Photo: Janieve Russell and Kaliese Spencer will be hunting medals for Jamaica in the women’s 400m hurdles finals
One is a veteran, the other is a rookie, but both Jamaican women who will line up in 400m hurdles finals Wednesday morning local time, will be looking to defy the odds and claim their first World Championship medal for Jamaica, in Beijing China.
Having seen Usain Bolt and Shelly-Ann Fraser Pryce retain their respective 100m titles and club mate at MVP Track Club, O’Dayne Richards, make history by grabbing the first throwers medal for the “Land of Wood and Water”, both Kaliese Spencer and Janieve Russell must be fired up for a massive confrontation with the favourites from Europe and the United States of America.
Spencer has been here before and she has worn the favourites tag without claiming any medals, finishing fourth in both 2009 and 2011. Having suffered an injury at the Jamaica National Trial which saw her skip the Diamond League circuit, then picking up another injury which caused her to miss two solid weeks of training shortly before the World Championships begun, the 28 year old is running the final without pressure. She looked race rusty despite winning her heat but looked much better in her semi-final where she ran 54.45 for second behind Denmark’s Sara Petersen, a medal favourite, who won in 54.34.
Russell is competing in her first World Championships after claiming her first National title in June. She looked ragged in her races in Europe leading up to the championships but has looked anything but, since arriving in China. She has been aggressive in both her races on the way to the finals and is certainly a dark horse who may just cause an upset. She has been unafraid to attack the hurdles and lead races against her more experienced counterparts and this fearlessness may catapult her into a medal position despite the fact that she heads into the finals with the 6th fastest time. The 54.78 she ran in reaching the finals is her season’s best and will no doubt be massive confidence booster ahead of the biggest race of her life.
The 21 year old will be looking to join the esteemed company of Dionne Hemmings and Melaine Walker as medalists in this discipline and will no doubt be hoping that she and Spencer can upset the formbooks and bring more glory to Jamaica but they must somehow get the better of Petersen, race favourite and defending champion Zuzana Hejnova of the Czech Republic and America’s Cassandra Tate who is also tipped for a medal .
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