Just over two weeks after setting the Saint Lucia national record for the women’s 60m hurdles, Aasia Laurencin has lowered the mark again. Laurencin, a graduate student at the University of Michigan, took the silver medal in her event on Saturday at the Big Ten Indoor Championships, missing out on gold by the narrowest of margins.
Competing for the Maize and Blue at Fall Creek Pavillion in Indianapolis, USA, Laurencin ran 7.97 seconds for second place and the national record. She ran 8.04 seconds on February 14.
The 22-year-old actually recorded the same time as eventual gold medallist, Aaliyah McCormick of Oregon. But the photo-finish cameras showed the hard-charging Saint Lucian crossing the line five-thousandths of a second behind her rival, 7.968 to 7.963. UCLA’s Yanla Ndjip-Nyemeck ran 8.09 seconds for bronze.
“Thank you, God. Another national record!” said Laurencin via her X account. “A very close race, but I’m so grateful to be this type of a competitor. Gotta work harder for nationals. I serve an on-time God!”
Only 19 women have run faster than 7.97 seconds this year. Five of them are from the Caribbean. Laurencin will be going to the NCAA indoor track and field championships with confidence high. The meet will be March 14th-15th at the Virginia Beach Sports Center in Virginia Beach, Virginia, USA.
Laurencin is also on the qualification list for the World Athletics Indoor Championships, scheduled in Nanjing from March 21st-23rd. Also on that list from Saint Lucia are 2024 World Indoor 60m champion Julien Alfred and men’s 60m hurdler Khailan Vitalis.
