“I feel great about the victory because training is going really really good,” said Sharika Nelvis in her post-race interview. Sharika, the former NCAA champion, won the women’s 100m hurdles title in 12.65 seconds (-1.7 mps) at the 2015 Adidas Grand Prix Meet (New York Diamond League) held last Saturday, June 13 at Icahn Stadium on Randall Island. Sharika finished ahead of Britain’s Tiffany Porter (12.81), Jamaica’s Danielle Williams (12.89) and American Lolo Jones (12.95).
After running into a headwind of 1.7mps, Sharika said “I never really felt the wind in my face and I always tell my coach that I prefer to run into the wind than having the wind behind me, so I was very comfortable with the race, I don’t know why, but I [feel] I’m a strong athlete, so the wind didn’t really affect me as much,”
Sharika, the Arkansas State graduate, who was undefeated during her 2014 NCAA outdoor season, is winning her third consecutive race on the circuit. After finishing 2nd at the Doha Diamond League in mid-May, Sharika has tasted victory in Ostrava Golden Spike (12.55), Roma Golden Gala (12.52) and now New York (12.65). Her 12.52 seconds performance at the Roma Golden Gala is a personal best for Sharika and is the third fastest time in the world. Only Jasmin Stowers (12.35) and Kendra Harrison (12.50) have gone faster.
Sharika had a great 2015 indoor season highlighted by narrowly winning the Millrose Games women’s 60m hurdles title in 7.91 seconds ahead of Stowers (7.92). The 2015 Millrose Games was held at the Armory, in New York back on February 14. When asked about her transition from indoor to outdoor Sharika said “Of course you have 40 more meters, but indoors definitely prepared me for outdoor,” Sharika is based in Tallahassee, Florida and credits her coach Garfield Ellenwood for her improvement and her consistency on the track.
When asked about the exploits of the young talented NCAA champion Kendra Harrison, Sharika replied “you have to pay attention to the competition, every year you have new and upcoming talent so when you compete, you have to always bring it,” But Sharika is not overly concerned about the competition as she outlined her formula for success “go out there, run and have fun”
The confident and fun-loving Sharika also commented on her lipstick “it is Mac and it’s made of pink and purple and it’s outright fabulous, and I just kinda bring it altogether,”
Up next of Sharika is the USA Trials set for Eugene, Oregon at the end of June. “I am will be heading back to training for the next several days to get ready for the Trials [US]. I will be aiming to run 12.3 in Eugene.” said Sharika.
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