De’Jour Russell lowered his personal best from 13.31 (already a world-Under-18-leading time this year) all the way down to 13.08, setting a new championship record at the IAAF World Under 18 Championships Nairobi 2017. Watch below.
The time made him the second fastest Under 18 athlete of all time, behind his compatriot Jaheel Hyde’s world U18 best of 12.96. Russell’s time was all the more amazing given his slow reaction time of 0.221 and the fact he slowed down before the finish.
https://streamable.com/b4g7d
With the semifinal and final scheduled for Friday, there may be much more to come from the Jamaican who recently clocked a world age-17 best of 13.32 over the senior height barriers.
None of the other hurdlers came near Russell’s performance, but there were other notable runs, including the remaining heat winners: Enrique Llopis of Spain with 13.47 (a personal best by 0.25), Lu Hao-hua of Chinese Taipei with 13.57 and Saoud Al-Humaidi of Qatar with 13.72.
