Rising Saint Lucian track star Jady Emmanuel made history for Saint Lucia on Thursday, becoming the first junior athlete from the island to compete in a World Athletics track final. The talented teen from Morne Paul, Laborie, was eighth out of nine athletes in the women’s 100m at the World Under-20 Championships.
Emmanuel bounced all the way back from an injury in the preliminaries of Saint Lucia’s high school championships in March, twice lowering her personal best and the national Under-18 record along the way. She also cemented her status as the third-fastest Saint Lucian woman of all time.
At the World Under-20 in Eugene, Oregon, the 17-year-old ran 11.28 to win her opening heat on Wednesday. She followed that up with 11.42 to finish second in her semifinal on the same day, qualifying for the final. In so doing, Emmanuel became just the fifth Saint Lucian athlete to make a global final at any level.
In the event, Emmanuel’s future University of Texas teammate Mia Maxwell won in 11.14 seconds, with -0.1 metre-per-second wind. Jamaica’s Shanoya Douglas took silver. Emmanuel’s final run on Thursday night at Tracktown USA may not have gone the way she would have hoped, but she joined an elite club.
Levern Spencer won Under-18 bronze in 2001, and went on to make World and Olympic finals. Julien Alfred took silver at the 2018 Youth Olympics in the 100m, before winning Olympic gold and silver, and World Championships bronze. High jumpers Jeanelle Scheper and Darvin Edwards have also made global finals.
Emmanuel’s 11.28-second run also improved on her 11.39 from last month’s OECS/ANOCES Championships, a time which won her gold. She is now ahead of former World U20 semifinalist Mechaela Hyacinth (11.49), and former national record holders Verneta Lesporis (11.48 seconds) and Jineill Vite (11.44), and behind only Julien Alfred and Naomi London.
