Imagine you’ve been waiting for a race to happen for a long time, only to watch your favorite nearly topple in the semis itself. Nerve-wracking, right? Well, the World Indoors women’s 60m hurdles was no different. Shortly before the finals field was even up and running, Jamaican star Ackera Nugent had nearly faltered in the semifinals. But today, fast forward a few days, and she’s being hailed!

Yes, a track and field veteran from America just patted her on the back. Here’s what had happened. On day 3 of the World Indoors 2025, Ackera Nugent ran the women’s 60m hurdles semis, hoping to make it to the finals. But something disastrous happened. She was nearly neck and neck with Pia Skrzyszowska until she clipped the last hurdle and nearly toppled. She still managed to finish in 8.00s somehow, just 0.01s away from missing the final. From there, she went on to win bronze in the finals. And that’s what has been the talk of the town lately. So much so that two track and field veterans discussed this moment on their podcast!

On the latest March 27 version of the Ready Set Go Podcast on YouTube, Jamaican veteran Rodney Green brought up this race and said, “Shout out to the silver medalist Kambundji and man to the amazing Ackera Nugent. Did you see how she destroyed that last hurdle and still managed to come through?” That’s when Justin Gatlin, the American track and field veteran, replied, “Bro, I didn’t even get a chance to even see the race in real time before. I saw all the photos, and I mean, she annihilated that hurdle. Bro, she destroyed it literally…”

Justin Gatlin even went on to give an example of how brutal such hurdle collisions can be.  Giving an example of Kellie Wells, he narrated an incident of how she did not get that trail leg up on one of the hurdles and caught it between her legs and fell. That broke her arm. Well, that’s how brutal things can get.

But when it comes to Ackera Nugent, she managed the situation brilliantly. Even Justin Gatlin sounded like he was impressed by her corrective efforts. Hailing Nugent, the track and field veteran, said, “When I saw that, I was like, man, that looks so dangerous. Bro, so shout out to her, man. Not like, regardless of what you went through to get through that semis the finals, breaking that hurdle, you still got on the podium. It shows your greatness.” That was when Rodney chimed in too, “Yeah man, shout out to her man!”

Well, had Ackera Nugent faltered in the semifinals, she wouldn’t have been able to proceed to the finals, and Jamaica would have missed out on a historic win. Here’s what we mean!

Ackera Nugent took Jamaican track and field to the podium after decades!

Yes, you read that right. In the women’s 60m hurdles finals on the same day, history was etched. That’s because it featured a stacked lineup where the results had a microscopic difference. Yes, the top six finishers of the race were just 0.04 seconds apart. Now, this is the first time in track and field history that something like this has happened. So far, just 3 women have broken the 7.80s barrier in a single race. But this time, a record 6 women did!

And Ackera? She came in third behind Devynne Charlton, who retained her gold in 7.72, and Kambundji, who took silver in 7.73.  But those 7.74 seconds? Oh, they were special for Nugent. She had not just won bronze, but that was her first senior global medal. And, for Jamaica, it was their first 60m hurdles World Indoors podium finish in 28 years! So yes, Nugent did Jamaican track and field proud and put them on the World Indoors map!