Success in the sprint hurdles has a lot to do with the body, but as Devynne Charlton has learned, it’s also about the mind.

Cathal Dennehy is one of the finest athletics writers in our sport. He is also the most traveled and most fearless. His authenticity, affection for the sport, and need to present the sport, in all honesty, are pretty straightforward. Cathal has written for us for over a decade, and his series on the Budapest 2023 world championships were beautiful, just look them up on #RunBlogRun. 

Success in the sprint hurdles has a lot to do with the body, but as Devynne Charlton has learned, it’s also about the mind

by Cathal Dennehy

It’s not that the 28-year-old Bahamian had any significant issues in this department before; she just knew it could be better. And so, with an Olympic year on the horizon, she sought help.

“I started working with a sports psychiatrist, having mental sessions, and he’s been helping me a lot just being able to focus, stay consistent, to think better thoughts,” she says. “Things that are conducive to being a world-class athlete. As I get more and more into my career, there’s only so much you can improve, so I’m looking for every little bit I can get.”

In recent years, Charlton has been close to the best in the world but often not close enough. She was sixth in the Olympic final in Tokyo, seventh in the world final in Oregon, and fourth in last year’s world final in Budapest. But she knew she could make global podiums. She’d done so before, winning silver at the 2022 World Indoors in Belgrade.

As she sat down at the end of last season, plotting out a course for the Paris Olympics, she knew she didn’t need any radical change – just to do some small things a little better.

They seem to have made all the difference. Heading into the Millrose Games in New York, she knew something special was on the cards. Charlton had been in flying form of late, running 7.75 and 7.76 in the weeks before the event. She began to size up Susanna Kallur’s world record of 7.68, which had stood for 16 years.

“Based on numbers I was putting up in practice, I knew I was capable as long as I put the race together,” she says. “That’s the hard part.”

Charlton got a flying start in New York, and from there, she clicked into autopilot, snapping down over each barrier – a motion she’s rehearsed tens of thousands of times. “From there, it was just holding it,” she says. “I knew those ladies would be coming; they’re so talented and…