T&T’s Baptiste ready for the challenge
MOSCOW, Russia (CMC) — Trinidad & Tobago’s sprinter Kelly-Ann Baptiste believes the only pressure she faces at the 14th World Athletics Championships, starting in Moscow this weekend, is from herself.
Baptiste, bronze medallist two years ago in Daegu, is down for the women’s 100m and 200m.
She made the Olympic final in London, but did not medal, something she described as “below my expectations”.
Baptiste, in answering questions after her workout yesterday, said: “The pressure for me is to try to get better since my bronze medal in 2011.”
She said inconsistency led to her leaving London without a medal last year, but was quick to point out “my PRs (personal best times) in both 100m and 200m, which I hadn’t PR’d in years”.
Baptiste ran 10.83 and 22.36 to win the sprint double at the Trinidad & Tobago Trials in June.
“So far for me it has been a decent season,” she said about her lifetime best runs in June.
Baptiste also believes the women’s 100m field, her pet event, for Saturday’s start of the World Championships, here in Moscow, “is a bit stronger (than over the last two years), but I am ready for the challenge.”
Jamaica’s Olympic champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce leads the world with 10.77 ahead of Nigerian Blessing Okagbare’s 10.78.
Baptiste is the third fastest this year on the world list.