Dina Asher-Smith: The history graduate and fashion model breaking British records

Dina Asher-Smith is officially the fastest woman in British history.

She can run 100m in 10.83 seconds and the 200m in 21.89 seconds - the only British woman to run under 22.

The 23-year-old has come a long way since carrying equipment for athletes at the 2012 London Olympics, evolving into one of the fastest women on the planet.

Asher-Smith started running while at Perry Hall Primary School and there are pictures of her adorning its walls, but not just with a medal around her neck, also on the front cover of fashion magazines, showing she is no ordinary athlete.

The sprinter's natural talent saw her move on to the Blackheath and Bromley Harriers Athletics Club where she impressed and inspired herself with bets with her mother, Julie; if a record was broken Asher-Smith would be rewarded.

Asher-Smith on the Paris catwalk. Credit: PA

As the records tumbled, Asher-Smith became the owner of an iPhone and then a handbag, a reward for her speed.

During competition Asher-Smith wears makeup, claiming that you always want to look your best when people are at home watching on TV.

Asher-Smith knows style and even took to the catwalk at Paris Fashion Week for Virgil Abloh's Off-White show and was named as one of Sports Illustrated’s Fashionable 50.

Asher-Smith has broken numerous records. Credit: PA

In 2018 she showed that she was the fastest women in Europe, winning gold over 100m and 200m at the European Championships in Berlin, before adding the 100m relay title too.

Alongside a healthy trophy cabinet, Asher-Smith can also boast a history degree from King's College, London, and has said she intends to do a master's and go into law, but is currently focusing on her athletics career.

That focus has aided Asher-Smith to break British records, smashing both the 100m and 200m times over the lat two years, including in the 100m World Championships final in Doha, although it only won her a silver medal.

It was the first time since 1983 that a British woman had won a global sprint medal.

"I'm really pleased to come away with a personal best and national record," Asher-Smith told the BBC afterwards.

"That is more than you could ever ask for in a world final."

The first time Asher-Smith could claim the title of "Britain's Fastest Woman" came when Asher-Smith was just 19.

The sprinter took just 11.02 seconds to run the 100m at the FBK Games in the Netherlands.

Fittingly, she broke Montell Douglas' record, another Blackheath and Bromley Harrier.

Despite coming such a long way in her professional career, Asher-Smith is credited with being "down to earth" and she still works with her childhood running coach.