Dina Asher-Smith Is The New Queen Of British Sprinting & Her Instagram Shows Why

At the European Championships last night, British athletics crowned a new queen in sprinter Dina Asher-Smith: dual gold medallist, British record holder, and all-round awe-inspiring athlete. On August 7, Asher-Smith won 100m gold in 10.85 seconds, becoming the first Brit to take the gold medal since 1962. And on August 11, she won another gold medal in the 200m event, finishing in 21.89 seconds. She's on track to secure a third gold tonight, in the 4x100m relay. How does she do it? A peek at Dina Asher-Smith's Instagram reveals the dedication it takes to become a champion.

Asher-Smith's performance at the European Championships in Berlin is already one for the history books. As the Guardian reports, she shattered British records she herself set in both the 100m and 200m finals; in the latter, she dramatically beat the former world champion, Dutch runner Dafne Schippers. And if she and her teammates take the gold in the 4x100m relay tonight? She'll be "the first Briton to win a treble of golds at the same major championships", according to the Guardian.

After winning the 200m, Asher-Smith told reporters, "I have obliterated my own expectations." She added, "I had a joke with my physio that if I ran a 10.85 I would buy myself a cute necklace that I have been eyeing up that is a bit expensive." Dina! Order that necklace right now! I'd say you've earned some matching earrings, too.

Here's another tidbit about Asher-Smith to add to your building sense of crushing inadequacy: a scroll through her Instagram reveals that she maintained her sports career while studying towards a degree in History at King's College London (she graduated in 2017). And on top of that, she was awarded an honorary doctorate from Canterbury Christ Church University.

So Dina Asher-Smith's both studied and created history; what else can we learn from her Instagram? For a start, a sense of the supreme discipline it takes to reach her level of excellence. She captioned one photo, posted in the midst of the 2017 holiday season, with, "Craving more profiteroles...but the Commonwealth Games are less than 100 days away". Sacrificing profiteroles, Dina? During the holidays? Honestly, you deserved all the medals before you even ran the races.

Further proof that Asher-Smith possesses a commitment to greatness most of us can barely imagine: take this photo, taken in Australia in the run-up to the 2018 Commonwealth Games. All that rainy training paid off, by the way — she won gold in the 4x100m relay alongside teammates Asha Philip, Lorraine Ugen, and Bianca Williams, as well as the bronze medal in the 200m final.

Even for the less than athletic among us, Asher-Smith's Instagram is a pretty excellent source of motivation. "If it doesn’t challenge you, it doesn’t change you," she captions one photo; "Grinding for bigger and brighter moments," another.

In another photo, Asher-Smith seems to foreshadow her phenomenal success. She writes, "the best way to predict your future is to create it". And whether she takes a third gold medal tonight or sticks with two golds and two shattered national records, one thing's for certain: Dina Asher-Smith bloody well created it.