Track Beauty of the Week: Brigitte Foster-Hylton

Brigitte Foster-Hylton is this week's Track Beauty!

Photo from the Jamaica Gleaner

In the run-up to the London Olympic Games, Foster-Hylton was having a stellar string of performances. Her 12.51s clocking in Kingston (5/5/2012) was inferior only to Sally Pearson's 12.40, 12.49s, and 12.49s in the season top list. At 37-years of age, with a complete collection of World Championship medals in her curriculum vitae, London was Foster-Hylton's last shot at Olympic glory. 

But then again, the sprint hurdles is an unpredictable event. The Jamaican crashed out of the qualifying rounds after clipping a hurdle badly. Although she managed to finish the race, her substandard time was not enough for her to progress to the semifinals. Foster-Hylton was inconsolable.

Read: "Sally Pearson's Heartwarming Gesture"

Ever since placing second at the Central American and Carribean Championships in 1999, [1] the Jamaican sprint hurdler has been on the fast track to success. In her Olympic debut in Sydney, Foster-Hylton made it as far to the final. She made up for a semifinals exit in Athens with her sixth place finish in Beijing. [2]

Read: "Brigitte To Bid Farewell"

The highlight of Foster-Hylton's career was winning the World Championship gold in Berlin back in 2009, where she ran 12.51s to egde out  Priscilla Lopes-Schliep (12.54s) and compatriot Delloreen Ennis-London (12.55s).

References:

1. "Brigitte Foster-Hylton." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brigitte_Foster-Hylton. Retrieved 10-14-2012.
2. Ibid.

Michelle Jenneke: The Dancing Hurdler

My college coach suggested that I take up dancing classes a few years back, to improve hip mobility. I'm not really the dancing type, so I ignored his advice! I chose hurdle drills over dancing lessons! But then again, hip mobility is imperative for efficient hurdling clearance.

Screenshot from Al-Jazeera Sport

Michelle Jenneke obviously doesn't share my dancing shyness. The Australian junior has become the latest internet sensation, thanks to a viral Youtube video of her doing a pre-race dancing jig before her qualifying heat.

Click here to view Michelle’s semifinal race

Lo and behold, this young Aussie is a hurdling gem. She topped her heat in effortless fashion, registering a time of 13.52s. She ran 13.41s in the semis, two-hundredths of second off her personal best. Jenneke’s technique is picture perfect. It is efficient. There is hardly any wasted movement. Her trail leg action, as expected, is remarkably snappy. She even clears with a bowed lead foot. Indeed, she is every inch the hurdling technician.

Michelle eventually wound up fifth in the final, stopping the clock in 13.54s.

You can see from her expression and her body language that she really loves what she is doing. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: happy hurdlers are formidable competitors. The bubbly Aussie takes the concept further by adding the dance factor, reminiscent of such classy performers like Blanka Vlasic and Chaunte Lowe.

P.S.

Netizens are calling her the new Allison Stokke. Let's just hope that this does not go overboard. 

Additional Links:

IAAF Biography

All-Athletics Profile

WJC 2012 – 100m Hurdles Results

Christina Vukicevic (Љубица Вукићевић) Interview

Watch the following interview with Christina Vukicevic (Љубица Вукићевић):

Track Beauty of the Week: Kristi Castlin

Kristi Castlin is this week's track beauty!

Castlin was poised to make an impact at the 2012 World Indoor Championships in Istanbul. She ran the world's fastest time, a personal best of 7.84sA, en route to winning the tough U.S. Indoor Championships in Albuquerque. The faulty acoustics of the Istanbul stadium, unfortunately, cost her a probable World indoor medal.

Photo from Hokies Sports

Like many other athletes in qualifying, Castlin mistakenly thought that there was a false start, thanks to the echoing retort of the starting gun. The American was disqualified as the rest of the athletes in her heat went on with the race. But then again, the outdoor season holds the bigger prize. Kristi has recovered from her Istanbul experience completely.

At the Bislett Games in Oslo, a Diamond League meeting, Castlin ran a lifetime best of 12.56s, as she finished in a strong second place behind 2011 World Champion Sally Pearson (12.49s). The stylish American took the scalps of her more illustrious compatriots, Lolo Jones (12.75s) and Danielle Carruthers (12.76).

Castlin's hurdling technique is wonderful to watch. Female sprint hurdlers tend to get away with glaring technical flaws because the hurdles in the 100m race are signficantly lower compared to the 110m. I like Kristi's lean as she skims over the barriers. She brings her lead knee closer to her chest than most of her competitors, resulting into a more stable center of gravity throughout the race. Her arm action is picture perfect - snappy, graceful, and compact.

Kristi looks good on and off the track. She has great fashion sense and stands out among the other athletes (she describes herself as "an ostentatious 100m hurdler" in her Twitter account). More importantly, Castlin has the tools - blistering speed and graceful hurdling - to become a legitimate contender in elite women's sprint hurdling.

Additional Links:

Kristi's Twitter

IAAF Biography

All-Athletics Profile

Hokie Sports Profile