Lolo Jones competes in US Olympic Trials at age 41

Lolo Jones wants you to know that she can always run faster – much, much faster.

The 41-year-old scored a personal triumph on Friday (June 28) at the US Olympic Trials – track and field in Eugene, Oregon, qualifying for the women’s 100m hurdles, some 20 years after her debut at that event in 2004.

“My first Olympic trials in Sacramento were with Gail Devers” Jones told a large group of journalists, citing the name of the three-time Olympic champion from 1992 and 1996. “So that’s my age.”

Jones was the favourite to win gold in the hurdles at Beijing 2008 when she cleared the ninth obstacle and stumbled to seventh place. HAS London 2012She finished fourth. Earlier this season, she ran a time of 13.10 to qualify for this event in Eugene, Oregon.

Her time of 14.86 seconds on Friday is nothing like what she has run so far, she said, citing a Grade 2 hamstring tear that has kept her off the track for the past nine days. She still qualifies for Saturday’s (June 29) semifinals, and she said she will decide in real time whether to race.

A two-time world indoor champion in the 60m hurdles, Jones also qualified for the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics in bobsleigh, winning two world titles in the sport in 2013 and 2021.

She says her message is bigger than just running the 100-meter hurdles.

“I know what it’s like to not make an Olympic team,” Jones said. “I didn’t make the first one, and then I made three more. But sometimes it feels like the world ends when you’re 20 if you don’t make the team. I hope to show them that you can still be in your 40s and be good enough to qualify for the trials, and hopefully someone after me will be good enough to go for it in their 40s.”

Jones is the first woman in her 40s to compete in the U.S. 100m hurdles trials. Athletics in the United States confirmed at Olympics.com.

“Everyone is inspired by different things,” she added. “Whether it’s a medal, whether it’s a cash prize. For me, I think I’ve always been inspired by the challenge of it.”