2019 World Athletics Championships – Women’s Hurdles Recap
by Savannah Cress
After looking at the history of women and the hurdles these past couple months, I thought it only appropriate to follow up on their results in the long-awaited IAAF World Championships that just wrapped up at the beginning of this month. This event, held in Doha, Qatar, ran from September 27th to October 6th.
Going into the 400h world championships, there were several athletes to keep our eyes on, especially Olympic champion and current world record holder Dalilah Muhammad, who had set the world record earlier this summer. Along with Muhammad,there was newly-turned-pro Sydney McLaughlin, who had defeated Muhammad twice earlier this summer and whom many felt had a legit chance of upsetting Muhammad. The third American, Ashley Spencer, was also a medal contender. And reigning world champion Kori Carter–another American–had to be taken seriously although she hadn’t been making any noise in 2019. Then there was Rushell Clayton of Jamaica who had been looking good all summer, and two-time world champion Zuzana Hejnova of the Czech Republic. [1]
On Day Six of the events, the women’s 400h semi-finals took place, in which the favored hurdlers mentioned above did not disappoint. In the semi-finals, Muhammad won the first heat, running a 53.91. In the next heat, Clayton came in first, with a 54.17. Hejnova was next, running a 54.41, with Spencer close on her heels, taking 3rd, in 54.42 seconds. McLaughlin, running in heat three, crossed the finish line first in a time of 53.81. Carter, sadly, did not get the opportunity to defend her title. During the previous day, the 2017 world champion pulled up lame half-way through her preliminary heat, although the nature of the injury is unclear. [13] [14]
On Day Eight, October 4th, the finals took place. Spencer ran in lane two, Anna Ryzhykova (Ukrain) in lane three, McLaughlin in lane four, Clayton in lane five, Muhammad in lane six, Sage Watson (Canada) in lane seven, Hejnova in lane eight, and Lea Sprunger (Switzerland) in lane nine. It was a fierce group of hurdlers with three competitors, McLaughlin, Muhammad and Hejnova, holding personal best times under 53 seconds. [4] With McLaughlin, Clayton, and Muhammad side by side by side in the middle of the track, it was clear that we’d be in for a special treat.
At the sound of the gun, Muhammad charged out of the blocks, her smooth but aggressive stride setting an incredible pace for the group from the very start. McLaughlin picked right up on that pace and held to it the majority of the race. She was in an advantageous position, two lanes inside of Muhammad and able to keep the more experienced athlete in her sight. Coming out of the final bend, in a moment not unlike that of Kim Batten and Tonja Buford-Bailey in the 1995 World Championships, Muhammad and McLaughlin pulled away from the pack entirely and entered into a race of their own. McLaughlin was able to further tighten the space between the two as they sprinted down the home stretch, but Muhammad didn’t let go of the lead. She dug in, held onto what lead she still had, and crossed the finish line in an unprecedented 52.16 seconds. With this time, Muhammad became the official 2019 World Champion of the 400h, beating her own world record by .04 in the process, while McLaughlin’s 52.23 made her the second-fastest ever in the event. These two will be back at it again in 2020, and who knows if more world records are in store for the Tokyo Olympics. [2] [3]
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Meanwhile, there was no shortage of talent to watch in the women’s 100h race either. The line-up included world-record-holder Kendra Harrison, Brianna McNeal and Nia Ali (⅔ of the 2016 Olympic USA medal sweep), as well as Jamaica’s Janeek Brown and 2015 World Champion Danielle Williams, and Nigeria’s Tobi Amusan, all of whom held personal best times under 12.50. [5] [6] [10]
On Day Ten, the final day of the meet, the semi-final and the final races for the 100 meter hurdles took place. The previous day, one of the favorites, 2016 Olympic champion McNeal, was disqualified from her heat due to an extremely disappointing false start in which she flinched but didn’t really take off. In the first heat of semi-finals, Williams came in first place, running a time of 12.41. She was followed closely by Ali, who finished in a then personal best of 12.44. Harrison led the second heat with a time of 12.58, while Amusan took first in the third heat with a personal best of 12.48. She was followed by Brown, who finished in 12.62. [6] [7]
For the final, Nadine Visser of the Netherlands was in lane two, Andrea Carolina Vargas (Costa Rica) in lane 3, Ali in lane four, Williams in lane five, Harrison in lane six, Amusan in lane seven, Brown in lane eight, and Megan Tapper (Jamaica) in lane nine. [8]
At the start of the race, Ali, Williams, and Harrison almost immediately pulled ahead of the rest of the pack. By the fifth hurdle, Ali had gained a visible lead, which she maintained straight through the finish line in a new personal best time of 12.34. Harrison finished 2nd with a 12.46 while Williams, right at her heels, crossed the line in 12.47. Amusan finished 4th in 12.49, followed by Vargas (12.64), Visser (12.66) and Brown (12.88). Tapper had a rough start. She stuttered at the first hurdle, throwing off her rhythm, and was unable to recover. [9]
For Ali, the victory was especially gratifying, as she set two personal bests in the meet, including her first ever sub-12.40 in the final. For Harrison, the silver helped to shed her of the stigma of not coming up on big races, but a slow start made it impossible to catch the fleet-footed Ali. As for Williams, she was slightly off the form she had shown in the Diamond League meets in the buildup to the World Championships, but she too ran an outstanding race.
Despite complaints from athletes regarding the heat, atmosphere, and timing of some of the events, the 2019 IAAF World Athletics Championships were full of awe-inspiring moments. The lengthy list of records broken over the course of the ten days speaks for itself. It’s pretty neat though, as you read the list of records, and the subcategories broaden from National, to Area, to World-Leading, to Championship, and then finally to absolute, top, World Records, the one individual name that lands on every single level of that list is Dalilah Muhammad. Just add that to the list of exceptional feats accomplished in the past century by the women of the hurdles. [11] [12]
[1] https://www.gazettenet.com/Who-to-watch-at-Track-World-Championships-28853205
[12]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_World_Athletics_Championships
