World record holder Devynne Charlton exclusive: "I'm in the best shape of my life."
The Bahamian sprinter broke the 60m hurdles world record for the second time in three weeks at the World Athletics Indoor Championships 2024 in Glasgow. She clocked 7.65 seconds for her first global career title.
Devynne Charlton's composed celebration told its own story.
After breaking the women's 60m hurdles world record at the World Athletics Indoor Championships 2024 on Sunday (3 March) to 7.65 seconds in Glasgow, and lowering the mark for the second time in three weeks, the Bahamian felt that she could go even faster.
“More records, more golds… I think I'm in the best shape of my life and only getting better," Charlton told CBC after winning her gold medal.
The humble 28-year-old sealed her nation’s only medal of the event to cap a nearly perfect season so far in which she has redefined what is humanly possible.
“Not really breaking it once but solidifying myself as a 7.6 hurdler… three times over, just amazing,” she continued.
"This means a whole lot because I have set myself goals.
"To be world champion in Glasgow… it’s the perfect season for me.”
It's been a long time coming for Devynne Charlton
It has been nearly 14 years since Charlton raced at her first major Championships, the 2011 World Youth Championships.
Five indoor and outdoor world senior championships later, her critics had at one point called her the sprinter who makes the finals but just falls short of glory.
No more.
The turnaround started in February when Charlton powered to 7.67 seconds, lowering Swede Susanna Kallur’s world record from 2008 by 0.01. For a few seconds, she was stunned, trying to take in the moment - a world record!
It was a milestone for her.
“That speaks to the work that we've put in not just this season but previous seasons, all coming together now,” she said in an interview with Olympics.com just before her victory at the World Indoor Athletics Gold meeting in Madrid on 23 February.
“I just remember the sense of relief of it coming together at the right time because I wasn't having the best season. I dealt with a lot of little nagging injuries that took me out of races or pulled me away from training. And so just seeing everything come together, knowing that I trusted the training, and trusted my coach, and we got it right at the right time. I'm just looking forward to doing it again.”
Her coach is compatriot Rolando “Lonnie” Greene, who she began working with while studying biological sciences at the Purdue University.
Greene has had a huge influence in shaping her athletics career. She followed him to the University of Kentucky, where she continues to help as a volunteer assistant coach.
Devynne Charlton: Growing up on the track
But Charlton’s track career was initiated by her parents.
Her father David Charton was a notable NCAA hurdler who even represented his country at the inaugural World Championships in Helsinki. He raced in the 400m hurdles and 4x100m relay. David met his wife Laura on the track, and that’s where Devynne found herself spending most of her time growing up.
“I pretty much grew up on the track. My dad was a 400m hurdler and high jumper back in his day,” recalled Charlton, who’s first big break was representing her country at the World U18 championships when she was only 15.
“He was a coach. My parents had their own track club, they only coached high schoolers, and so I was the youngest person on the team just because I saw what they were doing every weekend, and I wanted to try.”
Devynne Charlton: First Olympic experience
Her Olympic qualification for Rio 2016 was a career highlight, but a stress fracture ruled her out of the 100m hurdles: “It was a tough time just knowing that I could have been there, I could have been a competitor but didn't get the opportunity,” she said.
“It was a good experience; I think just being there just kind of stirred up a hunger in me that I'm still feeding off today.”
Charlton managed to overcome the Rio heartbreak as she qualified for the Tokyo Olympics, finishing sixth in the final. Her best championship result was fourth place behind Jamaica’s Danielle Williams at the 2023 worlds.
She kept showing up, trusting the process while making some tweaks to her routine.
“I'm miles ahead of where I was last year. I've made so many changes, not just to training on the track, but so many lifestyle things off the track that goes into it,” said the 2022 Commonwealth Games silver medallist.
“I started working with a dietician to get my nutrition to where it needs to be, working with a sports psychologist, just removing a lot of stresses in my life so that I can focus on making sure that everything in training is right where it needs to be.”
“I love track and field, but it can be a lot sometimes. And just recognising that and taking the time to get with a professional and making sure that, the same effort, I'm putting into my body is good and make sure my mind is good, too.”
Devynne Charlton: I am in the best shape of my life
All these factors seem to have come together this indoor season.
Of the 13 races she started this year, she consistently topped the podium, losing only one at the Grand Prix in Boston where she finished third. She has perfected her usually strong start and is sharper at the hurdles and in between.
Charlton is seeing things in a different light and is embracing being among elite sprinters who are winning and breaking records while doing it.
“I train with a bunch of 18, 19-year-olds, and they call me elder….” she said, laughing off the idea of being called old.
“It's good fun. I don't... I don't take any disrespect to it. Look at Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce who's doing it well until mid-30s, so I don't think I'm old at all. I'm in the best shape of my life and only getting better.
After opening the season confidently, the quietly spoken sprinter wants to translate her best to the outdoor season, as well.
“Even if my last 40m stays the exact same, I'm already faster now. So, I think 12.2 isn’t out of the question, 12.1 is definitely doable,” she said of her plan to also lower her national record of 12.44 from last year.
Retaining the consistency and reinforcing her season pedigree, would “play really well into the Paris Olympic Games.” Charlton wants to make history for the Islands of the Bahamas at the Paris Games.
“Making the final was a big deal for me,” she said of her sixth place in Tokyo, which she feels played well into her second Games.
“I like to progress. So, now, making the final isn't good enough anymore. I want to be on the podium. Come away with a medal.”