BUDAPEST, Hungary — It was a bittersweet experience for Adelle Tracey who smashed the Jamaican women’s 1,500m national record in the semi-finals of the World Athletics Championships on Sunday.

Despite her 3:58.77 minutes clocking inside the National Athletics Centre, she failed to advance to her first major final.

Tracey broke the 28-year-old mark of 4:01.84 set by Yvonne Graham in 1995 in Monaco by more than three seconds and also achieved the qualifying mark for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.

She placed seventh in the second semi-final, running faster than all the competitors in the first semi. But due to the rule that advances runners based on their placement rather than time, the Jamaican missed out.

“I’m delighted. Yeah, it’s been a dream for me to break four minutes but also to be a national record holder of Jamaica, it’s pretty magical. So, yeah, I’m really pleased,” Tracey said.

“It’s really bittersweet. I think it’s hard to think of last year’s qualification standards in a race like that. You know, I might have been in a final but I think I’m just gonna look at the positives. I wanted to come here and run the race of my life and I feel like I’ve just done that, set a PB [personal best] and set a national record, so I’m trying to focus on that and take that momentum into the 800m.”

Tracey said achieving the Olympic Games standard so early is a positive.

“Massively. That’s a really nice thing, to have that ticked off. It means that I can do what I did this year, having got my qualifying time for the year before and just focus on getting ready for that championship where it’s important, and it’s hard to have to do.

“I think the thing is like when you have a goal like that in sight, it’s important not to focus on that. I need to work on the process, chip off each section of the race, and try and execute the race really strongly,” she explained.