WITH THE ABSENCE of WR holder Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone — she focused on the 400 — the hurdles promised to be an intriguing battle between ’16 gold medalist and past World Record-setter Dalilah Muhammad and ’24 silver medalist Anna Cockrell, with Paris 4th-placer Jasmine Jones also posing a serious threat.
The three USC alums gave the fans a show, indeed. They dominated the heats on Saturday, with Jones taking the first in 54.36, Cockrell the second in 53.97, and Muhammad the third in 53.80. The next fastest run belonged to Miami soph Sanaa Hebron, 55.90.
For the final, Cockrell earned lane 6, Muhammad 7, and Jones 8.
At the gun, Muhammad got out. Typically fast-starting, she reached the first four hurdles before her competitors. Only then did Cockrell begin to pull even. On the turn, the 27-year-old even got a little ahead of Muhammad, who is 35. At hurdle 8, Muhammad started driving hard. She led Cockrell at hurdle 9, with Jones also well-separated from the others.
For the fans, there was no suspense about the race for team spots. Her lead growing, Muhammad charged to the finish in 52.65, the No. 7 time in her career, faster than her gold medal performance from Rio. Cockrell finished 2nd for the second year in a row, clocking 52.89. And Jones crossed 3rd, as she did at last year’s Trials, in 53.23.
Fourth in 55.66 went to Akala Garrett, the only other woman in the field who has made the WC standard.
For Muhammad, who says this will be her final season of racing, the win marks her fifth USATF triumph, 12 years after her first. “You can’t plan these things,” she said. “You never know what the next year can bring. This year has been about getting healthy and seeing what the body can do on this last sort of victory lap.
“Anybody would have been happy with the win today. I think at any point of my career I would have been super ecstatic with running 52.6, and it’s like I’m not that happy with it today,” she said with a laugh. “I was super happy with the win, but it was windy out there. I was really hoping to just see 51 again, because that’s definitely still in the plan. I’d love to come away from this season with a PR, and I thought today could be that day. I’m never satisfied.”
Will she really retire? “There’s always doubt; I jokingly said if I won Worlds, that would be the only reason to come back next year. We’ll see. With Anna, Femke [Bol] and Jasmine, it’s going to be tough competition at Worlds. We’ll see in a month.”
WOMEN’S 400 HURDLES RESULTS
FINAL (August 03)
1. Dalilah Muhammad (Nik) 52.65;
2. Anna Cockrell (Nik) 52.89;
3. Jasmine Jones (adi) 53.23;
4. Akala Garrett (SC) 55.66;
5. Jessica Wright (TBBTC) 55.81;
6. Bianca Stubler (TBBTC) 56.02;
7. Abigail Glynn (unat) 56.57;
8. Arianna Smith (GardStTC) 56.85;
9. Sanaa Hebron (Mia) 56.98.
HEATS (August 02)
I–1. Jones 54.36; 2. Wright 56.25; 3. Glynn 56.43; 4. Cassandra Tate (unat) 57.34; 5. Jasmine Robinson (HeatTC) 58.50.
II–1. Cockrell 53.97; 2. Hebron 55.90; 3. Stubler 56.11; 4. Smith 56.50; 5. Riley Knebes (FastTrackTR) 56.52; 6. Yasmeen Tinsley (GardStTC) 57.71.
III–1. Muhammad 53.80; 2. Akala Garrett (Pum) 55.93; 3. Aliya Garozzo (Duke) 57.49; 4. Jourdin Edwards (KsSt) 57.62; 5. Brianna Green (FresP) 57.71; 6. Deonca Bookman (unat) 58.72.
