Jamaica’s Danielle Williams finally raced to world gold in the 100 metres hurdles once again, winning by the narrowest margin eight years after first climbing the global medal podium.
The 30-year-old, who won gold in 2015 and bronze in 2019, edged Olympic champion Jasmine Camacho-Quinn of Puerto Rico by one hundredth of a second to win in 12.43 on Thursday.
“I knew it was going to be tough. I came out here knowing that I could win but I would have to give everything I had.
“I still don’t believe I won against such a stellar field. I’ve been racing these ladies all year and they have been kicking me left, right and centre. But I had such confidence in my training and my abilities that I never stopped believing”,Williams said .
Camacho-Quinn had to settle for silver in 12.44.
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“I’m not upset at all.I can be grateful with that silver. After I won a bronze at the last world championships now I have a silver.
“If I add my Olympic gold medal I have the whole collection to be proud of. This final was packed with talents… so I don’t have any bitter feelings”,Camacho Quinn said.
American Kendra Harrison, who posted a world-leading time of 12.24 in the heats, took bronze in 12.46, keeping Devynne Charlton of the Bahamas, who was fourth in 12.52, off the podium.
Less than a tenth of a second separated the top four hurdlers, and it was difficult to discern even from the photo finish any difference between Williams, who ran out of lane two, and Camacho-Quinn, who was in lane seven.
The two peered up at the scoreboard hopefully before Williams erupted with joy.
“The finish is usually my problem but I spoke to my sister (on Wednesday) and she said I need to make sure to race over all the hurdles because I wasn’t going flat out through all of them,” Williams said.
“Today I was determined to take it all the way.
“When I won in 2015 (in Beijing) it was unbelievable. But this took a lot of hard work, a lot of years of toil and injuries and losing my confidence and battling to get back to this stage.
“It’s awesome, Jamaica is a proud country and we love to win. I love to win.”,she said.
Nigeria’s world record holder Tobi Amusan, who arrived in Budapest amid controversy, was sixth.
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The 26-year-old, who set the world record of 12.12 in the semi-finals last year and then won gold, had a provisional anti- doping suspension lifted two days before the worlds began.
The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) provisionally suspended Amusan last month due to three whereabouts failures within a 12-month period, but the decision was overturned by the AIU’s independent disciplinary tribunal panel.
The AIU can still appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
(Reuters/NAN)