PARIS, France — Devynne Charlton endured climate shock when she arrived on the Purdue campus, which is 1,200 miles north of her home in Nassau, Bahamas.
“My freshman year was really, really brutal,” Charlton said.
Her semifinal Friday in the 100-meter hurdles at the Paris Olympics was really brutal, too. It included the world record-holder, Tobi Amusan of Nigeria, and reigning world champion, Danielle Williams of Jamaica.
They didn’t make the final. Charlton did.
She will run for a medal at 1:35 p.m. ET Saturday, Aug. 10 at Stade de France.
“The plan now is just to go back, watch the film, see if there’s anything I can improve on for the final,” Charlton said. “Overall, I think I’m in a good spot.”
Charlton, 28, was recruited to Purdue by former coach Lonnie Greene, who now coaches her at Kentucky. One of her training partners is Masai Russell, 24, winner of the U.S. Olympics Trials, who also qualified for the final.
All three Americans reached the final, including NCAA champion Grace Stark of Florida. She won the first semifinal in 12.39 seconds. Charlton was second in 12.50. Amusan, third in 12.55, was not fast enough to be a time qualifier.
Alaysha Johnson won the second semifinal in 12.34.
Russell was second in the third semifinal in 12.42 behind Puerto Rico’s Jasmine Camacho-Quinn, the defending gold medalist who ran a season-best 12.35.
Coincidentally, in the 2018 NCAA Championships, Camacho-Quinn, then of Kentucky, finished first and Charlton second.
“The collegiate system in the United States is the best in the world,” Charlton said. “There’s nothing like going through the NCAA system to prepare you for the next level.”
Charlton has thrived at this level, and especially so this year. She twice lowered the world record in the 60-meter hurdles and won a gold medal in March’s World Indoor Championships at Glasgow, Scotland.
Although she won two major medals in 2022 – both silvers at indoor worlds and Commonwealth Games – Charlton was motivated more by what happened in last year’s outdoor worlds in the 100 hurdles. She was fourth, just off the podium.
Charlton said she left for Paris with a hamstring strain but has felt better each day. She made the final at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, too, finishing sixth.
“This year, it’s still an accomplishment, but not as big,” Charlton said. “Now, the goal is to win.”
The Bahamas have won 16 Olympic medals, all in sailing and track and field. The island nation has won more Olympic medals than any other country with a population under 1 million.
Charlton was an 11-time Big Ten champion and the Big Ten track athlete of the year three times.
She is the second Boilermaker to make a Paris final. Chuk Enekwechi finished sixth in the shot put behind Ryan Crouser, who won an unprecedented third gold medal.
Charlton and Enekwechi are both being inducted into the Leroy Keyes Purdue Athletics Hall of Fame this year.
The most recent former Purdue athlete to win an Olympic medal in this sport was Chris Huffins, who took a bronze in the decathlon in 2000. He left Purdue after two years and transferred to California, where he became a decathlete.
Purdue’s Kara (Patterson) Winger was a four-time Olympian in the javelin but never made a final. Before Charlton, the most recent Purdue graduate to make an Olympic final was football player Larry Burton, who was fourth in the 200 meters at Munich in 1972.
Contact WTHR correspondent David Woods at dwoods1411@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidWoods007.