Devynne Charlton raced to a national record in the women’s 100m hurdles.
Charlton set the new mark of 12.61 seconds at the USATF Golden Games at Hilmer Lodge Stadium in Walnut, California, yesterday afternoon.
She surpassed the previous mark of 12.64 secs set by Pedrya Seymour at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
American Keni Harrison took first place in 12.48 secs, followed by Cindy Sember of Great Britain in 12.53 secs and Tobi Amusan of Nigeria was third as she edged out Charlton at the line by two thousandths of a second in 12.605 secs.
Charlton opened the event with a time of 12.77 secs to place third in heat two of the preliminaries. She entered the final as the fifth fastest qualifier.
The 25-year-old former Purdue Boilermaker already surpassed the qualifying standard for the 2021 Tokyo Olympics on April 10 at the Miramar South Florida Invitational with her time of 12.84 secs. Seymour also qualified for the Tokyo Olympics early in the process.
Following her performance at the Drake Relays on April 24, Charlton foreshadowed that faster times were in the immediate future. That prediction came to fruition yesterday at the Golden Games.
By RENALDO DORSETT, Tribune Sports Reporter
rdorsett@tribunemedia.net