Two-time World Indoor Champion Devynne Charlton is turning her attention to the final stretch—literally. After finishing second in the women’s 100m hurdles at the Racers Grand Prix in Kingston on Saturday night, the Bahamian star and 60m hurdles world record holder admitted that improving over the last five hurdles remains her key focus as she aims to replicate her indoor dominance on the outdoor stage.
Charlton clocked a season’s best 12.65 seconds to finish behind American Alia Armstrong, who won in 12.54. Jamaica’s Alexandra Webster took third in a personal best 12.95. Despite the result, Charlton viewed the race as an important step in her 2025 campaign.
“I think today’s race shows that I’m in good shape,” she said. “I left a lot of work for myself in the front half of the race, but I’m really proud of how I fought back and handled the middle. When you put it up like that, it gives you a good idea of what I need to work on.”
Charlton, who set the 60m hurdles world record of 7.65 seconds during the 2024 indoor season, successfully defended her World Indoor title in March this year in Nanjing, China. But the transition from indoor to outdoor competition—where the race extends to 10 hurdles over 100 metres —continues to present challenges.
“I definitely have a strength when it comes to the first five or six hurdles,” she explained. “So the goal for outdoors is to just keep working that. I need to strengthen the last part, be able to just hold that momentum. That’s what we’re working on. And when I figure it out, everybody’s gonna know.”
With the World Championships set for September in Tokyo, Charlton’s focus is fixed on building toward a peak performance later in the season. Her outdoor schedule continues with meets in Stockholm, Paris, and Los Angeles—key stops in her preparations for the global stage.
“Everything right now is geared towards being ready in September,” she said. “This is just the first race of a little rollout I’ve got going on. I’ve got a busy June, so I’m building towards peaking at the right time.”
Charlton also expressed pride in the growing strength of Bahamian women’s hurdling, noting the emergence of Denisha Cartwright and Charisma Taylor as key teammates in elevating the country’s presence internationally.
“It feels good, because for so many championships it was just me or Pedrya Seymour—just the two of us. Now to have three of us on the world stage, I think we’re emerging as one of the best hurdle nations—only behind the USA and Jamaica. That says a lot for a country of our size.”
Having already mastered the indoor format, Charlton is determined to solve the final piece of the puzzle outdoors. If she does, there’s every chance that she could translate her world-beating speed over five hurdles into global gold over 10.