From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank

Not only did Nia Ali win the 100-meter hurdles Saturday at the U.S. Championships, she ran the fastest time in history for a woman her age.

Ali, who turns 35 in October and has three kids, won her first U.S. outdoor title with a time of 12.37 at Hayward Field in Eugene.

That time is 49th-fastest performance in world history – including multiple times by the same athletes – but nobody her age has ever run that fast.

Ali was born Oct. 23, 1988, so she was 34 years, 266 days old on Saturday, the day of the hurdles final at Hayward Field. The oldest woman previously to run 12.37 or faster is Gail Devers, who ran 12.33 on July 23, 2000, in Sacramento, at 33 years, 265 days – or almost exactly a year younger than Ali was on Saturday.

The fastest time by a woman older than Ali recorded was on Saturday is 12.40, also by Gail Devers – in Lausanne on July 2, 2002, when she was 35 years, 7 months, 21 days.

Ali is the 12th-fastest woman in history with the 12.34 she ran to win the World Championships in Doha, Qatar, on Oct. 6, 2019. Only 17 women have run faster than Ali ran on Saturday in Eugene – only four of them from the U.S. Those 17 women have run 12.36 or faster a combined 42 times.

By virtue of her finish at the U.S. Championships, Ali earns another trip to Worlds, which is scheduled for Aug. 19-27 in Budapest, Hungary.

The first round of hurdles is scheduled for 12:40 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 22, with the semifinals at 4:40 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 23, and the finals at 3:25 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 24.

Ali will try to become only the third U.S. woman to win multiple World Championships. Devers won in 1993 in Stuttgart, 1995 in Gothenburg and 1997 in Athens, and Michelle Perry in 2005 in Helsinki and 2007 in Osaka. The only other double winner is Austrailian Sally Pearson, who won in Daegu, South Korea, in 2011 and London in 2017.

The only American women to run faster than Ali are Kendra Harrison [12.20 in London in 2016], Brianna McNeal [12.26 in Des Moines in 2013] and Devers [12.33 in Sacramento in 2000].

Harrison was 2nd on Saturday in 12.42. McNeal – the 2016 Olympic champion – retired last raced in 2019. And Devers retired after the 2004 season.

Ali, Harrison and 3rd-place finisher Masai Russell [12.46 Saturday] will be on the U.S. team in Budapest.

When U.S. swept the hurdles at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Rollins won in 12.48, Ali was 2nd in 12.59 and Kristi Castlin was 3rd in 12.61.