At 35 years old and a decade and a half as an elite athlete, Nia Ali decided to try a new event.
Ali, a Pleasantville graduate, 2016 Olympic silver medalist and 2019 World Champion, is one of the top hurdlers in world history. But she’s also versatile enough that she was once an All-America heptathlon at Tennessee before transferring to USC to focus on the hurdles.
On Saturday, she decided to try her hand at an event she had never contested – the 100-meter dash.
Competing at the Hurricane Collegiate Invitational in Coral Gables, Fla., Ali won the 100 in 11.41, edging Olympian Liang Xiaojing of the Peoples Republic of China, who ran 11.42.
The shortest race in a heptathlon is 200 meters, and Ali has a PR of 23.90 from a heptathlon in Fayetteville, Ark., back in 2009. But even at Pleasantville she never ran an open 100, although she did win the South Jersey Group 2 meet in the 200 in 2006 at Buena in 24.12, which 18 years later is still 9th-fastest in South Jersey.
While 11.41 might not be quite world class, it does put her at No. 4 among U.S. women so far this spring and is fastest by a woman 35 or older since Tianna Madison ran 11.09 at the 2021 Olympic Trials in Eugene. Madison was 142 days older than Ali was Saturday (13,077 days vs. 12,935 days). Madison was a World Champion in the long jump and an Olympic gold medalist in the 400-meter relay. She also attended the University of Tennessee.
Her 11.41 is also 7th-fastest ever by a South Jersey woman:
10.74 … English Gardner [Eastern], July 3, 2016, Eugene, Ore.
11.29 … Amandi Rhett [Moorestown], April 17, 2005, Walnut, Calif.
11.30 … Dennisha Page [Wilson], May 13, 2023, Bloomington, Ind.
11.31 … Torie Robinson [Winslow Twp.], May 14, 2017, Atlanta
11.32 … Gabrielle Farquharson [Williamstown], May 14, 2016, Lincoln, Neb.
11.36 … Michele Glover [Willingboro], May 6, 1984, Houston
11.41 … Nia Ali [Pleasantville], May 23, 2024, Coral Gables, Fla.
11.52 … Bria Mack [Williamstown], May 12, 2018, Knoxville, Tenn. [+0.5]
11.65 … Shardae Anderson [Paulsboro], April 14, 2007, Chapel Hill, N.C. [+1.1]
11.66 … Lauren Princz [Egg Harbor Twp.], June 19, 2021, South Plainfield, N.J. [+1.0]
On Saturday, Ali also found time to win her primary event, placing 1st in the 100-meter hurdles in 12.86 in her first outdoor hurdles race this year. Ali is No. 9 in world history and No. 3 all-time among U.S. athletes with her 12.30 from Monaco this past July. She won her first outdoor U.S. title in July in Eugene with a 12.37 two weeks earlier.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 