BATON ROUGE – Cassandra Tate’s best season as a professional was made even sweeter on Wednesday night in Beijing when she lined up against the best 400-meter hurdlers in world sport and raced to the bronze medal in the event final at the 2015 IAAF World Championships in Athletics continuing this week at the “Bird’s Nest” National Stadium.
Tate cruised into her first major international final in the event with the fastest time in the qualifying round at 54.27 seconds on Sunday and second-fastest time in the semifinal round at 54.33 on Monday.
She then took her mark in lane No. 6 on the Mondo track at Beijing’s National Stadium, first made famous as the site of the 2008 Olympic Games, and made history as LSU’s first ever World Championship medalist over the 400-meter hurdles when she crossed the finish line in third place in the championship final.
Lining up on the outside of Czech Republic’s reigning World Champion Zuzana Hejnova in lane No. 5 and in the same race as six of the 10 fastest 400-meter hurdlers worldwide this season, Tate knew the challenge that lay in front of her if she hoped to climb the medal podium in her specialty at the World Championships or Olympic Games for the first time in her young career.
Tate positioned herself early in the race as the first of the eight runners in the field to touch down over the first hurdle and held a slight lead as the first to reach the second, third and fourth hurdles on the backstretch. Hejnova, the reigning World Champion, closed the gap and matched Tate stride-for-stride over the fifth and sixth hurdles before surging into the lead over the seventh hurdle around the final curve.
Fellow American Shamier Little made her move into second place around the curve as Tate found herself well in third place as the runners went over the eighth hurdle. Not even a clip of the ninth hurdle with her right trail leg could knock Tate off her stride as she held the edge over Denmark’s Sara Slott Petersen in the race for the bronze medal.
Hejnova defended her World title by nearly a half second over the rest of the field with a winning 53.50, while Little, the reigning NCAA Champion, scored the silver medal in 53.94. Tate edged Petersen at the tape with a bronze-medal-winning time of 54.02, nearly matching her personal best of 54.01 set in the final at the USA Track & Field Championships in June where she won the silver medal.
Petersen (54.20) was fourth followed by Jamaica’s Janieve Russell (54.64) in fifth, Great Britain’s Eilidh Child (54.78) in sixth, South Africa’s Wenda Nel (54.94) in seventh and Jamaica’s Kaliese Spencer (55.47) in eighth.
“You dream of stuff like this,” Tate shared with USA Track & Field following her race. “I was very consistent in the first two rounds and I knew I’d have to do the same thing in order to get a medal. I am happy I was able to keep myself in the race and get a medal. This has brought me tons of experience. To come home with a medal gives me confidence for next (Olympics) year.”
A World Championship medalist & her coach! Congrats to @SassySandra7 for winning BRONZE in the 400h! @LSUCoachShaver pic.twitter.com/vqOS5O5aum
— LSUTrackField (@LSUTrackField) August 26, 2015
By winning the bronze medal in her first major international final in the 400 hurdles, Tate became LSU’s top finisher all-time at the World Championships after former Lady Tiger national champion Nickiesha Wilson took fourth place with a school-record time of 53.97 following her sophomore season at the 2007 IAAF World Championships held in Osaka, Japan.
Tate medaled as a member of Team USA for the second time in her professional career after she was also crowned a World Indoor Champion in 2014 while running on the winning 4×400-meter relay team.
LSU’s athletes have now taken home 17 medals all-time at the IAAF World Championships in Athletics since the inaugural event in 1987, including eight gold medals, four silver medals and five bronze medals from relay and individual events. Tate is the first former Tiger or Lady Tiger to medal since the championship was held in Daegu, South Korea, back in 2011.
LSU’s All-Time Medalists at the IAAF World Championships in Athletics
Year, Athlete, Country, Medal, Event
1991, Dahlia Duhaney, Jamaica, Gold, 4×100 Relay
1993, Glenroy Gilbert, Canada, Silver, 100 Meters
1997, Glenroy Gilbert, Canada, Gold, 4×100 Relay
1999, Peta-Gaye Dowdie, Jamaica, Bronze, 4×100 Relay
2001, Derrick Brew, United States, Gold, 4×400 Relay
2001, Debbie Parris, Jamaica, Gold, 4×400 Relay
2003, Derrick Brew, United States, Gold, 4×400 Relay
2003, Ronetta Smith, Jamaica, Silver, 4×400 Relay
2005, Derrick Brew, United States, Gold, 4×400 Relay
2005, Walter Davis, United States, Gold, Triple Jump
2005, Muna Lee, United States, Gold, 4×100 Relay
2005, Ronetta Smith, Jamaica, Silver, 4×400 Relay
2007, Walter Davis, United States, Bronze, Triple Jump
2009, Richard Thompson, Trinidad & Tobago, Silver, 4×100 Relay
2011, Kelly-Ann Baptiste, Trinidad & Tobago, Bronze, 100 Meters
2011, Riker Hylton, Jamaica, Bronze, 4×400 Relay
2015, Cassandra Tate, United States, Bronze, 400 Hurdles