Jamaica closed out the 18th World Athletics Championships Oregon22 in fine style on Sunday, adding three silver medals to their collection.
The first athlete to add to the seven medals that the country had accumulated at the start of the final day of the 10-day event, was sprint hurdler Britany Anderson in the women’s 100m hurdles.
In a spectacular event won by Nigerian Tobi Amusan in 12.06 seconds (2.5mps), Anderson finished second in 12.23 seconds, the same time accredited to the Tokyo Olympic Games gold medallist Jasmine Camacho-Quinn of Puerto Rico.
Jamaica’s 2015 World Champion Danielle Williams finished sixth in 12.44 seconds, with The Bahamas’ Devynne Charlton finishing in seventh place in 12.53 seconds.
Amusan’s 12.06 seconds for the title was the fastest time ever recorded in the 100m hurdles event but it will not be ratified as a world record as the wind speed had exceeded the allowable 2.0mps.
And that would have been just spectacular based on the fireworks the ladies had paraded in the semi-finals heats two hours earlier.
Amusan set the stage in brilliant fashion in the first semi-final heat when she stormed to an unbelievable new world record of 12.12 seconds (0.9mps). American Kendra Harrison, the previous world record holder, finished second in a season’s best 12.27 seconds, with Jamaica’s Danielle Williams also registering a season’s best 12.41 seconds for third place.
So fast was the race that each competitor ran either a world record, a personal best, a season-best, or a National Record.
In semi-final heat two, Jamaica’s Tokyo Olympic Games bronze medallist Megan Tapper ran a personal best of 12.52 seconds but failed to make the final eight, as the third and fourth-placed finishers from semi-final heat one advanced as the two fastest losers.
The event was won by American Ali Armstrong in a personal best of 12.43 seconds, ahead of the Bahamian Devynne Charlton in a National Record 12.46 seconds.
And the third semi-final heat was won by Anderson in a National Record 12.31 seconds ahead of Camacho-Quinn’s season’s best 12.32 seconds.
Jamaica’s male athletes had delivered a poor championships performance until the 4x400m relay where they surprised all and sundry by claiming a convincing silver medal behind run-away winners the USA.
Akeem Bloomfield, Nathon Allen, Jevaughn Powell and Christopher Taylor ran creditably to claim the silver medal in 2:58.58 minutes behind the Americans’ world-leading 2:56.17 minutes.
Belgium finished in third place in a season’s best 2:58.72 minutes, while Caribbean neighbours Trinidad and Tobago finished fifth in a season’s best 3:00.03 minutes.
Candice McLeod, Janieve Russell, Stephenie Ann McPherson and Cherokee Young were silver-medal winners in a season’s best 3:20.74 minutes, but well behind the Americans’ world-leading 3:17.79 minutes.
Third place went to Great Britain in a season’s best 3:22.64 minutes.
Jamaica ended with 10 medals overall, two gold, seven silver and one bronze to be third on the list of medal winners. The USA led with 33 medals overall, 13 gold, nine silver and 11 bronze, with Ethiopia in second place with 10 medals, four gold, four silver and two bronze.
Kenya, who finished fourth, also claimed 10 medals, two gold, five silver and three bronze.
The Dominican Republic and Grenada finished with one gold and one silver to be 13th on the list, with The Bahamas with one gold medal in 22nd place, and Barbados in joint 40th place with one bronze medal on the list of 45 countries to have won medals.
Meanwhile, Natoya Goule finished fifth in the women’s 800m final in a season’s best 1:57.90 minutes. The race was won by American Athing Mu, in a world-leading 1:56.30 minutes, just ahead of Great Britain’s Keely Hodgkinson in a season’s best 1:56.38 minutes.
The bronze medal was won by Kenya’s Mary Moraa in a personal best of 1:56.71 minutes, with fourth place going to Ethiopia’s Diribe Welteji in a personal best of 1:57.02 minutes.
