The Tribune

By TENAJH SWEETING

Tribune Sports Reporter

tsweeting@tribunemedia.net

The indomitable but humble spirit of world indoor record holder Devynne Charlton was on full display at the 2025 World Indoor Championships in Nanjing, China, where she emerged as the two-time indoor champion in the women’s 60 metres hurdles finals.

Last year was a storybook run for Charlton who recorded personal bests, national records and came away as the world indoor record holder to close out the indoor season but this time around her journey to the gold medal was not as seamless. Nonetheless, she prevailed in the women’s 60m hurdles with a season’s best time of 7.72 seconds, earning her second straight world indoor championship.

The 29-year-old Olympian returned home on Tuesday and the Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations (BAAA) held a luncheon yesterday at the Cricket Club to honour her historic feat and celebrate the remaining members of Team Bahamas for their performances in China.

Charlton admitted that it felt surreal to take the world indoor crown against a stacked field for the second straight year after a rocky start to her season.

“Seeing my name pop up was kind of surreal. I am still in a little bit in disbelief because I am just looking at how my season went versus how the race turned out. You had to be a little bit delusional thinking that I could go in running the way I was and come out the world champion but you embrace the delusion,” she said.

Prior to the world indoors, Charlton owned a season’s best time of 7.82 seconds which was a step slower than the 7.67 seconds she posted at the Millrose Games last season.

Despite having just the eighth fastest time in the world headed into the global event, she pulled together her best stretch of races for the season.

She clocked 7.94 seconds in the heats then shaved some time off the clock in the semis for a finishing mark of 7.82 seconds. 

She gutted out a season’s best time of 7.72 seconds in a closely contested women’s 60m hurdles final to defend her title in the event.

Charlton, who had to battle back from a chipped bone injury and muscle strain headed into indoor season, expressed that she was not confident going into her title defence. “Heading into the race, I kind of had a second of reality where I am just like I am not where I want to be or prefer to be physically so I kind of had to rely on my mentality, my headspace and my instinct. Going into the call room for the final race, I am just like I just have to do what I know how to do and that’s execute a good race. I knew that once I got out and got the start that I needed I could just kind of muscle memory my way to