KINGSTON, Jamaica – Jamaica secured four medals on day seven of the 15th IAAF World Championships under way in Beijing, China.
The team copped one gold, two silver medals and a bronze medal, pushing the country’s medal tally to nine.
In an avid attempt to steal the World 200m title, Elaine Thompson clocked a massive personal best of 21.66sec, but had to settle for silver after Dutch sprinter Dafne Schippers smashed a European record with an electrifying 21.63sec run to win the gold.
Thompson was thankful for the silver.
“I have to give God thanks, it’s the final and I came out second with a big PB (personal best) so I can’t complain. I was just fighting and I just wanted to pull through, but I came out second,” she told OBSERVER ONLINE.
Two-time Olympic champion Veronica Campbell-Brown, who previously won the world title in Daegu in 2011, claimed bronze in 21.97sec at the Bird’s Nest National Stadium.
“It’s a blessing, it was a tough race especially from lane two and I knew I had to go and give it everything I had and it was good enough for a medal,” she said.
Next up was Olympic bronze medallist Hansle Parchment in the 110m men’s hurdles where, despite being disappointed with his start, he made a smooth transition over the barriers to claim Jamaica’s second silver medal in the championships.
“I am very happy I can just imagine how my mom is feeling right now and the people back home. I think they are probably much happier than I am, because I was a little bit disappointed with my start. Overall it was a really good performance,” he commented.
Sergey Shubenkov of Russia clocked a national record of 12.98 seconds to take gold in the event, while Olympic champion and world record holder Aries Merritt won bronze in 13.04.
Parchment’s Jamaican teammate Omar McLeod finished sixth in 13.18sec.
Finally, in a display of focus, precision and speed, Danielle Williams took the women’s World 100-m hurdles title when she clocked a personal best of 12.57sec to win the event.
With her incredible run, she defeated Germany’s Cindy Roleder who took silver in 12.59sec and Alina Talay bronze in a Belarus national record of 12.66sec.
The athlete said she was not expecting a gold medal from the event but was just focused on qualifying for the finals.
“Starting the season, did I think this would be the outcome? No, I did not. I was just hoping to make it to the final of the world championship…” she said after dominating the race. “I won, I am happy, and (I am) looking forward to next year.”
“Right now it’s a mixture of both surprise and joy, mostly surprise. I came into this championship expecting to run my personal best and I did it in the semi-final and I was hoping that I would have the legs to come back in the final,” Williams added.
Currently, Jamaica is in third place on the medal table with nine medals – four of which are gold, two are silver and three bronze.