Oluwakemi Adekoya made Bahraini athletics history when she became the first athlete from the Gulf nation to win a world indoor championships title, in the process improving her own Asian indoor record that she set in Friday’s semi-final by 0.02 to 51.45.
She has now reduced the continental indoor mark over two laps of the track on four different occasions this winter.
It mattered not that it was the slowest winning time since 1989 because it was a wonderfully enthralling race in the Oregon Convention Center with the capacity crowd roaring on US champion Quanera Hayes and her teammate Ashley Spencer, although the pair ultimately had to settle for the bronze and silver medals respectively.
Running in lane five, Adekoya flew out of her blocks and passed Spencer on her outside in just 50 metres. Truly a flight to victory it was!