Anderson shines in 100m hurdles
Jamaican athletes bag three silver medals on last day of 2022 World Champs
Published:Monday | July 25, 2022 | 12:09 AMDaniel Wheeler/Staff Reporter
EUGENE, Oregon
On the final night of the World Athletics Championships, Britany Anderson came of age, securing her first senior podium finish as well as claiming the national 100 metres hurdles record.
At 21 years old, Anderson, in her second major championship, took silver in the women’s 100m hurdles final, in a wind-assisted (+2.5 metres per second) time of 12.23 seconds, the country’s third medal in the event in the past four World Championships. Her route to the podium came after clocking 12.31 in her semi-final, breaking the national record held by former world champion Danielle Williams, who came seventh in the final in 12.44. Nigerian’s Tobi Amusan won the World title in 12.06, hours after setting the world record of 12.12 in the semi-final. Tokyo Olympic champion Jasmine Camacho Quinn came third, also in 12.23.
Anderson described the growth that she has made in the short space of time as an achievement.
NATIONAL RECORD HOLDER
“I am blessed to be here. This is my second senior championship and to be a national record holder and a World Championships medalist, I am blessed,” Anderson said. Williams, the former national record holder, said that the times in the event have shown the elite levels that the event has now got to.
“I ran the second fastest time that I had ever run in the semi-finals, and I still had to be waiting to see if I got into the final. That just goes to show you the depth of the hurdles. I don’t even know how to describe the level the bar has been raised to,” Williams said. Tokyo Olympics bronze medalist Megan Tapper missed out on the final despite clocking a personal best time of 12.52, placing third in her semi-final heat.
The Jamaica men got themselves on the podium at last, earning silver in the 4x400m final. The team of Ackeem Bloomfield, Nathon Allen, Jevaughn Powell and 400m finalist Christopher Taylor clocked 2:58.58 minutes, with the United States quartet of Elija Godwin, World champion Michael Norman, Bryce Deadmon and Champion Allison winning the title in 2:56.17. Belgium were third in 2:58.72
In the women’s final, the quartet of national champion Candice McLeod, Janieve Russell, Stephenie Ann McPherson, and Charokee Young got the final medal for Jamaica at these championships, finishing second in 3:20.74. The United States won in 3:17.79 and Great Britain were third in 3:22.64.
GOLD MEDALS
Jamaica finished with 10 medals at these championships, two gold, seven silver, and one bronze, the third time in the last four championships that they have finished in double digits. Overall, they finished third in the medal standings, with Ethiopia in second place, also with 10 but with more gold medals (four). The United States topped the medal table with 33 (13 gold, nine silver, and 11 bronze).
National record holder Natoya Goule finished fifth in the women’s 800m final, clocking a season’s best of 1:57.90 minutes. Tokyo Olympic champion Athing Mu of the United States added the world title to her collection in a world-leading time of 1:56.30. Keely Hodgkinson of Great Britain came second in 1:56.38, and Mary Moraa of Kenya was third in 1:56.71.
Goule said that while she followed her game plan of trying to keep herself close to the medal positions, she could not match the pace that the top three women were setting.
“The race plan was to ensure that I was at least fourth coming into the 400m, but the way these girls were moving it was hard to get there. This is the fastest that I have run in a final. A medal would have been the best, but I’m pleased,” Goule said.
Jamaica finished second in the inaugural team championship with 110 points while the United States took the team title with 321 points.