Christina Clemons

Christina Clemons (née Manning; born May 29, 1990) is an American track and field athlete, who specializes in the 100 m hurdles from Landover, Maryland. Her time of 7.73 in the 60 meter hurdles is tied for the 5th fastest time in history and .05 seconds off the world record.[1]

Christina Clemons
Clemons (center) at the 2018 World Indoor Championships
Personal information
Full nameChristina Ali Clemons
NationalityAmerican
Born (1990-05-29) May 29, 1990
Andrews AFB, Maryland, USA
Height1.63 m (5 ft 4 in)
Weight53 kg (117 lb)
Sport
SportTrack and Field
Event(s)100 metres hurdles
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)60 m hurdles indoors: 7.73 (Albuquerque, New Mexico 2018) 100 m hurdles: 12.54 s (Berlin, 2017)
Medal record
Women's athletics
Representing the  United States
IAAF World Relays
2019 YokohamaShuttle Hurdle Relay
World Indoor Championships
2018 Birmingham60 m hurdles
World University Games
2011 Shenzhen100 m hurdles

College Athletics

Clemons, then Manning, attended The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. There, she was a 2 time NCAA champion, 10 time Big Ten Champion, 11 time All American, and the 2012 Big Ten Athlete of the Year.[2] Clemons still holds the school records in four separate events: the 60m dash (7.23), 60m hurdles (7.91), 100m hurdles (12.68) and the 4x100m relay (43.70). The four-time Big Ten Track Athlete of the Year also still owns Big Ten championship meet records in the 60m hurdles with a 7.95 and the aforementioned 43.70 is still the fastest to be run by a relay team at the B1G meet.

Clemons was an instrumental cog in helping Ohio State collect three team titles at the Big Ten Championships over the course of her career. She was a member of the 2011 indoor, 2011 outdoor and 2012 outdoor conference winning teams, the first three in program history.

[3] While in college, Clemons competed in the 2012 Olympic trials, finishing 5th, ahead of the 2016 Olympic Champion and the 2019 World Champion. Clemons is the most decorated female athlete in the history of The Ohio State University.

Professional career

Upon graduating the Ohio State University and before competing in her first season as a professional athlete, Clemons had a complete rupture of her right Achilles with no warning and no prior symptoms. Clemons was told that she would never run the same, whether that be good or bad, her body would compete completely different than before. While many insured her this was a career ending injury, she pushed forward to prove critics wrong. Four years later, in 2017, Clemons returned claiming victories all of indoor season. She won the 60m hurdles at the 2017 Birmingham Indoor Grand Prix over Olympic Champion Sally Pearson.[4] Outdoor, Clemons claimed a top spot on the 2017 Iaaf World Championship team for the 100 meter hurdles, the most challenging team to make in the United States. At the 2017 World Championships in Athletics Clemons won her heat and her semifinal to reach the finals.[5][6] In the final, she missed her first potential international medal by two one-thousandths of a second and finished one one-thousandth of a second behind world record holder Kendra Harrison.[7] She went on to set a personal record of 12.54 in Berlin two weeks after world championships. Clemons fought her way to 4th in the world her first year back healthy.

The following year, Clemons missed making the team for the 2018 Iaaf world indoor championships by .01 seconds behind Sharika Nelvis and World record holder Kendra Harrison. Two week later, Clemons went on to win the 2018 World indoor tour in Madrid in a time of 7.77, ahead of USA champion Sharika Nelvis, giving her an automatic spot on the 2018 IAAF World indoor team. On March 3, 2018, Christina Clemons won her first international medal and became the 2018 IAAF World indoor silver medalist. Outdoor of 2018 without a team to be made, she competed nationally and won silver for the 100m hurdles at USA championships behind world record holder Kendra Harrison.

In 2019, Clemons had the best season of her career finishing top 3 every competition and winning her first diamond league race in Oslo, Norway. At USA Championships, she won her heat and placed second in the semi finals behind world record holder Harrison. In the final of the USA Championships, Clemons clipped hurdle 6 causing her to lose her place of 3rd, a guaranteed spot to the IAAF World Championships, falling to the end of the pack. She finished her 2019 season at 6th in the world.

She returned 2020 winning the world indoor tour ahead of 2019 World Champion Nia Ali, giving her an automatic spot to the IAAF World indoor championships in Nanjing, China. Clemons is the only hurdler in history to win the IAAF world tour consecutively.

References
  1. "Christina Manning: The Journey to Olympic Success". 5 March 2017. Archived from the original on 12 August 2017. Retrieved 12 August 2017.
  2. "Ohio State's Christina Manning on pace to chase Olympic track and field glory".
  3. "Swimmer Pearson, Diver Davis Named To Ohio State Hall of Fame". 14 June 2017.
  4. "The shoe fits as Laura Muir breaks yet another record in Birmingham - Athletics Weekly". 18 February 2017.
  5. "Dawn Harper Nelson leads 4 Americans into women's 100 hurdles final at world championships".
  6. "The Latest: Schippers wins the 200 meters at worlds".
  7. https://www.iaaf.org/competitions/iaaf-world-championships/iaaf-world-championships-london-2017-5151/results/women/100-metres-hurdles/final/result#resultheader
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