It has been a very special week for Great Britain at the European Athletics Championships in Zurich with a record twelve gold medals and it has also been a historic few days for Blackheath & Bromley athletes Adam Gemili and Dina Asher Smith. Adam came away with two gold medals in the 200 metres and the 4x100 metres while Dina broke the British under 20 200 metre record which has stood since 1979.
Fresh from winning his first senior Championship medal for England when he took silver in the 100 metres at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Adam turned his attention to the 200 in Switzerland. Still only 20, he has not ruled out doubling up at Championships, but given his age and the close proximity of the two events he felt it prudent to just do one event at each.
He quickly put himself among one of the favourites for the event when he won his heat in 20.39, the fastest of the first round qualifiers. Yet he had not been running flat out. It was a similar story in the semi finals where after an excellent start and bend he spent most of the home straight looking from side to side checking that he was not under threat from any of the other athletes. He needn’t have been concerned. He won easily in 20.23 to book his place in the final.
His biggest challenge in the final was from France’s Christophe Lemaitre who was still licking his wounds after having been beaten by Adam’s training partner James Dasaolu in the 100 metres. In the lane outside Adam was the reigning champion Churandy Martina from the Netherlands but so good was Adam’s start that he was already past the Dutchman after 50 metres.
Moving into the home straight he was already clear of the field and he powered down to the line to win in 19.98 a time which equalled his personal best. Remarkably this was achieved running into a headwind of -1.6 metres per second. It is surely only matter of time before he breaks the British Record of John Regis which is 19.87 at altitude and 19.94 at sea level, set in 1993 before Adam was born. He is currently second on the all time list with Club member Julian Golding 6th.
Adam was rested for the heats of the 4x100 metres but the Great Britain quartet still qualified easily. He returned for the final replacing last leg runner Danny Talbot. Good runs and changes from James Ellington, Harry Aikines-Aryeetey and Richard Kilty saw him take the baton in the lead and he was in no mood to relinquish this position. He crossed the line in 37.93. 
Dina also had an outstanding championships although it did not quite finish as she had hoped. Like Adam, the World Junior 100 metre champion won her heat of the 200 metres and her time of 22.75 was the second fastest of the qualifiers for the semi finals.
She knew that she would probably need to go faster to make the final and that the quicker she went the better her lane draw. What happened next made a small piece of British Athletics History. Kathy Cook’s national junior record of 22.70 had stood since September 1979. Nearly thirty five years later Dina smashed it by almost a tenth of a second as she finished in second place in a time of 22.61.
Not only is it an under 20 record it ranks her 6th on the UK senior all time list and is, of course, a Club Senior and Junior record. It completed a memorable day for the 18 year old who that morning found that she had achieved the necessary grades to attend her first choice University.
Her time was the third quickest of the qualifiers for the final although fellow Briton Jodie Williams had looked impressive in winning her semi, albeit in a slower time.
A medal or a new British record were not to be, however, as Dina was forced to pull up after just 50 metres with a hamstring injury. The problem had prevented her doing the event at the World Juniors and it had flared up again.
Despite her disappointment she was still able to give a mature interview to the BBC praising the achievements of  her team mates. The mark of a champion is to bounce back from disappointments and there is no doubt she will do.