Taylon Bieldt beats Marioné Fourie to national 100m hurdles record

Taylon Bieldt broke the South African 100m hurdles record in Italy on Sunday, clocking 12.76 sec as she won her race in Lucca, Tuscany.

She lowered Rikenette Steenkamp’s 12.81 mark from 2018 to dip inside the automatic 12.78 qualifying standard for the 2023 world championships in Budapest.

On the same day, the South African champion in the event, Marioné Fourie — who had also been targeting the record — improved her personal best to 12.84 while finishing fourth at Hengelo in the Netherlands.

American Nia Ali won in 12.61 ahead of local heroine Nadine Visser (12.71) and Ditaji Kambundji of Switzerland (12.78). 

Bieldt, 24, an under-18 world championship relay medallist in 2015, had been focusing on the 400m hurdles for the past couple of years but has found her best form to date in the 100m hurdles.

She is 26th on the world list in the 100m hurdles and 32nd in the one-lap race.

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