Desirèe Henry
British sprinter (born 1995)
Desirèe Henry (born 26 August 1995) is a British sprinter who competes in the 100 metres and 200 metres . She won an Olympic silver medal in the women's 4 x 100 metres relay at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, the bronze medal in the 4 x 100 metres relay at the 2016 Rio Games , and a silver medal in the 4 × 100 m relay at the 2017 World Athletics Championships in London.
Childhood
Henry was born on 26 August 1995 in Edmonton, London . She attended Highfield Primary School and St Anne's Catholic High School . She is of Antiguan and Guyanese descent.[ 1]
Career
Henry is the 2011 World Youth Champion in the 200 meters . Her personal bests are 11.06 for the 100 meters , 22.46 for the 200 meters and 52.27 in the 400 meters all set in 2016.[ 2]
Henry was one of seven young people who lit the Olympic cauldron at the London 2012 Olympic opening ceremony . All were nominated by famous British Olympians, with Henry being nominated by decathlete Daley Thompson .[ 3]
She ran the anchor leg as Great Britain won the 4x100 metres relay at the 2014 European Championships in Zurich.[ 4]
Henry improved her personal bests in 2016 to 11.06 in the 100 meters and 22.46 in the 200 meters and earned selection for the Rio Olympics. She began sprinting over 400 meters in 2015 but soon returned to shorter distances. In Rio, she reached the semifinals of the 100 metres, running 11.09, having run 11.08 in her heat. She went on to win a bronze medal in the sprint relay, setting a new British record of 41.77, along with her teammates Asha Philip , Dina Asher-Smith and Daryll Neita .[ 5]
She won a silver medal as part of the 4x100 metres relay team at the 2017 World Athletics Championships in London
[ 6] and gold in the same event at the 2024 European Athletics Championships in Rome.[ 7]
On 5 July 2024, Henry was named in the British 4x100 metres relay squad for the Paris Olympics .[ 8] She won a silver medal in the event, having run on the last leg in the heats.[ 9]
International competitions
Year
Competition
Venue
Position
Event
Notes
Representing Great Britain
2011
World Youth Championships
Lille , France
1st
200 m
23.25
2012
World Junior Championships
Barcelona , Spain
4th
200 m
23.34
2013
European Junior Championships
Rieti , Italy
2nd
200 m
23.56
1st
4 × 100 m
43.81
2014
World Relays
Nassau, Bahamas
2nd
4 × 200 m
1:29.61
World Junior Championships
Eugene, Oregon , United States
4th
100m
11.56 (wind: -1.0 m/s)
—
4 × 100 m
DNF
European Championships
Zürich , Switzerland
7th
100 m
11.43 (11.21)
1st
4 × 100 m
42.24
2015
World Championships
Beijing , China
4th
4 × 100 m
42.10
2016
European Championships
Amsterdam, Netherlands
2nd (sf)
100 m
11.09 1
Olympic Games
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
12th (sf)
100 m
11.09
3rd
4 × 100 m
41.77
2017
World Championships
London , United Kingdom
18th (sf)
100 m
11.24
2nd
4 × 100 m
42.12
2019
World Relays
Yokohama, Japan
–
4 × 100 m
DNF
2024
European Championships
Rome , Italy
1st
4 × 100 m
41.91
Olympic Games
Paris, France
2nd (h)
4 × 100 m relay
42.03
Note: Results in brackets indicate superior time achieved in qualifying rounds.
1 Did not finish in the final
References
External links
Olympic Games
Preceded by
Final Olympic torchbearer (with Callum Airlie, Jordan Duckitt, Katie Kirk, Cameron MacRitchie, Aidan Reynolds, and Adelle Tracey ) London 2012
Succeeded by
Preceded by
Final Summer Olympic torchbearer (with Callum Airlie, Jordan Duckitt, Katie Kirk, Cameron MacRitchie, Aidan Reynolds, and Adelle Tracey ) London 2012
Succeeded by
1938 : Germany (Kohl , Krauß , Albus , Kühnel )
1946 : Netherlands (v.d. Kade-Koudijs , Witziers-Timmer , Adema , Blankers-Koen )
1950 : Great Britain (Hay , Desforges , Hall , Foulds )
1954 : Soviet Union (Krepkina , Uliskina , Itkina , Turova )
1958 : Soviet Union (Krepkina , Kepp , Polyakova , Maslovska )
1962 : Poland (Ciepły , Sobotta , Szyroka , Piątkowska )
1966 : Poland (Bednarek , Straszyńska , Kirszenstein , Kłobukowska )
1969 : GDR (Höfer , Meissner , Podeswa , Vogt )
1971 : FRG (Schittenhelm , Helten , Irrgang , Mickler )
1974 : GDR (Maletzki , Stecher , Heinich , Eckert )
1978 : Soviet Union (Anisimova , Maslakova , Kondratyeva , Storozhkova )
1982 : GDR (Walther , Eckert , Rieger , Göhr )
1986 : GDR (Gladisch , Rieger , Brestrich-Auerswald , Göhr )
1990 : GDR (Möller , Krabbe , Behrendt , Günther )
1994 : Germany (Paschke , Knoll , Zipp , Lichtenhagen )
1998 : France (Benth , Bangué , Félix , Arron )
2002 : France (Combe , Hurtis , Félix , Sidibé )
2006 : Russia (Gushchina , Rusakova , Khabarova , Grigoryeva )
2010 : Ukraine (Povh , Pohrebnyak , Ryemyen , Bryzhina )
2012 : Germany (Günther , Cibis , Pinto , Sailer )
2014 : Great Britain (Philip , Nelson , J. Williams , Henry )
2016 : Netherlands (Samuel , Schippers , Van Schagen , Sedney )
2018 : Great Britain (Philip , Lansiquot , B. Williams , Asher-Smith )
2022 : Germany (Mayer , Haase , Lückenkemper , Burghardt )
2024 : Great Britain (Asher-Smith , Henry , Hunt , Neita )