Olympic champion Jasmine Camacho-Quinn of Puerto Rico triumphed in a closely contested women’s 100m hurdles race at the Diamond League season opener in Xiamen, China.
Camacho-Quinn, who will aim to defend her Olympic title at Paris 2024 later this summer, clocked in at 12.45 seconds in a slight -0.2 m/s headwind to secure the victory over a field that featured many of the athletes she is likely to face off against at the Olympics later this year.
Despite getting off to a slow start, Camacho-Quinn showed her strength in the latter half of the race, overtaking Bahamas’ Devynne Charlton and Jamaica’s Danielle Williams, who had strong starts.
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The Puerto Rican, whose personal best is 12.26 seconds, crossed the line on Saturday ahead of her rivals and set a meeting record, although falling just short of the current world lead of 12.44.
“As long as I stayed with those beside me, I’m good,” Camacho-Quinn said after getting off to a slow start. “I don’t have the best start. Luckily I got this win.
“I’ll go back and work on my start.”
“Right now I am kind of where I was at three years ago,” she added “So I guess my coach and I need to go back and talk a few things. It’s not been easy.”
World indoor 60m hurdles champion and world record holder in that discipline, Charlton, who rocketed out of the blocks and led for much of the race, had to settle for second place with 12.49 seconds, just short of her personal best.
Cyréna Samba-Mayela of France also impressed, setting a new national record with 12.55 in third, with Danielle Williams of Jamaica (12.56) and Nigeria’s world record holder Tobi Amusan (12.58) finishing fourth and fifth respectively.
American rising star and former NCAA standout Masai Russell clocked 12.67 seconds for sixth place.
