Tokyo 2020: Injuries hurt Team GB’s hopes of athletics success

Injuries have hurt Team GB’s hopes of athletics success at Tokyo 2020.

Here are the issues that have befallen British athletes on the Olympic Stadium track.

Dina Asher-Smith

Britain’s best athletics medal hope heading into the Olympics saw her dreams of individual glory go up in smoke on Saturday. Tipped to become the first British woman to take an individual sprint medal since Dorothy Hyman in 1960, the 25-year-old failed to reach the 100 metres final after finishing third in her semi-final. A tearful Asher-Smith later admitted she tore her hamstring at the British trials in June. The sprinter withdrew from the 200m competition – a distance she is reigning world champion over – but indicated she intended to race in the 4 x 100m relay.

Adam Gemili

Having finished fourth by just one thousandth of a second in the 200m final in Rio de Janeiro five years ago, the 27-year-old endured more Olympic heartbreak on Tuesday. Gemili had his right thigh heavily strapped and pulled up as soon as his heat got under way, revealing he tore his hamstring in his last blocks session before final call. The devastated sprinter finished in one minute 58.58 seconds following his lonely trudge to the line.

Katarina Johnson-Thompson

Wednesday saw Team GB’s injury issues continue as the world champion heptathlete pulled up injured midway through the 200m race. Johnson-Thompson, who had been in fifth in the heptathlon after three disciplines, refused treatment and completed the race, only to be disqualified because she left the lane. The 28-year-old had barely competed in the build-up to the Games due to an Achilles injury. But it was later confirmed that her latest setback had been a calf injury.

Great Britain's Dina Asher-Smith at Olympic Stadium on the eighth day of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Japan.
Martin Rickett

Great Britain's Katarina Johnson-Thompson picked up an injury in the 200m segment of the Women's Heptathlon at the Olympic Stadium.
Joe Giddens