BY AYODELE ODUMADE AT THE BIRMINGHAM INDOOR ARENA

Ivorian Murielle Ahoure won gold in the 60metres final in 6.97 seconds, a personal best and became the first African Woman to win a gold medal in a major short sprint event either indoors or outdoors. Her compatriot Marie-Josee Talou was second in 7.05 seconds.  Ahoure had earlier set a personal best in the semi finals before backing it up with her time in the final, which was also a personal best as she destroyed a strong field, which also consisted of the likes of Daphne Schippers and Elaine Thompson.  She said: “I’m so happy, I’ve trained so hard for this and that medal is for my coach and my team that have trained me so hard. The most important thing I knew would be getting out of the blocks and executing my race, focusing on my lane. It’s huge to get gold and silver. The Ivory Coast is on top, we’re so happy and hopefully soon we’ll be able to take over the whole podium. This last year has been so difficult with my father (who has died of cancer). I knew he was watching from up there.  I was talking to him before the race, saying ‘please Dad help me in the race. You have to see me through this’ I couldn’t get a gold medal when he was alive. I have so much pent-up up emotion now.”

When it was pointed out to Ahoure that she ran to personal bests within an hour she said: “ It was not that hard. It is what I trained for. You can run as fast as you can in training but no one sees it. It only counts out there. To come here and run three perfect races, I just feel so blessed.”

Talou who won yet another silver after narrowly missing out on gold in the 100 metres at the World Championships in London last year said: I’m just happy because when I came here I just wanted a medal. The indoor season is not my best. I hit that when the summer comes around. For me I have a big finish I just did what I needed to do and when I finished it was a wonderful feeling, but my best is the outdoor season. Everyday I say that the Ivory Coast is good and I really believe that. I was happy to see Murielle in gold and I’m happy to see two girls representing us on the podium.”

She went on further to say: “ I broke the African record, we created history and especially with International Women’s day coming up I feel so proud.”

Going back to her father’s death Ahoure said:” The past two years have been difficult for me. I battled depression, I did not want to train, I did not get out of bed. I thank my coach and mentor so much for just dealing with me. Last year at the World Championships I was not there mentally and I do not know how in the world I got fourth place. I am blessed now. I was able to go through the grieving process and I am in a much better place. I can talk about my dad now without bursting into tears. “

Nigerian Hurdler Oluwatobi Amusan qualified for the World Indoors Championship semi final of the 60 metres Hurdles by winning her heat in 7.95 seconds beating Sally Pearson of Australia in the process.  She said: “Sally Pearson is my role model so I feel sad to be beating her. But sorry, this is a business and you have to do your best. My target was to focus and to execute the race well. And I exactly did it how I planned. That will be the same plan for the next rounds. The last two weeks were rough with a lot of travelling because of my visa. But I came here and got the win so it is important now.” 

The other Nigerian Lindsay Lindley also qualified for the semi final as she came fourth in her heat.