In an hour and a half of scintillating athletics action, Jamaica transformed the National Athletics Centre into its playground on the 6th day of the World Athletics Championships Budapest 23. The Caribbean powerhouse secured five medals, two gold, one silver, and two bronze medals to climb third on the medal table.
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The sprint hurdles, which so often create surprises, produced another special sporting moment. Eight years after her 2015 triumph, Jamaica’s Danielle Williams produced another comeback for the ages with another golden run. Williams, who squeezed into the final as one of the non-automatic qualifiers, stunned the field with a flawless run from lane two to secure gold in 12.43 seconds (-0.2 m/s), a season’s best. “This gold medal means more to me than my first as for the past seven years, it’s been injuries, freak accidents that have led to injuries, it’s been so much toiling just to get back to this point.,” said Williams.
“My mindset coming into the event was to execute a complete race. All season, I wasn’t getting my start and finish right. However, I knew with a complete race I could win. I knew it would come down to the finish line, and it was all about grit and competing hard.”
Olympic Champion Jasmine Camacho-Quinn claimed silver in 12.44 seconds ahead of Kendra Harrison (12.46).
Jamaica’s second World Athletics Championships medal in the men’s 400m
Antonio Watson created history when he won an enthralling men’s 400m final in 44.22 seconds. The rising star, who won the last edition of the World U18 title in 2017, joined Bertland Cameron, winner of this event at the first edition 40 years ago in 1983, as the only Jamaican to claim the global crown. Cameron, a current member of Team Jamaica’s coaching staff, witnessed the special moment.
“I came out here to do my best and run my race, and it got me the gold,” said the 21-year-old Watson, who chased down Great Britain’s Matthew Hudson-Smith. “Tonight’s race was similar to my youth title in Kenya, where I came from behind and kept going and successfully reached the finish line.”
Interestingly, Jamaica’s medal momentum wave started unexpectedly in the men’s long jump. This was a moment tailor-made for something special, with three Jamaican finalists. And so it proved, with the country picking up two medals, one silver and one bronze in a gripping contest.
Wayne Pinnock, who finished 9th at last year’s championships in Eugene, came like a man on a mission. For a long time, he had one hand on the gold medal, based on countback, with his mark of 8.50m, which he held until Greek star Miltiadis Tentoglou produced a clutch performance in the final round to snatch victory with 8.52m. “Last year in Oregon, I knew the field was not better than me, said Pinnock. “I just never had the chance to show my full potential. This season, I dedicated myself and pulled it off.”
The battle for the bronze medal was between the other Jamaicans. Carey McLeod seemed on course to win his first World Championship medal after his second-round effort of 8.27m. However, the 2019 champion, Tajay Gayle was on a path of rekindling former glory. Gayle produced 8.27m to edge ahead of McLeod based on countback. McLeod had one last throw of the dice but could not improve his mark and finished 4th.
The women’s 400m hurdles brought the curtains down on a memorable night for Jamaica. It was the first time Jamaica featured three female finalists at a World Championship. Rushell Clayton, who collected bronze in Doha, gave another gutsy performance registering a lifetime best of 52.81 seconds to collect her second bronze in the event. “I’m really happy, I knew I had to execute a good race because it was going to be fast,” said Clayton.
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