Former Purdue Track Star Devynne Charlton to Compete for Olympic Gold in 100M Hurdles
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Former Purdue track star Devynne Charlton will be running for a gold medal on Saturday. The Boilermaker will represent the Bahamas in the women's 100-meter hurdles final after posting a qualifying time of 12.50 in her semifinal race Friday.
Charlton will race for the gold medal at 1:35 p.m. ET on Saturday, Aug. 9. She finished second in her semifinal on Friday, making it to the final race for a second straight Olympics.
In the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, Charlton also reahed the final in the 100m hurdles, finishing sixth in the race. This time, she's confident she can run her way to the podium.
Grace Stark leads wire-to-wire to beat Devynne Charlton and go through to the 100m hurdles final. 😲 #ParisOlympics
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) August 9, 2024
📺 USA Network & Peacock pic.twitter.com/JI1cFooKX3
“The plan now is just to go back, watch the film, see if there’s anything I can improve on for the final,” Charlton said, per the Indianapolis Star. “Overall, I think I’m in a good spot.”
Charlton enters Saturday's final as No. 2 in the world rankings.
Charlton was a member of the Purdue women's track and field team from 2014-17. She piled up a laundry-list of accomplishments while in West Lafayette, which included being named an All-American athlete three times. In 2017, she was also named the Big Ten Track Athletes of the Year for both indoors and outdoors.
After reaching the final race for the second time in her Olympic career, Charlton believes its still a great accomplishment. However, she's not satisfied with just reaching the final stage.
“This year, it’s still an accomplishment, but not as big,” she said. “Now, the goal is to win.”
The competitors for the final in the women's 100m hurdles include:
- Cyrena Samba-Mayela, France
- Nadine Visser, Netherlands
- Grace Stark, United States
- Masai Russell, United States
- Alaysha Johnson, United States
- Jasmine Camacho-Quinn, Puerto Rico
- Devynne Charlton, Bahamas
- Ackera Nugent, Jamaica
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Dustin Schutte is the publisher of Purdue Boilermakers on SI and has spent more than a decade working in sports journalism. His career began in 2013, when he covered Big Ten football. He remained in that role for eight years before working at On SI to cover the Boilermakers. Dustin graduated from Manchester University in Indiana in 2010, where he played for the men's tennis team.
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