BATON ROUGE – LSU’s former NCAA 100-meter champion Kelly-Ann Baptiste became a World Championships bronze medalist for the second time in her career on Saturday night after leading off Trinidad & Tobago’s 4×100-meter relay team to a third-place finish in the final at the 2015 IAAF World Championships in Athletics at the Bird’s Nest in Beijing.
Baptiste, who had already raced to a sixth-place finish in the women’s 100-meter final earlier in the championship, stepped into the blocks as Trinidad & Tobago’s leadoff leg in Saturday’s sprint relay final and became a member of a national-record-setting team that clocked 42.03 seconds to win the World bronze medal.
Baptiste teamed with compatriots Michelle-Lee Ahye, Reyare Thomas and Semoy Hackett in scoring the bronze medal behind World Champion Jamaica (41.07) and silver medalist United States (41.68). Jamaica claimed the World title with a new championship record, breaking its own mark of 41.29 set two years ago in Moscow, Russia, while Trinidad & Tobago eclipsed its own national record of 42.24 run in the semifinal round.
Baptiste climbed the medal podium at the World Championships for the second time in her career as she was also the World Bronze Medalist in the 100-meter dash in Daegu, South Korea, in 2011.
She became the second former Lady Tigers to medal at this year’s IAAF World Championships in Athletics after former NCAA Champion Cassandra Tate also won the bronze medal in the women’s 400-meter hurdles at the “Bird’s Nest” National Stadium last Wednesday night. That’s when Tate nearly matched her personal best with a run of 54.02 to take third in her first major international final in the event.
LSU’s athletes have now taken home 18 medals all-time at the IAAF World Championships in Athletics since the inaugural event in 1987, including eight gold medals, four silver medals and sox bronze medals from relay and individual events. Baptiste joined Tate as the first former Tigers or Lady Tigers to medal since the championship was held in Daegu 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, Kelly-Ann Baptiste, Trinidad & Tobago, 4×100 Relay
2015, Cassandra Tate, United States, Bronze, 400 Hurdles