Friday was a day of national records for Saint Lucia, with University of Michigan graduate student Aasia Laurencin adding a new mark for women’s 60m hurdles. Also on Valentine’s Day, Julien Alfred and Natalie Albert broke new ground in women’s 200m and weight throw indoors.
But Laurencin’s run of 8.04 seconds over the high hurdles was the highest quality performance by a Saint Lucian, according to World Athletics scoring tables. And it was all the more rewarding for her considering her history.
Competing Friday at the Clemson Tiger Paw Invitational, the same meet as Alfred, Laurencin ran 8.13 seconds to top her preliminary heat. She overcame a poor start to go 8.04 in the semifinals, thus twice bettering Makeba Alcide’s run of 8.31 seconds at the 2016 NAU Tune Up in Flagstaff, Arizona.
Dealing with a baulky knee, the four-time All-American eschewed the final. Her time placed her sixth in the NCAA this season, seventh in the Central American and Caribbean region, and into the world top 40 for the year.
The 22-year-old American-born Laurencin, whose family is from Castries, began the process of registering as a Saint Lucian citizen at the beginning of 2021. After negotiating a host of bureaucratic and legislative barriers, she officially became a daughter of Fair Helen in July 2024. That made her eligible to compete for Saint Lucia going forward, although her documents came through too late for her to compete at the Olympics, for which she would have been qualified.
Laurencin has actually gone as fast as 7.99 seconds, at last year’s NCAA Championship. But as it was prior to her registration, that run does not count as a national record. She is hopeful of qualifying for the World Championships later this year in the 100m hurdles.
Bravo to our athletes
So very proud of them🙏🏼