DAEGU, South Korea – Former Lady Tiger national champion Kelly-Ann Baptiste cemented her place as one of the world’s premier sprinters during Monday’s action at the IAAF World Championships in taking her place on the medal podium as this year’s bronze medalist in the women’s 100-meter dash.
Baptiste certainly entered the meet as a medal contender after clocking a seasonal best of 10.91 seconds in winning her first career IAAF Diamond League title in Paris on July 8 as she arrived in Daegu for the first round of qualifying as the world’s No. 5-ranked 100-meter sprinter in 2011.
And Baptiste certainly lived up to her billing by winning her first medal in the 100-meter dash in her third career World Championships appearance for the Caribbean nation of Trinidad & Tobago.
After earning her lane in the final as the third-fastest semifinalist earlier in the afternoon, Baptiste sprinted to the finish line in 10.98 to capture the bronze medal behind 2011 World champion Carmelita Jeter of the United States (10.90) and Veronica Campbell-Brown of Jamaica (10.97) in a race that was run into a very strong headwind of 1.4 meters per second. Baptiste also nipped defending Olympic champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce of Jamaica (10.99) at the tape to earn her place on the medal podium.
Baptiste has enjoyed a gradual ascent into the world’s elite since wrapping up her collegiate career among the all-time greats to wear the LSU uniform as the 2008 NCAA 100-meter champion. She actually owns a lifetime personal record of 10.84 in the 100-meter dash that she set during the 2010 season.
By taking home the bronze medal from this year’s World Championships, the 24-year-old is sure to take a level of momentum with her into the 2012 season as she eyes Olympic gold in London next summer.
Baptiste will now break for six days before returning to the track on Sunday morning at 4:30 a.m. CDT as she teams with Lady Tiger junior Semoy Hackett as part of Trinidad’s 4×100-meter relay team.
Hackett came up just short in her bid to join her Trinidad & Tobago teammate in the 100-meter dash final as she earned a 10th-place finish in Monday’s semifinal round with her time of 11.35 (-1.4) that finished in fourth place in the second of three heats. Tiger junior Riker Hylton of Jamaica also fell short of the men’s 400-meter final in Monday’s semifinals after clocking 46.99 in his heat to finish in 24th place.