Advertisement
Lavin, centre, broke Derval O'Rourke's 13-year-old national record in the World Championship semi-finals. Morgan Treacy/INPHO

Sarah Lavin breaks Irish 100m hurdles record but bows out in world semi-finals

Lavin ran 12.62 seconds in Budapest on Wednesday evening.

SARAH LAVIN BROKE Derval O’Rourke’s Irish 100m hurdles record in the World Championship semi-finals on Wednesday night.

The Limerick hurdler ran a new personal best of 12.62 seconds, bettering the national record set by O’Rourke 13 years ago by three-hundredths of a second.

But it was not fast enough to see her through to the final as she finished fifth in a fiercely-competitive field in Budapest.

Tokyo Olympic silver medallist Kendra Harrison of the United States won in an impressive 12.33 seconds, with Devynne Charlton of the Bahamas taking the second automatic qualification spot in 12.49.

To break the national record without progressing was “bittersweet”, Lavin said afterwards.

“We got it,” she told Virgin Media’s Will Dalton. “I’ve dreamt of getting that national record since I was that size.

“I made a mistake on hurdle nine and it cost me, but I was up there with some of the best in the world, and I guess 12 months out from the Paris Olympics, that’s where you want to be.”

She added: “It was a brilliant race – it was the best race by an Irish person ever. Sorry, Derval… she made me work hard enough for it now, let’s be honest.”

Defending champion Tobi Amusan (12.56) and Ackera Nugent (12.60) were the two automatic qualifiers from the second semi-final, while Jasmine Camacho-Quinn (12.41) and Nia Ali (12.49) qualified automatically from the third semi.

Danielle Williams and Ditaji Kambundji, both of whom ran 12.50 seconds, progressed as the fastest non-automatic qualifiers.

Close
8 Comments
This is YOUR comments community. Stay civil, stay constructive, stay on topic. Please familiarise yourself with our comments policy here before taking part.
Leave a Comment
    Submit a report
    Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
    Thank you for the feedback
    Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.

    Leave a commentcancel