DAEGU, South Korea (Sporting Alert)— Jennifer Barringer Simpson powered her way to the front over the last 70 metres and then stayed there to win the women’s 1,500 meters at the world championships Thursday.
The former Steeplechase runner kept up with the pace setters and then out-sprinted them down the stretch to win the gold medal in 4 minutes, 5.40 seconds.
Barringer Simpson looked stunned for a moment at her accomplishments before jumping in celebration after realising that it was indeed for real.
Hannah England of Britain also ran a well judged race to take the silver medal in 4:05.68, while the bronze medal went to Natalia Rodriguez of Spain in 4:05.87.
Two time defending champion Maryam Yusuf Jamal of Bahrain was dead-last in 4:22.67.
Barringer Simpson victory had come just minutes after Jesse Williams won the men’s high jump with a leap of 2.35m, the same height cleared by Russia’s Aleksey Dmitrik, who took silver.
Outstanding race for Simpson. It was great to see the American lady take Gold. Congratulations.