Russell redeems herself with London win

LONDON, England:

Still struggling to come to grips with missing out on Jamaica's team to the World Championships, 400m hurdler Janieve Russell said it was important for her to redeem herself with a good run at yesterday's Muller London Anniversary Games inside the London Olympic Stadium.

She certainly achieved her goal, as she led from start to finish on her way to producing her best time of the season and her eighth sub-55 seconds clocking in her last 13 races.

Russell got out powerfully at the National Senior Championships a couple weeks ago, but finished fourth and outside of the automatic qualifying spots and although the approach seemed similar yesterday, the result was different, with the Jamaican stopping the clock in a season-best 54.02 seconds to finish ahead of a talented field.

"This win was very important and it shows that one race does not define you," Russell said after her win. "That race at trials was very disappointing and I wanted to come here and redeem myself.

COULD NOT FEEL MY FEET

"I'm not sure what was the difference, to be honest. I don't know what happened at Trials. I did what my coach wanted me to do, but the last part of the race; I don't know what happened. I just could not feel my feet. I did not have any lactic, they just felt numb and I didn't have the race controlled like I normally do," Russell explained.

Russell, a finalist at last year's Olympic Games, admitted that she is still struggling to deal with missing out on the World Champs team, but noted that her focus for the rest of the season will be on lowering her 53.96 seconds personal best and showing that she remains among the best in the event.

Russell is expecting to compete in Switzerland and Morocco over the next few days.