Dina Asher-Smith is just 20 years old and already holds the impressive title of ‘fastest British woman in history’.
On 17 August, the team GB sprinter from Bromley, South East London, will put her best foot forward in the women’s 200m race semi-final at the Rio 2016 Olympics.
Here, she chats to Technogym about her gruelling training regime in the lead up to what is arguably the biggest race of her career.
Asher-Smith has spoken frankly about how she’s had to up her game to train for Rio 2016 - particularly as she’s no longer classed as a “junior” athlete.
She said she has tripled the number of gym sessions she does in a week to ensure she’s “stronger and far more powerful” when she comes out of the blocks.
“Training for Rio has been really fun,” she said, before adding that it’s also been “a lot of hard work”.
Each day’s training has consisted of a different type of workout. So, for example, on a Wednesday she will focus on weights - comprising stiff-leg deadlifts or bent-leg deadlifts.
In the lead up to Rio, she said her training becomes more focused on her weaknesses.
Speaking to Refinery 29, she said: “Now that I’ve run quite a few races, my coach and I can spot the things that can still be worked on.”
For Asher-Smith, the key to winning is all about improvement.
“In training, if I run a really strong 180m, next time I want to do a great 190m; if I lift 80kg in the gym, next time I want to do 85kg. It’s all about continuous improvement,” she added.
It’s safe to say the Olympic hopeful has come a long way since her first race, which was at a cross country school championship.
She told Technogym: “I was about eight years old and I was running for my primary school. I remember running and running and running, and thinking, ‘when is this race going to end?’
“I didn’t realise that I was winning until I got to the end and I noticed that people started cheering. I picked up [pace], ran to the end and they told me I had won.
“I was really, really happy.”