An American track star who isn't going to Rio sets world record in London

Keni Harrison isn’t going to Rio de Janeiro as a member of the United States Olympic team. But she does have her place in track and field history.

The American record holder in the women’s 100 hurdles finished sixth in the U.S. Olympic trials earlier this month in Eugene, Ore. Disappointed but still determined, she turned her attention to a new goal — breaking the event’s 28-year-old world record.

At the Prefontaine Classic in May, Harrison came close to tying Yordana Donkova’s world mark of 12.21 with a time of 12.24. On Friday, Donkova’s 1988 world record finally fell as the 23-year-old Harrison clocked a blistering 12.20 at the London Muller Anniversary Games.

Going into the Diamond League meet, Harrison felt confident about her chances of setting a new world mark, saying “every time I get on the line I know I still have a chance to break the world record.” After her career-defining moment, she was overcome with emotion taking about what she had just accomplished.

“After not making the Olympic team I wanted to come out here and show what I could have done,” Harrison told BBC Sport. “I came out here with a lot of vengeance. I knew I had it in me.”

Those who beat Harrison at the U.S. track trials were quick to congratulate her.