GB’s Neita & Asher-Smith reach Olympic 200m final

Great Britain’s Daryll Neita and Dina Asher-Smith qualified for the women’s 200m final at Paris 2024, as 100m champion Noah Lyles progressed in the men’s event.

Neita, who finished four-hundredths of a second off the 100m podium on Saturday, finished second behind the United States’ Brittany Brown (22.12 seconds) in her semi-final in 22.24.

An emotional Asher-Smith was left bitterly disappointed after missing out on the 100m final but she will race for a 200m medal after running 22.31 to cross the line behind American Gabby Thomas in her semi-final.

Thomas, the gold medal favourite after the withdrawal of Jamaica’s Shericka Jackson, clocked the fastest time in the semi-finals with 21.86, ahead of St Lucia’s 100m champion Julien Alfred (21.98).

Neita’s fourth-place finish in the 100m was the best by a British female athlete in an Olympic sprint final for 64 years.

That was of little consolation as she pursues a first individual global medal, and both she and Asher-Smith will now attempt to become the first British woman to make an Olympic sprint podium since Dorothy Hyman in 1960.

However, team-mate Bianca Williams fell short of making her first global individual final, placing fourth in her semi-final in 22.58.

The women’s 200m final takes place on Tuesday at 20:40 BST.

Lyles returned to the track less than 24 hours after winning the 100m title by five-thousandths of a second from Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson in a dramatic photo finish.

The American, who is aiming to become the first man to complete a men’s 100m and 200m Olympic double since Jamaican sprinting icon Usain Bolt, won his heat comfortably in 20.19.

Great Britain’s Zharnel Hughes withdrew from the men’s 200m heats earlier on Monday because of tightness in his hamstring.

The world 100m bronze medallist’s season was disrupted by a hamstring injury and British Athletics said no decision has yet been taken about his involvement in the 4x100m relay.