamaican athletes for decades, so every new sprint star gets asked. The catch: nationality is a biographical fact, not a style of running — and the record says England.

How rich is Dina Asher-Smith?

No official net worth figure exists. Neither Asher-Smith nor her representatives have published earnings, and her official profile documents athletics, not income (Dina Asher-Smith official website (the athlete’s own profile)).

Estimated earnings

• Prize money from Diamond League meets and championship finals
• Appearance fees and sponsorship income
• Public net-worth figures are estimates, not disclosures

Sites that publish exact figures — “Dina Asher-Smith net worth £X million” — are building estimates from sponsorship and prize-money assumptions. None of those figures appears in an official record. Even prize money is not a public ledger for most athletes; final payments rarely make the official record.

Income sources for sprinters

The honest statement is simple: her athletic results are public; her bank balance is private. The upshot: until the athlete or her team releases a figure, every net-worth number online is a guess with better SEO than evidence.

Career timeline

• 1995 — born in Orpington, England, on 4 December (Royal Albert Hall archive)
• 2016 — Olympic 4×100m relay bronze in Rio (Olympics.com)
• 2019 — three World Championship medals in Doha; British records of 10.83 and 21.88 (World Athletics)
• 2021 — second Olympic 4×100m relay bronze in Tokyo; relay best of 41.55 seconds (World Athletics)
• 2025 — 60m win in Boston; discusses a coaching change and 2026 goals in an interview

The 2025 note matters beyond the win: a coaching change at this stage of a career signals a longer run, not a wind-down.

Fact-check: what’s confirmed, what’s unclear

One list is backed by governing-body records; the other is simply not in the public file.

The record in quotes

“Personal bests: 10.83 seconds for the 100m and 21.88 seconds for the 200m — both British records.” World Athletics (track and field’s governing body)

World Athletics — athlete profile

“In Doha 2019 she became the first British athlete to win three medals at a single World Championships.” Olympics.com (official Olympic profile)

Olympics.com — official athlete profile

“Born in Orpington, England, on 4 December 1995 — the first British woman to legally run under 11 seconds for the 100m, in 2015.” Royal Albert Hall archive (verified biographical entry)

Royal Albert Hall archive — biographical entry

“A 60m, 100m and 200m sprinter with three European gold medals from the 2018 Championships.” Dina Asher-Smith official website (the athlete’s own profile)

Dina Asher-Smith official website

The upshot

The verified record is complete: two British records, a world title, two Olympic relay bronzes, and a coaching change as late as 2025. The unverified chatter — Jamaican nationality, marriage, net worth, Amy Hunt’s imminent takeover — is exactly that: unverified. For young British sprinters aiming for the top, the task is concrete: run 10.83 or 21.88, or wait for Dina Asher-Smith to move the target again.

Related reading: Dina Asher-Smith: Records, Achievements, and Comparisons · Dina Asher-Smith: Net Worth, Records & Amy Hunt Rivalry

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