European Championships: Dina Asher-Smith calls for more research into the impact of the menstrual cycle on athlete performance | Athletics News
Dina Asher-Smith has called for more research into the impact of women’s menstrual cycles in assessing performance declines for female athletes; British sprinter qualified to reach the 200m final in Munich on Thursday
Last Updated: 18/08/22 11:59pm
Dina Asher-Smith in action at the European Championships in Munich
Dina Asher-Smith called for more research into the impact of the menstrual cycle on athletic performances after returning to form for a spot in the 200-meter final at the European Championships in Munich.
Asher-Smith has had a tough season with injuries, midway through the women’s 4x100m relay at the World Athletics Championships in Eugene with a hamstring problem that forced her to withdraw. England team to attend the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
And in the 100m final earlier this week, Asher-Smith overcame the 60m before revealing that she had cramp in both calves.
The 26-year-old returned to the track at the Olympiastadion on Thursday night in the semi-finals of the 200m, where she comfortably cooled off with a run time of 22.53 seconds.
Afterwards, Asher-Smith was asked about her recovery from cramp problems and said BBC Sport: “[It was] girl’s clothes. It’s frustrating, but it’s just one of those things.
“It’s a pity because I’m in really good form, but sometimes that’s not how things go.”
Asher-Smith added: “It’s something that I think a lot of people need to really study from a sports science perspective because it’s absolutely huge.
“We also won’t always talk about it because you see girls who have been very consistent and have a random drop.
“Behind the scenes, they were really struggling, but outside everyone else was saying, ‘What’s that? It’s random.’ So it could do with more funding.
“I feel like if it was a men’s issue, we would have a million different ways to combat everything, but for women, it just needs more funding in that area.”
More successful medals for GB at the European Championship
In Thursday’s action in Munich, Joe Fraser won Britain’s first gymnastics gold medal at the European Championships.
Fraser fought back to fitness after suffering a ruptured appendix and a broken foot before the Commonwealth Games, where he won individual titles on horse and bars as well as team gold in Birmingham, his hometown.
The 23-year-old has recovered from the average floor-running routine to top both the equine and parallel bars events.
Gold medalist Joe Fraser of England celebrates winning the men’s all-around final at the European Gymnastics Championships in Munich
Fraser then struck a good high bar routine on his final movement with a score of 13,700 to win gold out of 85,565, with Turkish duo Ahmet Onder (85,131) and Adem Asil (84,465) also on the podium.
“This is unbelievable. We’ve had a really big journey to get here today, even just competing on six movements, not many people think I can do it.” Fraser said to British gymnastics website.
“There’s no doubt the almighty medal is a big thing. I’ve always loved everything around, whenever people ask me I’m all-rounder and now I feel like I can speak. that with real confidence and pride.”
Fraser also qualified to reach the final of the crossbar and parallel bars, while his England teammates Giarnni Regini-Moran (deck, arch and parallel bars), Courtney Tulloch (arch and ring), James Hall (high bar) and Jake Jarman (floor) also passed in the individual competitions.
More success for England in the evening action at Olympiastadion, where the start was delayed by a storm, as Jake Heyward took silver in the men’s 1500m while Eilish McColgan took the women’s 5,000m bronze.
