By KRISTEL SATUMBAGA
Fil-American Lauren Hoffman gave her Paris Olympics bid a big push after resetting the Philippine mark in the women’s 100-meter hurdles at the Duke International in Durham, North Carolina over the weekend.
Hoffman clocked 13.41 seconds to smash the 15-year-old record of 13.65sec set by Sheena Atilano in a race in Norwalk, United States in 2009.
Her mark, however, will be up for ratification.
Only world No. 2 pole vaulter EJ Obiena has qualified from the athletics for the Paris Games, but there is strong possibility that a female athlete will be given a slot under the universality rule.
Judging her performances, Hoffman could be the right person.
“Such a fun event, can’t wait to keep working on it,” the 25-year-old Hoffman said, who debuted with the national team just last year at the 19th Asian Games.
She finished behind American Skyla Wilson, who timed 13.46sec.
Hoffman also competed and topped the women’s 400m hurdles, timing 56.58sec ahead of Americans Riley Knebes (57.93sec) and Wilson (59.52sec), but it was a second slower than her personal best 55.47sec performed in Eugene, Oregon in 2022.
If cleared, this will be the fourth time that Hoffman broke a national record, having shattered the indoor mark in the women’s 400m twice and the women’s 400m hurdles this year.
She first erased the old mark in the women’s 400m with a 53.91sec performance at the 2024 Clemson Bob Pollock Invitational last January before resetting it anew with a time of 53.71sec at the 2024 Clemson Tiger Paw Invitational in South Carolina a few weeks after.
Last month, she posted 56.39sec in the women’s 400m hurdles at the Hurricane Collegiate Invitational in Coral Gables, Florida, erasing the two-year-old record of 56.44sec set by Robyn Brown in the 2022 Southeast Asian Games in Hanoi, Vietnam.
