STILL smarting from an agonising fourth place in the women’s 4x100m at the World Championships in Beijing last year, Desiree Henry believes the GB sprint team now has the confidence to challenge the fastest teams in the world.
Henry, the current UK No.1 in the 100m with 11.06, anchored a British quartet that included Asha Philip, Dina Asher-Smith and Jodie Williams in Beijing to a national record of 42.10 and was within a few strides of reeling in Trinidad & Tobago’s Semoy Hackett in third.
The British relay squad is a far cry from four years ago when the country failed to qualify for the 2012 Olympics. But since that disappointment Britain has won two global medals, while an English team also took bronze at the Commonwealth Games.
Desiree Henry (left): with GB teammates Dina Asher-Smith, Asha Philip and Jodie Williams at last year’s IAAF World Championships in Beijing
MARK SHEARMAN
“It’s literally as though it’s a new generation of sprinters,” said the 20-year-old. “We thought ‘let’s leave the old stuff in the past, we’re the new generation and we’re going to make the change’. We broke the national record a lot of times, so it’s given us the belief to go on and keep being confident within ourselves.”