Dina Asher-Smith has revealed that her period caused her to pull up during the women's 100m final at the European Athletics Championship on Tuesday night.
The British sprinter called for more research to be done into the impact of the menstrual cycle on sporting performances.
Asher-Smith was speaking after she returned to the Olympiastadion track in Munich to win her 200m semi-final in comfortable fashion last night clocking 22.53s.
After her victory she was asked about the cramping issues she had experienced on Tuesday.
“(It was) girl’s stuff. It was frustrating, but just one of those things," she told the BBC's Sarah Mulkerrins.
“It is a shame because I am in really good shape, but sometimes that is not the way everything pans out.
“It is something which I think more people need to actually research from a sports science perspective because it is absolutely huge," she added.
“We wouldn’t always talk about it either because you see girls that have been so consistent and there is a random dip.
“Behind the scenes, they have been really struggling, but outwards everybody else is saying ‘what’s that? That’s random’, so it could just do with more funding.
Dina Asher-Smith calls for "more funding" for menstrual cycle research
“I feel like if it was a men’s issue, we would have a million different ways to combat things, but with women, there just needs to be more funding in that area.”
It has been a difficult season for the 26-year-old. At the World Championships in Doha, she pulled out up with a hamstring injury in the 4x100m relay before subsequently withdrawing from the Commonweath Games.
She was 60m into the 100m final when she pulled up on Tuesday.
Asher-Smith will be the favourite to retain her European 200m title when she races in the final at 9:22pm tonight.
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