Britany Anderson on her way to winning the 100m hurdles at the IAAF World U18 Championships Nairobi 2017 (© Getty Images)
Britany Anderson of Jamaica ran 12.72, the fastest ever 100m hurdles time by an U18 athlete, in winning the final.
Although she was helped by a 4.1m/s following wind, Anderson’s time was so much quicker than the world U18 best of 12.94 set by compatriot YaniqueThompson, she could well have been capable of breaking that mark in legal conditions.
Taking silver behind the Jamaican was Cyrena Samba-Mayela of France with 12.80, also significantly faster than the world U18 best of 12.94. Anderson's teammate Daszay Freeman finished third in 13.09.
Anderson came to these championships as the fastest in the world with a best of 13.04. This performance, however, was bettered by Samba-Mayela in yesterday's semifinals with 12.98, so it was no surprise to see these two fight it out for gold in the final.
Samba-Mayela looked to be pulling away from her Jamaican rival, but then lost her momentum after hitting a hurdle late in the race. She recovered her momentum well, but the race was lost. Anderson took the win by a clear 0.08 margin.
There was a significant gap to Freeman, who never looked like she could threaten the top two, but made it two medals for her country. Yoveini Mota of Venezuela took fourth place, again well behind Freeman with 13.28, and the second French athlete, Mathilde Coquillaud Salomon, finished fifth in 13.37.
Sevval Ayaz of Turkey, looking like a possible contender after a 13.20 in the semifinals, was a non-finisher after a heavy fall early on in the race.
“This gold medal means so much for me, because I have trained very hard this season,” the happy winner said after the race. “I had a knee injury, but this win made me confident. You can achieve anything you focus on.”
“It was an incredible race, although I am not so happy with it,” said Samba-Mayela. “I touched several hurdles on the way and it affected my position.”
Pawel Jackowski for the IAAF
