Agyapong wins 60m race in 2015 world leading time

African 4x100m bronze medalist Flings Owusu-Agyapong ran the fastest 60m time in the world at the Gotham Cup in New York last Friday, 16th January.

Her performance also equaled Vida Anim’s national record for the distance.

Flings, 26, opened her season in grand style crossing the finish line in a sizzling personal best of 7.18 ahead of Ashley Kelly 7.55(SB) and Karene King 7.59 (SB). Despite the heavy activity of the weekend, Flings’ mark remains the second fastest time in the world in 2015.

Her time is only bettered by American sprinter Jasmine Todd who clocked 7.15 secs, a day after Flings’ performance.

Flings said it is a dream come true to have equaled the national record.

“It feels great to have equaled that record,” she said adding that, “I've been eyeing that for a long time so to be able to do that is an amazing thing for me. Vida is an amazing sprinter and really fast so it makes me feel like I'm on the right track to running what I feel I'm capable of.”

Flings’ performance follows a very impressive season in 2014 where Team Ghana equaled its highest medal haul of six medals at the African Athletics Championships in Marrakech, Morocco.

As well as an African Championship 4x100m relay silver and bronze medals in 2012 and 2010 respectively, the New York-based athlete competed at the 2014 World Indoor Championship and the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

She credited her coaches and the Ghana Athletics Association for her impressive performance.

“Last season didn't go the way I wanted it to, so after the last meet I spoke with Prof Dodoo. As a former world class athlete, I knew there was a lot of valuable information I could gain from him. Some of the areas we touched on included areas of my race that needed improvement, injury reduction and we also spoke about my training and things they felt I could be doing more of, and doing better. This included running longer distances in practice to improve my speed endurance for the end of the race.”

“When I got home, I sat down with my coach Dave Hegland and his assistant coach Frank Rizzo and we talked about the season, specific races and overall how the summer went for me. We then spoke about the different things I had learned this summer, both from myself and the leaders I worked with this summer.

“There are a lot of little things that people don't realize can affect the way I train and compete, but I have an amazing team of coaches as well as a very supportive National Association (GAA) to lean on. I'm looking forward to a great season!

She will be looking forward to meeting the Ghana Athletics Association’s selection criteria for the 2015 All Africa Games and the World Championships in Beijing when the outdoor season begins.

Meanwhile, her compatriot Janet Amponsah is also ranked 3rd in the world, this time in the 55m after running a personal best 6.95s. The Texas-based scholar is ranked behind Cierra White of the USA, who has run 6.85 and 6.91 this season.