Dangerous Ackera

It seemed inevitable that Ackera Nugent would one day be on the Olympic stage given the former under-20 world champion 100-metre hurdler’s strong junior career.

The last two years have seen her announce herself in an already deep Jamaican field. She made her first World Athletics Championships team last year in Budapest and got to the final on the first attempt, finishing fifth.

Now, she enters her first Olympic Games, more dangerous than before. Her storming 12.28-second run, with which she set the national record and became national champion last month, was the world lead for all of 20 minutes before the United States’ Masai Russell would race to 12.25.