Charlton, Brown fail to make 100m hurdles semis

Fri, Aug 28th 2015, 12:42 AM

BEIJING, China - Devynne Charlton and Adanaca Brown knew that they might have to run a new national record, or close to it, to get out of the first round of the women's 100 meters (m) hurdles at these 15th International Association of Athletics Federation's (IAAF) World Championships in Beijing, China, but it just was not to be for either of them. Both Charlton and Brown faded in the latter part of their races, Charlton finishing seventh in 13.16 seconds and Brown bringing up the rear in her eat in 13.74 seconds.

Just the top four finishers out of each heat and the next four fastest times qualified for the semis. Charlton, the youngest member of the 25-member team from The Bahamas at just 19-years-old, was 27th overall, and Brown settled for 34th overall. They are the co-national record holders in the event, as both ran 13 seconds flat this year. "It's been a good experience for me.

Just making it to this level of competition was huge," said Charlton. "It can only set me up for next year. It definitely motivates me for next year.If I work harder, two years from now at the next world championships, I could be in a better position," she added. Charlton, coming off a splendid sophomore year for Purdue University in which she set a number of personal bests and school records, is experiencing her first season as a senior athlete. Along with athletes like Brown, Katrina Seymour and men's 400m hurdles bronze medalist from these world championships Jeffery Gibson, they are bringing attention and acclaim to the hurdles in The Bahamas. Both Charlton and Brown have qualified for next year's Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Charlton, who will be entering her junior season at Purdue in the fall, said that she wants to build off the experience from her first senior world championships and carry it over into the Olympics next year.

She said that she is looking forward to a strong season for Purdue as well. "I had a pretty good college season this season, so I just basically used that to prepare me for this meet," she said yesterday. "There was good competition in college so it served as good preparation for the world championships. "At meets like this, nerves are always a factor, but I try not to look at who is my heat.

Everyone is going to bring their 'A' game at this level, and if you are going to make it through the rounds, you have to bring your 'A' game as well." The 19-year-old hurdler found herself in the same heat as one of the all-time greats in the event, Dawn Harper Nelson of the United States. Harper Nelson won that heat in 12.79 seconds. American Brianna Rollins, the defending champion, was the top qualifier for the semis, winning her first round heat in 12.67 seconds. Tiffany Porter, of Great Britain, was the second fastest qualifier, in 12.73 seconds, and Jamaican Danielle Williams qualified third, in 12.77 seconds.

The final qualifying spot for the semi-finals was taken by Jamaican Kimberly Laing. She finished in 13.10 seconds. Whilst disappointed, Brown said that she is thankful that she was able to come out of the event injury-free, and intends to build off the experience gained. "This is my first big world championships, and I felt ready when I warmed up, but it just wasn't there today," she said. "I'm very disappointed, but it'll only make me stronger for next year. I apologize to The Bahamas for letting them down." Brown said that she got left in the blocks, and it was tough for her to recover after that. "Once my start is off, I'm off. I can sometimes usually catch up but once I saw that I couldn't catch up, that was it for me. The race was over," she said.

"Next year is going to be 100 percent better. I'm going to work hard to get to this level again, and have a better performance." Brown's time in the first round yesterday was one of her worst for the season. Both she and Charlton have been consistently in the low 13-second range. Be that as it may, they both made a lot of progress this year, and show tremendous promise for the future. They said they will come out and support the other athletes of Team Bahamas for the remainder of the world championships.

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