London , England — In a season that should have been her rehabilitation from persistent injuries, Yanique Thompson was just two hundredths of a second from making the women’s 100m hurdles final at the London World Championships.

Thompson clocked 12.88 seconds for third in her semi-final ahead of National champion Danielle Williams and just missed out as one of the fastest qualifiers. That spot went to world record holder Kendra Harrison of the USA, who was third in the last semi-final in 12.86 seconds.

“Two hundredth of a second makes it even harder. I know that if I tried to be more aggressive I know I could have made the final, but somehow in the race it just didn’t happen,” said Thompson.

“It’s not a disappointment because I have been through a lot this season and I am extremely grateful for the opportunity. I mean I am still young and I have a lot of time to fix whatever issues I have to come back stronger,” Thompson added.

Thompson struck gold in 100m hurdles at the 2013 World Under-18 Championships and thus became the first schoolgirl to dip below the 13-second barrier, clocking a sensational 12.94 seconds.

But a knee injury over the years and a broken wrist on June 10 this year, seemed to have put an end to her season and threatened a most promising career.

But the courageous 21-year-old Thompson entered the Jamaican National Senior Championships determined to make the team and it was only on the second day of the competition in June that cast came off her wrist.

She defied the odds and logics and produced a personal best of 12.69 seconds for third place at Jamaica Trials behind Danielle Williams in 12.56 seconds, and Megan Simmonds in 12.63 seconds.

“This season was basically my season to do my rehab and to get back in the shape. Honestly, I wasn’t expecting to make this team and this season proved to me that I am extremely talented,” confessed Thompson.

“I came to the championship running 13 and came out and made the team and I ran a season’s best 12.69. I think I haven’t done much work to run that time, so if I put in the work and the injuries calm down a little, hopefully I will be better,” she added.

“I have been having the knee injury from 2013 and it’s getting better, but not fully as yet. I fell over the hurdle this season and it was kind of a disappointment because I broke my wrist and I felt like I was just going to call it a season.

“But somehow I found the faith and I went to Trials, not expecting to make the team and I just told myself that I am as good as anyone out there and just do my best,” she noted.

“I see that I am very talented and I don’t want to waste my talent. So as much as I get injured a lot I always just try to work. I just want to have a season where I am not having any pain to see how well I can run,” said the promising hurdler.

Based on the improvement that Thompson has shown where she ran 12.88 seconds twice at the London World Championships, Jamaica’s sprint hurdling seems to be in good stead.

Thompson, Rushelle Burton, Megan Simmonds and 2015 World Champion Danielle Williams were four Jamaicans in the semi-finals in London and the country’s future looks bright.

“Hurdles is a non-traditional event in Jamaica and to see that we had four women in the semi-finals, I was hoping that the four of us would be in the final. Each one of us is talented and hopefully we can go out there and do the best we can at the next championship,” said Thompson.

— Howard Walker