DELHI, India -- Diane Cummins was never more satisfied to finish third than on Monday at the Commonwealth Games.
The 36-year-old Anmore, B.C. resident took the bronze medal in the women’s 800 metres at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium behind winner Nancy Lan’Gat of Kenya and runner-up Nikki Hamblin of New Zealand.
Cummins was running sixth for much of the race, but moved into fourth while rounding the final turn and broke into the top three, finishing with a 2:00.13 time.
“The heat and humidity we’ve had all week, these really aren’t conditions for people to be running personal bests,” Cummins said. “When I saw myself in fourth I was (thinking) ‘one more person, one more person,’ and then basically you pray the race is over.”
Cummins won silver at Manchester 2002 and is the reigning Pan American Games champ in the distance. Two years ago, Cummins’ career was on hold while she underwent right foot surgery.
“My first national team was the Commonwealth Games, now it’s like maybe every team I make is the last one,” she said. “If I finish my career on this Games, I’ll be very happy. If I go to the world championships next year, I’ll be happy.”
Cummins did a celebratory lap with a Canadian flag to “thank the people of India for putting on such a great event.
“Hopefully having an event like this here is going to jet-set their sport into the future,” she said.
Earlier Monday, Adrienne Power of Halifax took 200 m bronze while Angela Whyte of Edmonton grabbed silver in women’s 100 m hurdles.
bob.mackin@sunmedia.ca
