US sprint star Jordan Anthony won 60m indoor gold with a blood clot “the size of a soccer ball” after a drug test gone wrong less than two days before the race.
Anthony, 21, landed a first global win at the World Championships in on Friday but had to overcome a bizarre build up to even compete.
US sprinter Jordan Anthony had a “blood clot the size of a soccer ball” but still won gold at the Indoor World ChampionshipsCredit: Shutterstock Editorial
The 21-year-old recorded the fourth fastest time in history despite his late drug test problemsCredit: Shutterstock Editorial
He clocked the fastest time of the season at 6.41 seconds, beating the previous best, also set by him, by a sliver.
American rising talent Anthony admitted afterwards that preparations had been a disaster.
Doping control botched a just 36 hours before the , injecting the needle into the wrong part of his arm.
Anthony explained: “When they took blood, he didn’t stick it in my vein but outside, so I got a clot the size of a soccer ball.
“That is why my arm is taped up. But it is what it is. Nothing can stop me.”
Anthony, who recorded the fourth-fastest 60m run in to claim gold, was helped by doctors.
He could not on his left arm, though, and struggled to move it properly.
Nothing was going to get him off the start line.
He added: “The devil is always going to try, but I will never let him stop me from getting a gold medal.”
Revealing his motivation, and pointing to on his back, Anthony continued: “My aunt passed a year ago, my cousin passed four years ago before I got to college, so I put them in my back.
“So as I’m winning physically, they’re winning spiritually.”
He had admitted to targeting Christian Coleman’s 6.34 second world record after beating training partner – the 100m Olympic champ – earlier in the year.
Anthony said before the race: “I am not going to sugarcoat it.
“Why not break it at the world stage where I am basically racing the world?”
Jamaican Kishane Thompson finished joint-second on 6.45 with US athlete Trayvon Bromell.
Brit Jeremiah Azu was narrowly outside the medal positions at 6.46.
Eze Chidiebere Paul
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