Event Report - Women's 400m Hurdles - Final

In sports what people think will happen often doesn’t came true. American Lashinda Demus seemed to be the only favourite for the women’s 400m Hurdles final even with the reigning Olympic champion, Jamaica’s Melaine Walker in the race.

Walker seemed to be playing second fiddle for the whole season, but the Olympic champion came through again almost breaking the World record in 52.42, only 0.08 secs off the six-year-old 52.34 record held by Russian Yuliya Pechonkina and naturally a Commonwealth record as well as a World championships record.

The race started with Demus and Walker both going out fast followed by Josanne Lucas of Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaican Kaliese Spencer. In the final curve Demus moved to the lead and was leading at eighth hurdle, but when Walker started to catch up with her, Demus stuttered badly in the 9th and 10th hurdles and Beijing winner Walker had a clear path to take another title.

Although Walker came to Berlin only with a 54.20 season’s best from Monaco it was they way she reached that result that suggested she could ran much faster here. In Monaco, where Demus ran the previously World leading 52.63, Walker was close to the American in final curve but badly hit the seventh hurdle almost falling down and still recording a season’s best and second place in the end.

In the Berlin race Josanne Lucas finished fast to set a huge national record shaving a massive 0.78 seconds off the earlier record she set in the semis here. Kaliese Spencer set a personal best 53.56 for fourth place with American Tiffany Williams in fifth place clocking a 53.83 season’s best.

Mirko Jalava for the IAAF