Keni and Brianna
Arguably, the most fiercely competitive event in all of track and field right now is the women’s 100 meter hurdles. In the United States alone you have a good number of women who have every right to think they will make the Olympic team. Besides the two mentioned in the title of this article, there is also Queen Harrison, Dawn Harper-Nelson, Kristi Castlin, Jasmine Stowers, Sherika Nelvis, Nia Ali, just off the top of my head. In that group you have Olympic and World Champions and extraordinary talent. Meanwhile, Rollins is the American record holder at 12.26 back in 2013, and Keni Harrison is the current world leader at 12.36. So just getting out of the trials with a spot on the Olympic team will be a war unto itself.
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Then outside of the US there is Tiffany Porter, last year’s outdoor world champion Danielle Williams, WC runner-up Cindy Roleder, and WC bronze medalist Alina Talay. And let’s not forget that Sally Pearson is making her way back from injury and should be back at full strength this summer. So to win a gold medal in this event will be tougher than ever this Olympic year.
While Kendra Harrison is definitely a favorite to make the US team and to win the US trials, there are no guarantees. In my recent conversations with her, it is evident that she feels good about how she is running right now, and she feels confident that she can run as fast as anyone else in the world. But if there is an opponent who concerns her, that opponent would be Brianna Rollins.
And with good reason. Keni and Brianna have a history together. They were teammates at Clemson University for two years (2012 and 2013) – Keni’s first two years of college, and Brianna’s last two. In that second year as teammates, Brianna took the hurdling world by storm, dropping time with almost every race she ran, earning victories at NCAA Nationals, US Nationals, and the World Championships, setting a new American record of 12.26 in the process. She was unbeatable, dominant. And Harrison had a nice view of it all for many of those races, a lane or two away and a hurdle or two behind.
I remember when Clemson came to compete at the Raleigh Relays at North Carolina State University that year, I attended and watched Brianna win handily, but Keni was close enough to her that I felt like Keni was capable of running with her. But Brianna just went crazy for the rest of that year, and neither Keni nor anyone else could touch her.
After that year, Clemson’s coach left, and Keni transferred to Kentucky, where she came into her own. She dropped down to 12.50 as a senior, won her own NCAA championship, and made the World Championship team. Brianna, meanwhile, has yet to recapture the glory of 2013, but she has remained among the world’s best.
At Indoor Nationals this past March, Keni got a great start and was leading coming off the last hurdle, but Brianna passed her on the way to the finish line for the win. And I feel pretty confident in saying that the urge to get out in front of Brianna again at the World Championships a week later played a role in Keni running up on the first hurdle.
In a recent text message exchange, Keni and I discussed Brianna’s strengths and weaknesses, as Keni remarked, “I don’t know how I’m beating her.”
As the conversation ensued, I made the following observations:
1) Brianna is faster over the hurdles. Brianna reminds me a lot of male hurdlers like David Oliver who ride that lead leg all the way to the ground. Brianna’s hurdle clearance time is insane.
2) Keni has better balance over the hurdles. With Brianna, there’s a twist of the arms and a slight twist of the hips, whereas Keni’s hips stay aligned throughout hurdle clearance.
3) Because Keni has better balance over the hurdles, she has a faster “get-away” step coming off each hurdle. While Brianna has to spend a split second realigning after she lands, increasing the ground contact time of her lead leg when it lands, Keni is able to seamlessly transition back to sprinting as soon as she lands.
4) Brianna is stronger and probably slightly faster. If it came down to a straight sprint with no hurdles in the way, I would give the edge to Brianna. Even in hurdle races, it’s evident that Brianna’s top-end speed is out of this world. That’s why she was able to close so well in the 60m hurdles at Indoor Nationals. With no more hurdles to worry about coming off hurdle five, Brianna was free to do what she does best – sprint.
5) Keni has superior hurdle endurance. My definition of hurdle endurance is the ability to maintain your form and your speed through ten hurdles and a finish line. Keni’s background of running both the 100h and the 400h throughout her career benefits her late in races. She doesn’t have breakdowns in form, and her technique, overall, is more efficient that Brianna’s. Last year, Keni’s hurdle clearance was higher than it is now, and her trail leg lagged behind more than it does now, so while it was possible to walk her down over the last three hurdles last year, I don’t think that’s the case anymore.
Of course, because I coached Keni back in the day, I’m rooting for her to do big things this year. But as I told her, Brianna isn’t going anywhere. No matter how fast Keni runs in a given race, she is not going to pull away from Brianna. Brianna’s personal best is faster than Keni’s, so Keni’s 12.36 isn’t going to put any doubt in Brianna’s mind. But because Keni is focusing on the 100h for the first time in here career ( she wanted to do both, but the US Trials schedule does not allow for a double), and because she is continuing to clean up the flaws in her race, I like her chances to run sub 12.30 and to stand on the gold medal podium.
But yes, Brianna and all of the other women mentioned earlier will have something to say about that. Any of them are talented enough to match or better Keni’s 12.36 from earlier this year, and I’m sure they’re training with the goal being to run that fast. Can’t wait to see how things play out.
Below is a link to the US National Indoor Championship race discussed above. Although I don’t prefer to use an indoor race as a basis for comparison, you’ll see many of the things I mentioned in this article being played out in the race.
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