Ajla del Ponte suffered for its first outing of the summer season. The Ticino, 5th at the Tokyo Olympics, could not do better than 11”72 over 100m in Birmingham in the Diamond League.
Ninth and last in a race won by local star Dina Asher-Smith in 11”11, Ajla del Ponte had not raced since February 12. The Ticino woman was never up to speed on Saturday afternoon under the British sun, notably missing her start.
“She was already straightened up for her first step out of the starting blocks. Her acceleration was not effective, and she did not have enough speed for the rest”analyzed his coach Laurent Meuwly.
Not ideal conditions
“We saw the same thing as in training. She has to work on speed and explosiveness. I’m not surprised. It confirms that we’re going to have to work”continued the Fribourgeois. “But the conditions weren’t ideal, and she had a similar performance when she came back last year.”he concluded.
Ajla del Ponte was only able to resume 100% race training during the 3rd week of April. The 2021 European 60m indoor champion found herself on the flank for 2 months due to hamstring inflammation, after playing 2 indoor meetings in February.
ats/jfk