Nia Ali advanced to the 100-meter hurdles final Saturday night at the U.S. Olympic Trials in Eugene, Ore.
Ali placed 3rd in the first of three semifinals in 12.55. Although only the first two in each semi advanced to the final automatically, the next three-fastest times also advanced, and Ali’s 12.55 was the fastest 3rd-place time – and 7th-fastest overall.
Ali, a Pleasantville grad, will race in the final at 8 p.m. Sunday.
She has now reached the finals at U.S. Nationals nine times. She was 5th in 2011, 8th in the 2012 Trials, 3rd in 2013, 8th in 2014, 3rd in the 2016 Trials, 8th in 2017, 2nd in 2019 and 1st last year.
Ali won the Olympic silver medal in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro and then won the world championships in Doha, Qatar, in October of 2019.
She’s now 35 but still among the fastest hurdlers in the world. She’s run as fast as 12.44 this year – in Gainesville in April – and has also run 12.47 and 12.48.
Alaysha Johnson, Tonea Marshall and Masai Russell – the three-fastest qualifiers – each ran 12.36 Saturday. Last time Ali ran sub-12.40 was last July in Monaco, when she PR’d with 12.30 – 9th-fastest in world history and 3rd-fastest ever by a U.S. woman.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 