Dina Asher-Smith performs electric 200m comeback to qualify fastest in Eugene | sport

Dina Asher-Smith ran the second-fastest 100m of her career as she made an electric return to her best in Eugene. The Briton has had a mixed season so far but her time of 10.84 seconds, just 0.01 off her national record, saw her qualify for Sunday night’s semi-finals fastest.

And after giving a startling reminder of her talents, the clearly thrilled Asher-Smith was asked if she was hitting her peak. “I hope so,” she replied. “If not now when?”

What made the reigning 200m world champion – and 100m silver medalist – performance even more impressive was that she was slowing down before the line, conserving her energy for the battles to come.

“Honestly, I didn’t expect this weather, but at the end of the day, we’re looking to go faster, so I’m excited,” she said. I come here as the reigning world champion and world silver medalist, so the aspirations are high for me. I still have more to give, but I’m happy to have passed all the essentials.

Britain’s Darryl Neita also looked impressive as she ran a season-best 10.93 to qualify second in her run behind defending champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, who ran 10.87, while Olympic champion Elaine Thompson-Herah also advanced comfortably in 11.15.

“I feel really great,” Neita said. “It was just the warm-up, just to eliminate the nervousness.”

However, there were no British men in the 100m final after Zharnel Hughes failed after a disappointing 10.13 seconds in his heat. “One misstep cost me the race,” Hughes said. ” I can not do anything about it. I tried my best to get back to it, but the gap was just a little too big to fill. Another 5-10 meters I would have caught them. It sucks. Damn it.”

But there was better news for Great Britain as Laura Muir qualified for Monday’s 1,500m final in 4:01.78. And all three British men advanced to the 1500m semi-finals, with Josh Kerr looking good quickly to win his heat.

Elsewhere on day two of competition in Eugene, China’s Jianan Wang landed a brilliant 8.36m final jump to claim gold, ahead of Olympic champion Miltiadis “Miltos” Tentoglou, who took silver with a 8.32m jump. Swiss decathlete Simon Ehammer took third place at 8.16m.

Meanwhile, 27-year-old Chase Ealey thrilled the home crowd by winning the shot put with a throw of 20.49m – to give the United States their first gold medal of these championships.