Yamile Aldama produced the performance of her life to land the world indoor gold medal on Saturday in Istanbul after a superb leap of 14.82m meant the rest of the competition were struggling to make an impact thereafter.
The rejuvenated Brit, who has continued to thrive since her solid performance in debuting for Aviva GB & NI in Daegu last year, showed just what she was capable of, and despite suffering a hamstring injury following her third jump, did not need to make any further attempts.
“I had a little bit of a problem with my hamstring so I had to take the competition round by round. But I won so I’m very happy. I think I could have gone further, but I couldn’t jump again,” she said.
“It is very difficult to explain my feelings. I’m feeling very proud and very happy and I can’t wait to go home and see my family. This is my best moment, I have had silver and bronze before but this is my first gold.”
The 39 year old veteran has previously competed for Cuba and Sudan but gained her British passport in 2010 after living here for over ten years and having two British born children.
Tiffany Porter, who was the Aviva GB & NI team captain at the event recovered from a below par semi final run, to win a silver medal in the 60m hurdles final.
In the semi she had looked to be struggling with a slow start but battled hard to secure second spot in 8.03 secs, qualifying third fastest for the final later in the session.
But her final performance was faultless, executing her best possible race for a 7.94secs time, whilst drawn in the lane alongside current world champion Sally Pearson, who went on to blast to a stunning 7.73secs victory:
“I’m very excited, my semi-final didn’t go well as I’m sure you all saw, so I really had to refocus for the final,” said Porter.
“When I gave my captain’s speech I talked about how important mental focus was so I took my own advice and held my focus from the start through to the line.”
Shana Cox may have finished fifth in the women’s 400m but her PB performance of 52.13 showed she has the capacity to produce her best race when it counts.
Cox, who ran superb winning consecutive rounds to qualify for today’s final was mature in reflecting on her weekend campaign:
“I’m happy with that. I’m really happy with my performances this weekend. I’ve been working really hard and it’s been showing - I got a PB - so I’m happy,” she confirmed.
“It’s my first world championships and I’m really pleased with it.”
Sportsister, The Women’s Sports Magazine