Aberdeen athlete Jane Davidson completed a shock double when she became the first athlete in history to win the 100m and 100m hurdles double at the Scottish championships.
An Aberdonian born and bred, the 21-year-old surged to a surprise victory in the 100m in Grangemouth on Saturday to capitalise on the absence of fellow Scottish internationals Alyson Bell, Alisha Rees, and Georgina Adam.
Davidson – who had not run a competitive 100m race all season – still overcame the likes of Glasgow’s Sarah Malone and Aberdeen clubmate Rebecca Matheson, both of whom had superior personal bests, to take the win in the final.
In doing so, Davidson improved her own best mark in the discipline, with her time of 11.83sec a personal best of more than 0.5sec – an improvement which is almost unheard of in the 100m event.
With the 100m title secured, Davidson then turned her attention to retaining her 100m hurdles title on Sunday.
She did this comfortably, running 13.53sec – another personal best – to finish ahead of clubmate Erin Williams, who took bronze.
Aberdeen master’s athlete Catriona Pennet finished sixth in the same race.
Reflecting on the most satisfying of weekends, Davidson said she had only entered the 100m for a run-out – but, after stopping the clock at 11.95sec in the heat, realised she could land two titles in as many days.
She said: “I wanted to run close to 12 seconds – that was the aim. When I crossed the line after my heat, I thought ‘oh my goodness’, because I’d run sub-12 comfortably without feeling like I was really going for it full out.
“(Even though) I was the fastest qualifier for the final.
“It was nice because I didn’t feel any pressure at all – the 100m wasn’t my main focus for the weekend. It’s not what I was expecting to be in contention for.
“I was quite relaxed because my main event was the next day. That played to my advantage a little bit.
“I knew I just had to stay relaxed in the final, because I knew I was going to be involved in a proper race, which wasn’t the same as the heat.”
High of 100m win meant Davidson struggled to sleep for hurdles
The adrenaline generated by Davidson’s 100m final victory, which saw her finish 0.03sec ahead of Malone, meant sleep was in short supply on the Saturday evening.
“I didn’t have the best of sleeps,” Davidson admitted.
“I was still on such a high from being on the track that day, and so many people were congratulating me and telling me ‘you’re on for the double’.
“I didn’t even think that was how my weekend was going to pan out, so it took me a while to get to sleep.
“It was definitely a struggle to keep focused for the hurdles.”
It didn’t prove much of a barrier, however.
With the 100m hurdles run as a straight final, Davidson warmed up and prepared as usual, and took a convincing victory with a time of 13.53sec, 0.3sec ahead of her nearest competitor, Giffnock’s Erin Campbell.
She said: “I was feeling sharp all week, and I did a hurdles session on the Thursday and thought: ‘wow, that’s the quickest over the hurdles I have felt for a while’.
“The warm-up went well, and we got a good run-out outside because the weather was nice.”
Coach was just as shocked about double success
Davidson credits Bob Masson – who led Davidson’s father Mark to a silver medal at the 1990 Commonwealth Games – for much of her success.
“I went to see him at the track and gave him his two coach’s medals, and he gave me a high five – I think he was chuffed,” she said.
“Once I’m back to training, he will probably break it down and look at what I have to work on, but I think he was just as shocked as me, put it that way.”
Elsewhere at the Scottish outdoor championships, Banchory Stonehaven athlete Kathryn Christie ended her nine-year championships exodus with a silver medal in the women’s 400m, while Inverness’s Kirsty Law won her 14th Scottish championship title in the discus.
In all, Aberdeen athletes took six gold, two silver, and seven bronze medals over the weekend.
There were titles for Edward Fish in the T72 100m, Finn Bryce in the under-17 pole vault, and Angela McAuslan-Kelly in the hammer.
Hannah Cameron, who took the 800m title in Aberdeen last year, finished in second to Livingston’s Sarah Calvert, but bounced back the following day by taking a bronze medal in the 1500m.
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