Zoe Hobbs was one-hundredth of a second away from qualifying for the women’s 100m final at the world athletics championships in Budapest, and making New Zealand athletic history, on Tuesday (NZT).
No Kiwi athlete, male or female, has ever made a world championships 100m final.
“It is obviously bittersweet to miss the finals by 0.01, but I can’t not be both happy and proud tonight of how the race went, and I don’t have any regrets of how I executed the race,” Hobbs said.
The Kiwi clocked 11.02s to finish fourth in a “stacked” semifinal that included American Sha’Carri Richardson, who went on to win gold in the final in a record time for the world championships of 10.65s and Jamaica’s Shericka Jackson who took home silver.
Hobbs’ semifinal was the fastest in history, won by Jackson in 10.79s, with all three place-getters running under 11s.
“I was drawn in a stacked semi and knew if I wanted to make that final, I needed to stay composed in my own lane and just execute my own race. As it turns out it was the fastest semifinal we’ve had in history, so to have executed where it mattered most, I am very happy with that.”
Hobbs finishes the competition as the “10th fastest woman in the world”.