FORMER World and Olympic Games 400m hurdles champion Melaine Walker made a surprise appearance at last weekend’s JAAA National Senior Trials at the National Stadium, and while she had a disappointing showing in the 100m hurdles, she says she can get to the top of the world in the sprint hurdle event.

Thirty-two-year-old Walker, who dominated the 400m hurdles for three years before walking away from the MVP club after the 2012 Olympic Games, has insisted she never “walked away from the hurdles”, despite competing only a handful of times in the 100m version over the last three years.

The former St Jago High runner, who said running at the Senior Trials was important to her, barely missed out on qualifying for the final of the women’s 100m hurdles on Sunday’s fourth day of the Trials.

Walker expressed disappointment with her performance after clocking 13.59 seconds running into a 1.7 metre-per-second headwind and finished ninth overall.

Despite an injury to her quad about a month ago, she was determined to compete in the recent trials.

“I really wanted to come out and run a sub-13 seconds time,” she told the Jamaica Observer, “but I had a setback, a small quad injury, but I decided not to let the Trials pass and not run. I wanted to come out and do something and let the crowd see me,” she said.

Walker has a personal best 12.75 seconds in the 100m hurdles done in 2006, hardly fast enough to cause concern but she was world-class in the longer race.

In addition to being the second fastest ever behind Russian Yuliya Pechenkina’s world record 52.34 seconds set in August 2003, Walker has the top-three fastest times ever run by a Jamaican woman.

She broke Deon Hemmings’ 52.82 seconds when she ran 52.64 seconds to win the Olympic title in Beijing in 2008, then lowered it a year later at the World Championships in Berlin, Germany. Her present personal best 52.42.

Additionally, she was second at the IAAF World Championships in Daegu, South Korea in 2011, with 52.73 seconds, her third best time.

“It was very, very important to come and run this weekend,” she told the Observer. “I was weighing in my mind whether I should run and risk another injury, but I decided to take the risk as I wanted to come as it has been a while (since I last ran here), and I think it’s time.”

The athlete, who is at Racers Track Club, said she is putting in the requisite hard work in the 100m hurdles as she knows she can make it all the way to the top of the event, then she will consider whether to return to the event that made her a household name.

“I am working really, really hard; it’s been a while since I have run the 100m hurdles and I still have what it takes,” she said, but was quick to add she was learning to run the event in a different manner from when she used to run it in college at the University of Texas.

“It’s just that the way I used to run it I thought was the best way, but I am learning now that it is not. I am learning a lot of new techniques and I am not able to execute it right now because I did not have it locked in. But once I do, I will be right up there in the top rankings with the top runners,” she claimed.

Walker says she is not sure which event she will run next year, but is hoping to run a few more 100m hurdles this year so she can prepare herself for next season.

“I am not sure yet,” she said, when asked which event she would run next year. “I have not decided, but I will be running one or even both.”

Walker insists she never walked away from the 400m hurdles, even though she has not run the event in three years. “I never chose the 400m hurdles; it chose me, and obviously I am very grateful because I have run it and it put me on top of the world, but at the end of the day, there are things I want to do for myself for self-fulfilment and that is running the 100m hurdles,” she said.

“I need for everyone to understand that is something I want to do for my own happiness. I have to actually be good at the 100m hurdles just for myself; that is a challenge I am putting up for Melaine.”

Asked whether she had any regrets when she saw the success that multiple Diamond League champion Kaliese Spencer was having in the 400m hurdles, she said no.

“No. For some people what is yours is yours,” she said. “Kaliese would probably want to be the World and Olympic champion, but she is not,” Walker countered. “But she is able to run and win all the Diamond League, that’s just her luck, it’s just what life brings. What’s for you is for you, I can’t look at what someone else is doing and feel any less or better about myself,” said Walker

Never one to back down from a challenge, Walker said: “Life is also a challenge, and I want to challenge myself and that’s the reason I am running the 100m hurdles now. And when I get a lot better at this, then I will think about going back to the 400m hurdles.”