ROLLINS’ HURDLES GLORY
USA TAKES ALL THREE MEDALS AS GB SISTERS MAKE THE FINAL
PH
100M HURDLES
Brianna Rollins touches down ahead of her rivals, including Britain’s Cindy Ofili (left), on the final hurdle
THE United States dominates this event like perhaps no other and that was clearly demonstrated as, even without its new world record-holder, the nation claimed an unprecedented podium sweep led by Brianna Rollins.
The 2013 world champion stopped the clock on 12.48, finishing 0.11 clear of Nia Ali, who in turn was 0.02 ahead of Kristi Castlin.
Even the British siblings Cindy Ofili and Tiffany Porter were born and raised in America. Ofili, the younger by seven years, beat her sister for the first time as she was just two hundredths short of making the podium with a season’s best of 12.63.
The eventual winner had become favourite after world recordholder Kendra Harrison flopped at the US Trials
Porter, the 2012 world indoor 60m hurdles silver medallist, has not had the best of seasons so seventh with 12.76 was probably about par. Rollins had won at the US trials where Kendra Harrison, who would later, in London, become the event’s fastest ever with 12.20, placed a surprisingly lowly fifth to miss out on making the team under the strict first-three selection policy. In the absence of the world record-holder, Rollins was Rio’s fastest in 2016 and the pre-event favourite.