Eastern High School graduate English Gardner ran 10.74 — seventh-fastest in world history — to win the 100-meter dash at the U.S. Olympic Track Trials and lock up her first berth on the United States Olympic track team.
Gardner’s time is a personal-best, No. 4 in U.S. history and No. 7 on the all-time IAAF world list.
It’s fastest in the Olympic Trials since Florence Griffith-Joyner ran a series of fast – but controversial – races in 1988 in Indianapolis – a world-record 10.49 in the first round, then 10.70 in the semis and 10.61 in the final.
Gardner had run a wind-aided 10.74 in the semis, but the wind was a legal 1.0 meters-per-second in the final.
Tianna Bartoletta (10.78) and Tori Bowie (10.78) will join Gardner at the 2016 Olympics in Rio. Morolake Akinosun (10.95) and Jenna Prandini (10.96) made it five under 11 seconds in the final.
Running in lane 5, Gardner got out very quickly. Her reaction time was .151 of a second, fastest in the field. She broke away from Bartoletta and Bowie in the final 25 meters, then broke down on the track, sobbing at the realization of what she had done.
Gardner, a native of Voorhees and former New Jersey Meet of Champions winner at Eastern Regional High School, is the second South Jersey woman in two days to make the Olympic team. Marielle Hall of Haddonfield qualified in the 10,000 on Saturday.
In Olympic history, only three other South Jersey women have made the U.S. Olympic team – long jumper Carol Lewis of Willingboro in 1980, 1984 and 1988; Erin Donohue of Haddonfield in 2008; and long jumper Shana Williams of Bridgeton in 1996 and 2000.
The Olympics were opened to women in 1928, so from 1928 through 2012, three South Jersey women qualified and over the last two days two more did.
Gardner ran 10.90 in the trials Saturday and a wind-aided 10.74 – her fastest ever under any conditions – in the semifinals earlier Sunday.
Here are the full results of the final:
1. English Gardner [Nike] 10.74
2. Tianna Bartoletta [Nike] 10.78
3. Tori Bowie [adidas] 10.78
4. Morolake Akinosun [Texas] 10.95
5. Jenna Prandini [Puma] 10.96
6. Ariana Washington [Oregon] 11.01
7. Barbara Pierre [Nike] 11.10
8. Tiffany Townsend [adidas] 11.11
Bartoletta’s time is fastest ever for second place and Bowie’s is fastest ever for third place. The three now rank No. 2 and tied for No. 3 in meet history. The final produced three of the five-fastest performers in meet history.
Here is the updated all-time Olympic Trials performance list:
10.49 Florence Griffith-Joyner, 1988 [q]
10.61 … Griffith-Joyner, 1988 [1]
10.70 … Griffith-Joyner, 1988 [s]
10.74 English Gardner, 2016 [1]
10.78 Torri Edwards, 2008 [s]
10.78 Tianna Bartoletta, 2016 [2]
10.78 Tori Bowie, 2016 [3]
10.81 Evelyn Ashford, 1988 [2]
10.82 Gwen Torrence, 1996 [1]
10.83 Sheila Echols, 1988 [q]
10.85 … Ashford, 1988 [s]
10.85 Muna Lee, 2008 [1]
10.88 Diane Williams, 1988 [q]
10.88 Marion Jones, 2000 [1]
10.90 … Edwards, 2008 [2]
10.90 Lauryn Williams, 2008 [3]
10.91 … Torrence, 1988 [3]
10.91 Gail Devers, 1996 [2]
10.92 Alice Brown, 1988 [q]
10.92 D’Andre Hill, 1996 [3]
10.92 Carmelita Jeter, 2012 [1]
10.93 Marshevet Hooker, 2008 [4]
10.95 Morolake Akinosun, 2016 [4]
10.96 Chryste Gaines, 1996 [q]
10.96 Inger Miller, 1996 [4]
10.96 Allyson Felix, 2008 [5]
10.96 Tianna Madison, 2012 [2]
10.96 … Madison, 2012 [s]
10.96 Jenna Prandini, 2016 [5]
10.97 … Jeter, 2008 [s]
10.97 Michelle Lewis, 2008 [s]
10.97 Latasha Colander, 2004 [1]
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 