Fast 100-hurdles final leaves American record holder off Olympic team

By Keeler McJunkin

The women currently running the 100-meter hurdles from the United States are the best in the world: Nine of the top 12 times in the world this year have been posted by Americans.

So at a top meet like the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials, anyone in the final has a chance to win.

Brianna Rollins ran 12.34 seconds to take gold Friday and make her first Olympic Games. Kristi Castlin (12.50) and Nia Ali (12.55) finished second and third, respectively, to round out the team headed to Rio. It will be the first Olympic Games for all three.

With so many top hurdlers in the field, the strategy for Ali wasn’t just to try and make the team. She knew it would take more than that to secure her spot.

“My coach told me the easiest way to get fourth was to go out there trying for top three,” Ali said. “Anyone out there could do it, so why not me?”

Keni Harrison, who had posted the top three times in the world this year, including an American record 12.24 at the Prefontaine Classic, got off to a slow start and finished sixth.

“I don’t know what happened,” Harrison said. “Those girls are going to do great in Rio, and they’re going to make America proud. It’s unfortunate because my season was going so great, but things like this happen.”

And Queen Harrison, who represented the United States at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, finished fourth, .02 from making her second Olympic appearance.

“It’s unfortunate the way the rules are that we can only send three to the Olympics,” Harrison said. “We have the best hurdlers in the world.”

Castlin likened the current United States women’s hurdlers to the Golden State Warriors after they signed Kevin Durant in NBA free agency.

“You can pretty much equate us to a dream team,” Castlin said. “It’s unfortunate all eight ladies couldn’t go, but if we had three different people up here, they could still do a great job representing America in Brazil.”

Rollins, Castlin and Ali said they are all great friends, and they shared a group hug on the track right after the race. Rollins said she had envisioned the three of them making the team before the trials started.

“It’s something like a dream,” Rollins said. “I hoped this was going to happen, and it did.”

With three strong hurdlers heading to Rio, the U.S. team has a real chance to sweep the medals in the Olympics.

“It’s always a possibility,” Ali said. “You can always count on something strong coming from the U.S.”

 

Keeler McJunkin

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