“That 12.40 got my confidence back”. It’s not just any record: it’s Kelly Holmes’ Olympic gold medal record.
Advertisement
As Asher-Smith, who ran the third leg, put it: “I was watching Daryll down the last 100m”.
In fact, as of Friday evening, she now IS the best after breaking the world record with a time of 12.20 seconds at the Diamond League meet in London’s Stadium at Queen Elizabeth Park.
Harrison’s compatriots finished 2-4 behind her, with U.S. Olympic Trials champion Brianna Rollins coming in at 12.57, and Rollins’s fellow Olympic teammates Kristi Castlin and Nia Ali finishing in 12.59 and 12.63, respectively.
In the women’s 400m hurdles, a tiring Eilidh Doyle stuttered approaching the final barrier and finished fourth in 54.70 seconds – down on the season’s best 54.09 she set in Monaco earlier this month.
However, it was quickly corrected to 12.20, one hundredth of a second faster than the mark set by Bulgaria’s Yordanka Donkova in 1988 – four years before Harrison was born.
Bolt won the Anniversary Games race in 19.89 seconds after a false start from a rival. I am ready to defend my Olympic titles.
Panama’s Alonso Edward ran a season’s best of 20.04sec while Britain’s Adam Gemili produced a 2016 best of 20.07sec.
The quartet of Asha Philip, Desiree Henry, Dina Asher-Smith and Daryll Neita claimed a dominant victory in 41.81, taking 0.29 off the previous British record, set a year ago.
Afterwards she was devastated, but turned her focus to a new goal – setting a world record.
He ran his first final in Beijing, exploding into the consciousness of sports fans around the world by coasting to 100 metres victory in a record time of 9.69 seconds with one shoelace undone. American Isiah Young got up for second, with recently crowned European champion Churandy Martina third.
“After not making the Olympic team I wanted to come out here and show what I could have done”, an emotional Harrison said. Miller leads the Diamond Race with 35 points, five more than the Jamaican.
Star of the show for once was not Bolt but American hurdler Kendra Harrison who claimed a stunning world record to pocket $50,000.
Advertisement
As the American crossed the line, far clear of the field, the stadium clock said 12.57sec. There was also a big personal best for British 1500m man Charlie Grice back in ninth – his 1.45.53 run almost 1.5 seconds faster than he’s run before.
