Lashinda Demus wins silver in 400-meter hurdles

By Helene Elliott

Aug. 8, 2012 12 AM PT

LONDON — Lashinda Demus of Palmdale won a silver medal in the women’s 400-meter hurdles Wednesday night, losing out to a personal-best performance by Russian Natalya Antyukh.

Antyukh took the lead around the final curve and held off Demus, who was about a half-stride behind.

Antyukh, the 2004 Olympic gold medalist, crossed the line in 52.70 seconds. Demus, the current world champion, was timed in a season-best 52.77 seconds. Zuzana Hejnova of the Czech Republic was third in 53.38 seconds, a season-best for her.

Georganne Moline of Phoenix finished fifth with a personal-best time of 53.92 seconds, and T’Erea Brown of Miami was sixth in 55.07.

Demus was ninth at the 2004 Athens Games but missed the 2008 Olympics because she hadn’t regained her fitness after giving birth to twins in 2007. Her road to these Games took a slight detour when she suffered a leg injury this spring, but she fought back to win silver.

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Helene Elliott

Helene Elliott was with the Los Angeles Times’ Sports department from 1989 to 2024, first as a staff writer and then, starting in 2006, as a columnist. She became the first female journalist to be honored with a plaque in the Hall of Fame of a major professional sport as the 2005 winner of the Hockey Hall of Fame’s Elmer Ferguson Award, awarded to writers “who have brought honor to journalism and to hockey.” A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., and graduate of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, she has covered 18 Olympics.

Lashinda Demus wins silver in 400-meter hurdles

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