LoLo Jones defends hurdles title, sets record as US revels at world indoors in Doha

Jones wins 60M hurdles, sets world indoors record

DOHA, Qatar — LoLo Jones recovered from near-elimination in the semifinals to defend her title in the 60-meter hurdles Saturday, setting the record at the world indoor championships and third-best time ever.

Jones set the championships record in 7.72 seconds, 0.03 seconds better than Perdita Felicien of Canada in 2004.

“This meet shows that I can come into competition, be No. 1 with the spotlight on me and deliver a medal,” Jones said.

Olympic champion Bryan Clay also held on to his heptathlon title, adding to a successful day for the U.S. team. Christian Cantwell won his third shot put title and Debbie Dunn added gold in the 400 meters. Only Bershawn Jackson faded out of the medals in the 400 after a clash on the final bend.

Jones almost didn’t make the finals. She hit the second hurdle in the semifinal and nearly veered out of her lane before getting into the final by 0.01 seconds.

She left the Aspire Dome, had a good cry and screamed at her coach “What do I do, what do I do?”

Jones’ semifinal was reminiscent of her performance at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, when she hit the next-to-last hurdle in the 100-meter finals to lose an almost certain gold medal.

But with gold on the line Saturday, she was flawless and beat the field by 0.14 seconds.

“I said ‘keep everything tight and don’t you dare hit a hurdle,’ and that is what I did,” said Jones, who knelt on the track and jumped into the arms of teammate Chaunte Howard-Lowe after her victory.

Jones trails world record holder Susanna Kallur of Sweden (7.68) and Ludmila Engquist of Russia on the all-time list.

Dwain Chambers of Britain beat Mike Rodgers in the 60 meters in a world-leading 6.48 seconds to edge his American rival. It was the first world title for Chambers since coming back from a two-year drug suspension in 2006.

Clay defeated teammate Trey Hardee and Russia’s Aleksey Drozdov. Clay finished last in the 1,000 meters in the final event, but fast enough to maintain the points advantage.

He finished the seven events with 6,204 points, 20 ahead of outdoor world champion Hardee. Drozdov had 6,141 for bronze.

Clay needed a big final lap to finish in 2 minutes 50.28 seconds, just 2.52 seconds behind Hardee. He admitted running on empty late in the race.

“The last few years, I’ve barely broke 3 minutes in the 1,000,” Clay said. “I didn’t make it easy on myself in the last two days. I had a lot of attempts in things that I shouldn’t have attempts at. So my legs were pretty tired, pretty fried.”

Hardee said he knew Clay had won the moment he crossed the line, looked back and saw the Olympic champion less than three seconds behind him. Still, he was satisfied with silver in his first world indoors.

“I was happy. I was just running to keep my lead,” Hardee said.

Cantwell won his third world indoor title in the shot, saving his biggest shot until his sixth and final attempt at 71 feet, 7½ inches.

Dunn added to the U.S. party mood when she took charge in the 400 early on and never let off to finish in 51.04. Jamaica’s Novlene Williams-Mills stumbled off the track early on in a slight clash with Tatyana Firova but the Russian went on to claim silver.

Jones’ indoor record helped ease the pain of losing at the Olympics.

“I had many times I doubted my confidence,” Jones said. “Not only did I mess up the Olympics, but I got hurt most of last year. So I had two years where I said ‘come on’ can I get back on track.”

In the women’s pentathlon, Britain’s Jessica Ennis led from start to finish to take gold ahead of Olympic champion Natallia Dobrynska and Russia’s Tatyana Chernova.

Ennis, the outdoor heptathlon world champion, finished with a championship record of 4,937 points, while Dobrynska set a Ukrainian record of 4,851. U.S. athlete Hyleas Fountain set a North American record of 4,753 in fourth.

Ethiopia’s Meseret Defar has won her fourth 3,000 meter world indoor title in a row, beating Kenya’s Vivian Cheruiyot in a sprint to the line. Defar’s teammate Sentayehu Ejigu took the bronze.