The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Tribune Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

Devynne Charlton raced to a national record in the women’s 100m hurdles.

Charlton set the new mark of 12.61 seconds at the USATF Golden Games at Hilmer Lodge Stadium in Walnut, California, yesterday afternoon.

She surpassed the previous mark of 12.64 secs set by Pedrya Seymour at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

American Keni Harrison took first place in 12.48 secs, followed by Cindy Sember of Great Britain in 12.53 secs and Tobi Amusan of Nigeria was third as she edged out Charlton at the line by two thousandths of a second in 12.605 secs.

Charlton opened the event with a time of 12.77 secs to place third in heat two of the preliminaries. She entered the final as the fifth fastest qualifier.

The 25-year-old former Purdue Boilermaker already surpassed the qualifying standard for the 2021 Tokyo Olympics on April 10 at the Miramar South Florida Invitational with her time of 12.84 secs. Seymour also qualified for the Tokyo Olympics early in the process.

Following her performance at the Drake Relays on April 24, Charlton foreshadowed that faster times were in the immediate future. That prediction came to fruition yesterday at the Golden Games.

“I think the consistency is an indicator that a big drop in time is around the corner,” she said after the race in Des Moines, Iowa where she finished in 12.84 secs ahead of Seymour in 12.93 secs.

Just two weeks later, she became the new national record holder in the event.

At Purdue, she trained under the Bahamian coaches Rolando ‘Lonnie’ Greene and Norbert Elliott. Charlton is now training at the University of Kentucky where Greene is now the head coach.

“In 2019, I had a coach that turned out not to be in the best interest for me. I was able to get in contact with coach Greene and I’m training with him,” Charlton previously told The Tribune, “I train with the Kentucky kids and a club that consists of professional athletes. So it’s like night and day for me now. When I was in Alabama, I was the only hurdler so there wasn’t really that much pressure.

She appears to be peaking at the right time ahead of her Olympic debut in Tokyo, July 23 - August 8.

Charlton would have qualified for the 2016 games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, but opted not to compete because of a back injury.

“That one hurt, not being able to compete. This time, I’m looking forward to competing and representing The Bahamas well. It’s good to get qualifying out of the way. That’s a huge weight off my shoulders. I just have to focus on having a clean race when it matters the most and let the time take care of itself.”