OREGON, USA ­­— Tiana Marshall says she did not get what she came to the World Athletics Under-20 Championships in Eugene, Oregon to achieve but is nevertheless grateful for the bronze medal in the 100m hurdles on Saturday — her first medal at the global level.

Marshall, who was a top five-ranked athlete coming into the championships, equalled her personal best of 12.97 seconds (-0.2m/s) in the final after running 13.10 seconds (0.3m/s) in the first round and 13.02 seconds (0.1m/s) in the semis a day earlier.

“It was a good race. I didn’t get what I wanted but I’m grateful. At the end of the day I finished third, I finish with a medal,” she said. “I’m going home with a medal and I gave Jamaica another medal, so I’m happy at the same time.”

It took the timing officials a little longer than usual to separate the top three, with American Madeline Cooper running a World Under-20 leading 12.91 seconds for gold as South Africa’s Tumi Ramokgopa took silver with 12.96 seconds.

During the wait, which was no more than a few minutes, Marshall said her emotions went from elation and depression.

“At first I was like, in my mind I thought I came first, to be honest. So when I saw that it wasn’t there, and then it started taking long – you know, a little bit of time with the second place — and then I didn’t see my time, my name came up like right after, I got a little bit worried,” she admitted. “I thought, where’s where’s my name? I’m supposed to be there, and as soon as I saw I was there I celebrated because, as I said before, I’ve worked hard.”

Marshall did not hesitate when asked by the Jamaica Observer what were her goals coming into the championships.

“The gold medal, as well as a new personal best of 12.80 seconds,” she said. “But I mean, I work hard. It shows, because I still have a medal, so it shows that my hard work has paid off. And, I was lined up against eight females who are exceptionally good, and we had to battle it out down to the line. I want to say congratulations to the two other ladies that won and got medals alongside me.”

Marshall described her season – when she also won gold medals at the ISSA Championships and Carifta Games — as “exceptional” saying, “I have put in a lot of hard work, determination and dedication into my training so I’m really happy. I’m very proud, because it’s my first World Juniors so to come out here and to do what I did after having such a long season [is great]. I’ve been having a phenomenal season. Not one prayer has went unanswered, and I just want to say ‘Thank you, God’ for that.”