Asher-Smith powers into 200m final and says calf cramps were caused by period

First Dina Asher-Smith made a compelling statement of intent on the track by qualifying fastest for the European Championships 200m final. Then she issued an even more powerful cri de coeur off it, by revealing that the cramps in her calves that ruined her hopes of 100m gold were caused by her period.

On a night when Britain won three medals – with Jake Heyward taking 1500m silver, Jazmin Sawyers claiming long jump bronze, and the redoubtable Eilish McColgan coming third in the 5,000m – Asher-Smith’s words on a subject that is often taboo left the deepest mark.

After she had qualified for Friday’s final in 22.53sec, dispelling any doubts that she had any lingering problems in her calves after the 100m, Asher-Smith was asked whether she had got to the bottom of her cramps. “It was just ‘girl stuff’,” she replied. “It’s just frustrating. It’s one of those things. It’s a shame because I’m in really good shape and I was really looking to come and run fast. But sometimes that’s just not the way that everything’s planned out.”

The 26-year-old then urged sporting bodies to provide far more funding and research to help women tackle the issue. “More people need to research it from a sports science perspective because it’s huge,” added Asher-Smith, who will meet Mujinga Kambundji and her fellow Briton Jodie Williams in the final. “People don’t always talk about it, either, because sometimes you see girls that have been so consistent and there’s a random dip and behind the scenes they’ve been really struggling.

“Everybody else will go: ‘What’s that? That’s random.’ So we could just do with more funding. I feel if it was a men’s issue there would be a million different ways to combat things.”

On the track, Jakob Ingebrigtsen