Nia Ali raced Saturday for the first time in more than two years and the Olympic silver medalist from Pleasantville ran the fastest time in the world this year.
Ali won the 100-meter hurdles at the Hurricane Invitational at the University of Miami’s Cobb Stadium in Coral Gables, Fla., in 12.59.
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That’s the exact same time she ran to win the Olympic silver medal at the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro.
In her first race over the 100-meter hurdles in three years, Ali turned in the 8th-fastest time of her life, which is incredible. It’s also her 2nd-fastest time ever in a non-championship meet.
Here are Ali’s all-time top-10 times:
12.34 … World Championships [semifinals], Doha, Qatar [Oct. 6, 2019]
12.44 … World Championships, Doha, Qatar [Oct. 6, 2019]
12.48 … U.S. Championships, Eugene, Ore. [June 22, 2013]
12.52 … U.S. Championships [semifinals], Sacramento, Calif. [June 24, 2017]
12.55 … U.S. Olympic Trials, Eugene, Ore. [July 8, 2016]
12.55 … U.S. Championships, Eugene, Ore. [July 27, 2019]
12.57 … Müller Anniversary Games, London [July 20, 2019]
12.59 … Olympic Games, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil [Aug. 17, 2016]
12.59 … World Championships [prelims], Doha, Qatar [Oct. 5, 2019]
12.59 … Hurricane Invitational, Coral Gables, Fla. [March 19, 2022]
Other than an exhibition 150-meter hurdles race in Marietta, Ga., in July of 2020, this was Ali’s first race indoors or out since Feb. 21, 2020, when she ran 7.88 in the 60-meter hurdles in a World Athletics Indoor Tour event at Villa de Madrid. Her last outdoor race was the final of the 2019 World Championships in Doha, Qatar, on Oct. 6, 2019, when she won in a personal-best 12.34, No. 10 in world history.
The 2020 season was wiped out because of COVID and Ali took the 2021 season off after giving her birth to her third child, a son, in May 2021. She did not race indoors this year.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 