Daryll Neita keen ‘to compete for podium finishes’ at Paris Olympics

Just this week Neita clocked a season’s 200m-best 22.36 seconds at the Istvan Gyulai Memorial in Hungary.

A head and shoulders shot of sprinter Daryll Neita posing in an orange Team GB hoodie against a white backdrop featuring the Team GB and Olympic logos

Daryll Neita is embracing her new ‘Miss Momentum’ moniker as she targets a first individual Olympic medal amidst a golden era for women’s sprinting.

Neita, 27, won 4x100m relay bronze at both the Rio and Tokyo Games and is in excellent form in the build-up to her third Olympics, with 2024 Diamond League victories in two distances and 200m silver at June’s European Championships, where she missed out on the title by just 0.01 seconds.

The second-fastest woman in British history may not yet command the same household-name recognition of the country’s quickest, Dina Asher-Smith, but Neita is optimistic this could be the summer that catapults her into a new echelon of public consciousness – and perhaps onto the Paris podium.

“I had a supporter the other day message me on Instagram like, ‘hello, Miss Momentum!’ Neita, who finished eighth in the 100m final in Tokyo, told the PA news agency.

“I was like to be fair, that’s actually quite a good name.

“Momentum is all about just that accumulation of moving in the right direction and finding your flow and just trusting in your process. I think that’s really important.

“It’s been quite a season so far already and we haven’t even gotten to the Games yet. Everything’s going in the right direction.

“I know that my events are absolutely stacked, but it’s a great environment because it breeds competition and good results, so you just need to be a part of it and give it your all.”

Neita and Asher-Smith will both participate in the women’s 100m and 200m, and are all but certain to take part in the 4x100m relay for Great Britain, the current world bronze medallists who were last month crowned European champions with Neita as the anchor.

While reigning Olympic 100m and 200m champion Elaine Thompson-Herah is out of Paris 2024 with an Achilles injury, the women’s sprints still boast a glittering array of talent.

Neita’s competition includes the United States’ reigning 100m world champion Sha’Carri Richardson and 200m gold medallist Shericka Jackson, who alongside returning silver medallist Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce made it an all-Jamaican Olympic 100m podium three years ago in Tokyo.

From left to right, holding individual Union Jacks flags and jumping in the air, Great Britain’s Asha Philip, Imani-Lara Lansiquot, Bianca Williams and Daryll Neita celebrate after finishing third in the Women’s 4×100 Metres Relay Final on day eight of the World Athletics Championships at the National Athletics Centre in Budapest, Hungary — Neita took home bronze as part of Great Britain’s 4x100m relay team at the 2023 World Championships in Budapest (Martin Rickett/PA)

“I say this all the time,” said Neita. “I’m so happy to be in the shape I’m in currently, in this era of women’s sprinting, because I believe it’s the most exciting it’s ever been.

“The line-up is always fire. You know it’s going to be a good race.”

Neita, who for the last two years has trained in Italy under coach Marco Airale, is determined to stoke that fire with her own feet in France where, with momentum still on her side, she refuses to rule herself out of a podium place.

Just this week she clocked a season’s 200m-best 22.36 seconds at the Istvan Gyulai Memorial in Hungary.

She added: “Everything is going in the right direction.

“What are limits? That’s a made-up thing. They don’t exist. Everything’s unlimited, and you just have to believe in yourself and back yourself.”