Dina Asher-Smith is one of the challengers in the brand-new Grand Slam Track. And the fans got to see her renew the rivalry with Gabby Thomas in the 200m dash. We guess some context would help. There is some bad blood with Thomas because of her victories in the Diamond League. The Paris Olympics also didn’t go the Brits’ way. However, Dina Asher-Smith shouldn’t let it affect her game. Concentrating on personal grudges will do her no good at all. The 29-year-old has made a lot of changes in her training regime to get back into the winning groove. Let’s learn more about her coaching here.

Meet Edrick “Flo” Floréal: Dina Asher-Smith’s current coach

Asher-Smith moved to the United States in 2023 and started training under Edrick Floreal from Texas. Since then, she has said that she’s enjoying this new phase in her career after her move to the US. But why Edrick Floreal? Well, if you are asking that question, then you probably don’t know that the man has coached multiple athletes to Olympic glory, including having his former collegiate students create history at the Paris Olympics.

But before Floreal was an award-winning coach, he was a standout triple-jumper at Arkansas. His college career saw him win 5 national titles by the time he graduated in 1990. He won the triple jump titles in 1989 and 1990 in both the indoor and outdoor circuits; such was his dominance. His first NCAA title came in 1988. A 9-time All-American, Floreal won 6 Southwest Conference titles while contributing to 7 SWC team titles for the Razorbacks.

His coaching journey has seen him move to Georgia Tech and Nebraska, where he was employed as an assistant coach. Following that, he went to Kentucky for a 3-year-spell. This 1st Kentucky spell he would spend as an assistant coach. However, he would be back at the program, and as a coach, after 7 years at Stanford.

His robust coaching career is supplemented by his marriage to LaVonna Martin-Floréal, who herself has been a prominent track and field star for the USA. She is a 2-time Olympian (in 1988 and 1992), even going on to clinch the 1992 Olympic silver in the 100m hurdles event. Edrick Floreal, meanwhile, is Canadian and has competed in the Olympics, too. They have two children, Edrick Jr. and Mikaielle.

Now that we know a little about the man who has been entrusted with Dina Asher-Smith’s training, let’s look at the extent of his influence and greatness that has helped him make every program he has managed a thorough champion.

Edrick “Flo” Floréal career highlights and achievements

As a student athlete, Edrick Floreal’s record as the 3rd-best performer in the triple jump (both indoor and outdoor) in school history remains intact. This got him into the University of Arkansas Sports Hall of Honor in 2012. In addition, he became the Southwest Conference Hall of Famer in 2017.

Even though he didn’t get any Olympics medal, he was the 1990 Commonwealth Games Bronze Medalist in the triple jump. Transitioning to coaching, he would have success during his stint as assistant coach at Kentucky – coaching 13 All-Americans in 3 seasons. Overall, the men’s team would have 16 All-American honors across sprints, hurdles, and horizontal jumps, while the women’s contingent earned 11 All-America accolades.

At Standard, he would have 91 athletes get 197 All-America honors as he powered the men’s and women’s teams to a combined seven top-10 NCAA finishes in each of the indoor and outdoor seasons. He helped the women’s team clinch 3 NCAA titles. 2009 was a special year for Floreal. His contribution saw him named Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) Coach of the Year, along with West Regional Women’s Coach of the Year. All this was because he led the Cardinal women to an MPSF title. Furthermore, he helped the women’s team finish 2nd at the Pac-10 Championships.

His honors during his Stanford years stood as follows –

1. Four-time Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Coach of the Year
2. 2009 West Regional Indoor Coach of the Year
3. 2006 West Regional Outdoor Coach of the Year

Back in Kentucky, Edrick Floréal got to coach some very special athletes, like Jasmine Camacho-Quinn, Keni Harrison, and Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone. Under Floreal’s guidance, Camacho-Quinn became the first freshman to clinch the NCAA 100m hurdles title. This would happen in 2016. Overall, his 6-year spell with the Wildcats saw 12 event NCAA Championship wins. His student-athletes earned 142 All-America honors, while his stringent focus on winning saw them land 37 Individual SEC titles.

An established coach in his element, Edrick Floreal didn’t take long to get things going. Joining in 2018, he led the Texas women’s team to win the Big 12 Indoor and Outdoor conference titles in 2019. And in the 2021-22 season, Floreal went supersonic. Under his capable tutelage, the men’s team won the first-ever Texas Track and Field NCAA title. The Texas women also did well, finishing as runners-up in the NCAA Indoor Championships.

Coach Floreal got his due after a stellar season, being named the USTFCCCA Men’s Indoor Coach of the Year. But his juggernaut didn’t stop. This time, armed with Julien Alfred and Leo Neugebauer, Coach Flo led Texas to consistent seasons. The end of the 2022-23 campaign saw Dina Asher-Smith’s current coach named the Big 12 Outdoor Women’s Coach of the Year as well as the USTFCCCA South Central Women’s Outdoor Coach of the Year.

In 2023-24, Texas women won their 5th NCAA Outdoor Track and Field title, which incidentally was their first team title in 18 years. A mammoth undertaking by the Canadian track and field coach, he was also involved in the international setup with the USA. He was the head coach of the USA Men’s Team for the 2015 IAAF World Championships. Success followed here, too, as Team USA secured the most medals among all the nations at the meet.

Before that, he had helped the USA to a successful London Olympics outing by helping them clinch 6 medals, including 2 golds, as the jumps and multi-events coach. Coach Flo’s innumerable achievements and legacy have been etched in bold letters in every engagement he has participated in.

And now, his latest project is to turn things around for Dina Asher-Smith, who had to part ways with her former coach after a drastic dip in performance.

Meet John Blackie: Her Ex-Coach whom Dina Asher-Smith called her “Second Dad”

Nine months before the Paris Olympics, Dina Asher-Smith split with her longtime coach John Blackie. Their association started when she was merely eight years old and had enrolled in the Black Heath and Bromley Harriers athletic club. Blackie used to be the trainer there and saw potential in her. Thus, he coached and moulded her into the track star she is today.

He led her to numerous highs, which included six medals in the World Championships, with one gold coming in the 2019 World Athletics Championships in Doha. Along with that, she also scored eight medals in the European Championship, which included six gold medals. Under him, she also won the bronze medal in both the Rio and Tokyo Olympics. Thus, it raised many eyebrows when she decided to part ways with him.

She posted the announcement on her Instagram page and said, “After 19 years, John Blackie and I have ended our coach-athlete partnership,” She continued saying, “His intellect, patience and dedication has taken me from an energetic eight-year-old to a world champion with over 20 international medals and many Olympics, World, Commonwealth and European finals”. She finally clarified that there was no animosity between them, and they’d still be close friends.

“I absolutely love my previous coach, John, he’s like a second dad,” Smith told The Independent in October 2024. “It’s just that sometimes change is mentally good and stimulating. It’s brought a new perspective, and it’s made everything really exciting again.”

In the first GST outing, she got the 3rd-place finish. Let’s see how it unfolds.