Michelle Jenneke's win hurt so bad, but felt so good.\ufeff<\/p>\n
The Aussie hurdler stormed to victory in the women's 100m hurdles at the national athletics championships on Sunday, successfully defending last year's crown.<\/p>\n
For some 15 minutes after the race in Adelaide, she was flat on the ground and coughing relentlessly.<\/p>\n
She'd been hit with a heavy cold 10 days earlier, but suited up for the national titles and charged to victory in 12.88 seconds.<\/p>\n
She's a certainty to be picked for her second Olympic Games, and first since Rio 2016, given she's nailed the 12.77 entry standard and won the national title.\ufeff<\/p>\n
"I've been feeling in really good shape but I came down with a cold 10 days ago, which wasn't the best. I've just been telling myself all week, 'It's only 100 metres' … I am honestly elated with what I was able to put together today," Jenneke told Wide World of Sports trackside.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
"I actually only missed three sessions, I think, but the sessions I did get to were pretty tough. It was never in my muscles, so the whole time the body's been feeling pretty good. It's been respiratory and the energy levels have been down. I'm not going to say I've been on my death bed or anything like that, but I was quite sick.<\/p>\n
"I felt like I was fading in the race and then after I crossed the finish line I just couldn't get any air in. My lungs just decided that they didn't want to let me breathe."<\/p>\n
Jenneke led home Liz Clay (13.03) and Danielle Shaw (13.08).<\/p>\n
Her national victory in Adelaide marked another emphatic achievement in a resurgent past 18 months.<\/p>\n
The Brisbane-based hurdler has now cracked the 13-second barrier on 22 occasions since June 2022.<\/p>\n
https:\/\/twitter.com\/7Sport\/status\/1779392287161585894<\/a><\/p>\n She's also contested two world championships and a Commonwealth Games in that time, surging back into the elite scene after injuries, the pandemic and dejectedness caused by how she was being treated<\/a>.<\/p>\n Her eye-catching pre-race jiggle and commercial pursuits, which included featuring on Coca-Cola billboards in Brazil during the Rio Olympics, resulted\ufeff in scathing criticism in the media.<\/p>\n She keeps a far lower profile nowadays, but said athletics had always been her top priority.\ufeff<\/p>\n "Honestly, I've always been running-focused," Jenneke said.<\/p>\n "You see people in the media and you think, 'Oh, they're doing lots of stuff', but media commitments actually don't take a lot of time. I've never, ever missed a session or anything\ufeff like that for any media commitments. As far as I'm concerned, just because I might not be out in public, it hasn't really changed my approached to training at all."<\/p>\n