Olympic track and field trials results: 41-year-old Lolo Jones is back in the 100 hurdles

A few hours earlier, she didn’t know whether her torn hamstring would allow her to clear the blocks. Now, he wasn’t sure it would let him reach the finish line.

So, after completing the race he was later asked how he crossed the 10 obstacles on Friday? Was it just willpower? Adrenaline?

“Toradol,” Jones said. “Official sponsor of 41-year-olds.”

A familiar and surprising competitor emerged in US tests on Friday. Jones made her trials debut 20 years ago in Sacramento, competing against Gail Devers, who made her first Olympics appearance in 1988. “That’s how old I am,” Jones said. She competed in two Summer Olympics and one Winter Olympics, nearly winning the gold medal in the 100 hurdles at the 2008 Olympics before crossing the hurdles while leading late in the race.

Despite never winning an Olympic medal, Jones made herself one of the most notable Olympians of the past two decades. He leveraged his talent, looks, early understanding of social media, and impressive innovation in creating winter and summer sportswear to achieve fame.

And Jones is still here. During the last Olympic cycle, Jones said she felt “pushed out” by American officials because of her age. She wanted to continue competing, so Jones returned to hurdles. At the track meet in Gainesville, Florida in April, Jones ran the 100 hurdles in 13.11, comfortably under the qualifying standard of 13.25 seconds for the trials.

Jones’ time suggested that the trial would be an exhibition and nothing more. But she wanted to come anyway, to provide hope for young athletes who may feel discouraged if they don’t participate in the Olympics.

“I hope I can show them that you can still be 40 years old and be good enough to qualify for the Olympic trials,” Jones said. “And I hope that someone after me will do well even at the age of 40. Sports science is getting better. Hey, Tom Brady didn’t retire until he was 45. I hope these kids can look at me and say, ‘You know what? My world will not end if I do not join this Olympic team. Long life.”

However, on the way to the trials, Jones suffered a setback. Six weeks ago he suffered a Grade 2 hamstring injury. “I’m just injured,” Jones said. “And this is an injury that is not due to old age. “It’s an injury that I get all the time as a hurdler.”

Jones could not train on the track. He tried the hurdles for the first time since his injury last Saturday, when he cleared six hurdles and suffered a hamstring strain, which was another setback. He waited until Thursday to try again. She crossed an obstacle and started crying in pain.

When she woke up on Friday, she was unsure whether she would be able to compete. He called some old bobsleigh buddies. “I was like, ‘If you gave me the choice right now of crashing on the scariest bobsled track or running in the Olympic trials race, I would choose crashing in a bobsled at 90 miles per hour,'” Jones said. ” “I was so scared getting to that start line. I had no idea that my hamstring was going to blow out.”

Jones still wanted to run. She wanted to prove that she could do it, and she had the modern medicine of injecting painkillers. When Jones’ name was announced as she settled into her block, Hayward Field roared.

“I’m very grateful to everyone who cheered for me,” Jones said. “It’s been so long, I thought people had forgotten. Having people remember or yell my name means the world to me. Because I was terrified on that start line. I was crying this morning because I thought I was going to have to drop out of the race. “For me, getting to that starting line and clearing all 10 obstacles was a huge victory.”

Jones finished the race in 14.86 seconds, which was the difference between second to last place in his heat. “I don’t want people to think a 40-year-old can do this,” Jones said. “I was at sprint pace for 12 seconds” before the injury.

Jones could still race again if his hamstring allows. Due to multiple scratches and an expanded qualifying system for the opening round, all 27 hurdlers entered advanced. Tokyo Olympics silver medalist Nia Ali decided on an energy-conserving strategy with a quirky aesthetic: She sprinted out of the blocks and slowly navigated the obstacles, finishing in 20.38 seconds.

Jones sees her career as a series of facing and overcoming setbacks. Missing the Olympic team in 2004 helped him make it in 2008; A stumble over a hurdle in 2008 led him to finish fourth in 2012 due to injury; Not winning a medal inspired her to try bobsleigh and become a unique double Olympian.

“If you have a setback, if you have a loss, if you have something that tries to break you, use that as motivation,” Jones said. “That’s why I’m an obstacle runner – I love overcoming things.

“I am still in this fight. You guys are behaving as if I didn’t even get the semi-finals. But I got the semi-finals. I know 14 seconds wasn’t that amazing, but we were in it. When I wake up, if I don’t need my wand, we’ll go.”