Pleasantville’s Nia Ali followed her 12.49 in the 100 hurdles at U.S. Nationals with a 12.53 in Stockholm on Thursday.
Ali placed 3rd in the Bauhaus Galan Diamond League meet at Olympic Stadium, which means the 2019 World Champion has recorded two of the six-fastest times of her life in the past week.
The 33-year-old Ali ran 12.49 in the semifinals at Nationals in Eugene and with an auto berth at Worlds later thismonth secured she scratched from the final.
Her 12.53 Thursday is the fastest she’s ever run outside a national or world championship race. This is Ali’s first season competing since 2019. Virtually every meet was cancelled in 2020, and she took the 2021 Olympic season off to have a baby.
Here are the 10 fastest times of Ali’s career:
12.34 … World Championships, Doha, Qatar, Oct. 6, 2019 [1st]
12.44 … World Championships, Doha, Qatar, Oct. 6, 2019 [sf]
12.48 … U.S. Championships, Des Moines, Iowa, June 22, 2013 [3rd]
12.49 … U.S. Championships, Eugene, Ore., June 25, 2022 [sf]
12.52 … U.S. Championships, Sacramento, Calif., June 24, 2017 [2nd]
12.53 … Bauhaus Galan, Stockholm, June 30, 2022 [3rd]
12.55 … U.S. Championships, July 27, 2019 [2nd]
12.55 … U.S. Olympic Trials, July 8, 2016 [3rd]
12.57 … Müller Anniversary Games, London, July 20, 2019 [2nd]
12.57 … U.S. Championships, Des Moines, Iowa, June 22, 2013 [sf]
Ali is ranked No. 10 in the world this year and No. 5 among Americans. She’s No. 10 in world history and No. 4 among Americans.
Ali is seeking to become the first hurdler to win the 100-meter highs at consecutive World Championships since American Michelle Perry in Helsinki in 2005 and Osaka in 2007.
The World Athletics Championships are scheduled for July 15-24 at Hayward Field in Eugene. The women’s hurdles competition open with qualifying rounds at 2:20 p.m. EST Saturday, July 23, with semifinals at 8:05 p.m. Sunday, July 24, and the final following at 10 p.m.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 