Cooper comes from behind, snags 100m hurdles gold
Team USA's Madeline Cooper snags gold in the women's 100m hurdles with a time of 12.91 seconds, the fastest U20 time in the world this year.
Video Transcript
So the four women that have broken 13 seconds in the world this year are all here tonight in the final.
Wonderful lineup.
Furgalova, Slovakia, goes from the inside.
Season's best in her heat of 13.22.
And then we come to the big guns.
Madeline Cooper, fastest in the world, 12.91.
Only third in the semifinal.
Jill Sanchez, 13.07 in her semifinal.
Big, big chance for Europe, along with this young woman, who I thought was impressive.
I think she gets herself into the big favorites here in Darcy.
Maybe behind the big four.
Ramokgopa ran in the 400 hurdle semifinal 17 minutes ago to make the final.
She's looked superb through the rounds.
13.02.
Along with Marshall, that's the fastest times we've seen so far, and they were in the semis.
How do they get to the first hurdle together?
Jamaica's won the last three titles.
Can they make it four straight and six in total?
The Americans have won six, and they've got two good ones with Cooper and Goodson.
And then Sekler of Slovenia, it's already been a big night for that country, hasn't it?
And she's been very good and improving.
Semifinal was impressive.
Won 100th outside her personal best.
And Italy's had a very good day as well.
A really great day.
And Sukko goes here.
It does feel like it's that big clutter in the middle, but it's more than three.
It's an enormous group here.
So Cooper's two from the right, Sanchez next to her, Darcy next to her, Ramokgopa next to her, and then Marshall and Goodson.
First hurdle will be crucial.
Who can get the lead here?
How does the South African handle this night?
Pretty well, I would think.
Big final, this one.
Set.
It's a clean start.
Ramokgopa got a good start.
So did Marshall early.
Just behind them in Darcy.
Cooper's right up there at halfway.
Marshall and Ramokgopa are together, and also Cooper.
Not much between them.
It's Marshall on the outside, but no, I reckon it's Cooper on the inside.
She's won it.
She's come from behind and gone home and won.
The fastest in the world this year at 12.91, and she equals that again.
It was a fabulous final.
I thought it was South Africa and Jamaica for a lot of it, but it was the Americans.
What a night's work for the South African.
That's what it means to her.
She gets another chance tomorrow.
12.91, 12.96, and 12.97 for Marshall.
Look at that.
One, two, three.
Rosie, that was great stuff.
Oh, it really, really, really was.
Ramokgopa got out so, so well.
She was superb out of the blocks.
The lead was with her for a significant chunk of the race.
Cooper was so good in the closing stages over the last couple of barriers.
She really did pull it back so, so well.
Marshall was brilliant as well.
The reaction of Ramokgopa was just brilliant to watch.
How lovely.
Cooper with big screams as well, but Ramokgopa, wow.
The, the bounce in her after that, the adrenaline that it's given her.
Look, how lovely is that?
Oh, she's in tears.
It means so, so much to these athletes.
It is purely about the love of the sport.
Rob, three under 13 in a final.
Three under 13 in a final's pretty good stuff, isn't it?
That was an absolutely brilliant final to watch because for much of it, your eye was drawn to Ramokgopa, who was leading.
But little by little, on her own, second from the inside, Cooper got level, and her lunge for the line was magnificently timed.
She did it by 5 hundredths in the end, with Marshall just a whisker behind the South African for silver.
Cooper was pumped for this.
She was ready.
Tunnel vision.
Right, Ramokgopa gets to the first barrier first.
There she is on the aerial view with Marshall right next to her.
But now, Cooper just with the edge.
I wonder whether the South African was aware of her presence at that point, and you knew that Cooper had done it.
Ramokgopa just getting tense and tight towards the end.
Sanchez wasn't far away.
13.03 for her.
But Cooper looked across, and she knew she had climbed the mountain and taken the world title, and done it with the best performance in the world this year, tied with her own on 12.91.
And she did that other one here in Eugene as well, Rob, didn't she, at the Ame- American Championships?
Yes.
And Marshall here, we talked about Ramokgopa celebrating.
Marshall as well, that personal best.
Well, it promised a lot, didn't it?
And it delivered, it really did.
Cooper was magnificent.
Ramokgopa's had an amazing night, and Marshall has run the fastest race of her life.
USA, South Africa, Jamaica after the women's 100 hurdles.
