Im in the final? – Daryll Neita in disbelief as she pips Dina Asher-Smith in 100m final

Tokyo 2020: 'High hopes' for GB's sprinters at Olympics

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Daryll Neita had an amazing reaction after finding out she had made it through to the women’s 100m final. Team GB had three sprinters through to the semi-finals of the women’s 100m with Dina Asher-Smith seen as the best prospect.

But the reigning 200m world champion looked out of sorts in her semi-final heat, running a disappointing 11.05 to finish third.

It meant she faced an anxious wait to discover whether she’d reach the final as a fastest-loser.

The second semi-final saw Marie-Josee Ta Lou and Shericka Jackson progress with Michelle-Lee Ahye running 11 seconds flat.

That pushed Asher-Smith down into the final fastest-loser spot with one more semi-final run to come.

Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce won that race comfortably ahead of the rest of the pack.

But Neita was bunched in with Mujinga Kambundji and Teahna Daniels in a bid for the second qualifying spot.

It was neck-and-neck between Daniels and Neita heading into the line and there was an anxious wait for the confirmation on the times.

Neita was waiting on the track with the times yet to be confirmed, suggesting it was extremely close for the fastest-loser spots.

And it was soon confirmed that Neita had made it through by seven-thousands of a second.

Neita’s reaction to reaching the 100m final was caught on camera as she screamed in delight.

“I’m in the final?!” Neita asked. “Yes!”

She skipped away in delight, with Asher-Smith failing to make the 100m final.

Michael Johnson, a four-time Olympic gold medallist, was surprised at Asher-Smith’s failure to progress.

“I think it’s just not there in terms of that sharpness that you would normally see [from Asher-Smith],” he said on BBC.

“So, Dina had a great reaction to the gun but she should be ahead of Del Ponte on the other side of her because she is a better starter. She is ahead – but not as much as we would expect.

“Then the second part, that ability to continue to stride and pick up power that you need at the end of the race in order to maintain that momentum just wasn’t there.

“Del Ponte was coming through and Dina was moving backwards. This is a problem.”

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