Dalilah Muhammad

Dalilah Muhammad (born February 7, 1990)[1] is an American track and field athlete who specializes in the 400 metres hurdles. She won the gold medal at the 2019 World Championships, setting the current world record with a time of 52.16 seconds. She was also the 2013, 2016, and 2017 American national champion.[2] At the 2016 Summer Olympics, she won gold in the 400 metres hurdles.[3] Muhammad is only the second female 400 meter hurdler in history, after Sally Gunnell, to have won the Olympic and World titles and broken the world record.

Dalilah Muhammad
Muhammad at Rio 2016
Personal information
NationalityAmerican
Born (1990-02-07) February 7, 1990
Jamaica, Queens, New York, U.S.
Home townBayside, Queens, New York, U.S.
EducationBenjamin N. Cardozo High School
Alma materUniversity of Southern California
Height5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)
Weight121 lb (55 kg)
Sport
CountryUnited States
SportAthletics (track and field)
Event(s)400m hurdles

Muhammad won the 400-meter hurdles at the 2007 World Youth Championships, and she won silver at the 2013 World Championships and 2017 World Championships. Collegiately, she ran for the USC Trojans, for whom she was a four-time All-American at the NCAA Outdoor Championships.

Early life

Dalilah Muhammad was born February 7, 1990 in Jamaica, Queens, New York City, to parents Nadirah and Askia Muhammad who are part of a Muslim American family.[4][5]

Athletic career

High school and college track

Dalilah Muhammad competed in various track and field events at high school, including the hurdles, sprints, and high jump. While at Benjamin N. Cardozo High School in Bayside, Queens, she won the 2008 New York State and Nike Outdoor Nationals titles in the 400 m hurdles.[6] During that period, she also gained her first international experience. At the 2007 World Youth Championships in Athletics, she took the 400 m hurdles gold medal.[7] Muhammad earned 2007 Gatorade Female Athlete of the Year for New York State.[8]

In 2008, she enrolled at the University of Southern California on a sports scholarship, majoring in business. Joining the USC Trojans track team, she competed extensively in her first season. At the Pacific-10 Conference meet, she was runner-up in the 400 m hurdles, fourth in the 4×400-meter relay, and also set a personal record of 13.79 seconds as a finalist in the 100-meter hurdles.[9] The NCAA Outdoor Championship saw her set a 400 m hurdles best of 56.49 seconds and finish in third place in the final. She won the national junior title that year and was the silver medallist at the 2009 Pan American Junior Athletics Championships.[10] In her second year at USC, she was a runner-up at the Pac-10 championships but narrowly missed out on the NCAA final. The 2011 outdoor season saw her repeat her Pac-10-second place, and a personal record of 56.04 seconds in the NCAA semi-finals led to a sixth-place finish in the 400 m hurdles final.[6]

In 2012, she set personal records in the sprint hurdles events, running 8.23 seconds for the 60-meter hurdles and 13.33 seconds for the 100 m hurdles. She ranked fifth in the latter event at the Pac-12 meet, where she placed third in the 400 m hurdles. She was again an NCAA finalist in her speciality, coming in fifth, and she also participated in the heats at the 2012 United States Olympic Trials.[9] She ended her career as a USC Trojan athlete as the school's third fastest ever 400 m hurdler and a four-time NCAA All-American.[6]

Professional

After graduating from USC, she chose to compete professionally in the 400 m hurdles. She improved her personal best in the 2013 season with 55.97 then 54.94 seconds in California. In her IAAF Diamond League debut, she placed fourth at the Shanghai Golden Grand Prix with a time of 54.74 seconds. She won at the Memorial Primo Nebiolo in Italy in 54.66, then she placed third at the Bislett Games in Norway with a run of 54.33 seconds.

At the 2013 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, she improved her personal record by half a second with a run of 53.83 in the final to win her first national title in the 400 m hurdles.[11] Muhammad has represented Nike since 2013.[12] At the 2014 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, Muhammad qualified for the 400 m hurdles but did not start.[13] At the 2015 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, she placed 7th with a time of 57.31.[14] At the 2016 United States Olympic Trials, she won the 400-meter hurdles in 52.88. At the 2016 Summer Olympics, she won gold in the 400-meter hurdles. She defended her title at the 2017 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, winning with another personal time of 52.64.

Muhammad broke the 400-meter hurdles world record at the 2019 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships with a time of 52.20 seconds, improving Yuliya Pechonkina's 16-year-old record of 52.34 (2003).[15][16] Muhammad is only the second woman in the history of the 400m hurdles, after Sally Gunnell, to have won the Olympic title and broken the world record. In September, the IAAF ratified Muhammad's time as the official world record.[17] She won the gold medal at the 2019 World Championships, improving her time by 0.04 seconds, setting the new world record with a time of 52.16 seconds.[18][19] At the end of the season she was selected for the Jackie Joyner-Kersee Award by the U.S.A. Track and Field Federation.[20] and by Track and Field News at its World Women's Athlete of the Year, voted their first choice by 24 of the publication's 36-member panel.[21]

Competition record

YearCompetitionVenuePositionEventNotes
Representing the  United States
2007 World Youth Championships Ostrava, Czech Republic 1st 57.25
2009 Pan American Junior Championships Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago 2nd 58.42
2013 World Championships Moscow, Russia 2nd 54.09
2016 Olympic Games Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 1st 53.13
2017 World Championships London, United Kingdom 2nd 53.50
2019 World Championships Doha, Qatar 1st 52.16 WR

USA National Championships

YearCompetitionVenuePositionEventNotes
Representing the  United States
2007 2007 USA Youth Outdoor Track & Field Championships Benedictine University 2nd 400 m 55.84
2009 USA Junior Track and Field Championships Eugene, Oregon 1st 400 m hurdles 57.32[22]
2012 US Olympic Trials Eugene, Oregon 20th 400 m hurdles 58.46[23]
2013 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships Des Moines, Iowa 1st 400 m hurdles 53.83[24]
2015 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships Eugene, Oregon 11th 400 m hurdles 57.33[14]
2016 US Olympic Trials Eugene, Oregon 1st 400 m hurdles 52.88
2017 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships Sacramento, California 1st 400 m hurdles 52.64
2019 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships Des Moines, Iowa 1st 400 m hurdles 52.20 WR

Personal bests

See also

References

  1. "Dalilah Muhammad". IAAF.org. International Association of Athletics Federations. Archived from the original on June 10, 2019. Retrieved October 11, 2019.
  2. "Dalilah Muhammad". DiamondLeague.com. International Association of Athletics Federations. Archived from the original on October 11, 2019. Retrieved October 11, 2019.
  3. "American Dalilah Muhammad wins 400m hurdles gold". OmRiyadat.com. August 19, 2016. Archived from the original on September 17, 2016. Retrieved September 4, 2016.
  4. Boone, Ruschell (August 13, 2016). "Parents of Queens Track and Field Star Get Ready to Cheer Her On in Olympics". NY1. Archived from the original on September 12, 2017. Retrieved October 11, 2019.
  5. Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Dalilah Muhammad". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on March 30, 2019. Retrieved May 1, 2020.
  6. "Dalilah Muhammad". usctrojans.com. USC Trojans. Archived from the original on November 12, 2019. Retrieved October 11, 2019.
  7. "Girls 400m Hurdles Final". IAAF.org. International Association of Athletics Federations. July 13, 2007. Retrieved July 28, 2013.
  8. "2007 New York Gatorade Female Athlete of the Year". Gatorade.com. Archived from the original on July 19, 2016. Retrieved July 22, 2016.
  9. "Dalilah Muhammad". Tilastopaja.org. Retrieved July 28, 2013.
  10. "Pan American Junior Championships 2009". WJAH.co.uk. World Junior Athletics History. Archived from the original on February 24, 2012. Retrieved July 28, 2013.
  11. "Upsets and Breakthroughs on Final Day of USA Outdoor Championships". USATF.org. USA Track & Field. June 23, 2013. Archived from the original on July 28, 2013. Retrieved October 11, 2019.
  12. "2013 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships results". USATF.org. USA Track & Field. Archived from the original on July 12, 2014. Retrieved October 11, 2019.
  13. "2014 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships results". USATF.org. USA Track & Field. Archived from the original on August 11, 2016. Retrieved October 11, 2019.
  14. "2015 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships results". USATF.org. USA Track & Field. Archived from the original on May 28, 2019. Retrieved October 11, 2019.
  15. Vera, Amir (July 29, 2019). "Dalilah Muhammad breaks 16-year-old world record at US track and field championships". CNN. Archived from the original on September 28, 2019. Retrieved October 11, 2019.
  16. Chavez, Chris (August 7, 2019). "The Imperfect World Record: Examining Dalilah Muhammad's 400-Meter Hurdles Race". Sports Illustrated. Archived from the original on August 9, 2019. Retrieved October 11, 2019.
  17. "Ratified: Muhammad's world 400m hurdles record and Anderson's world U20 100m hurdles record". IAAF.org. International Association of Athletics Federations. September 11, 2019. Archived from the original on September 12, 2019. Retrieved October 11, 2019.
  18. Cacciola, Scott (October 4, 2019). "Dalilah Muhammad Breaks Her Own World Record in the 400-Meter Hurdles". The New York Times. Archived from the original on October 11, 2019. Retrieved October 11, 2019.
  19. "Ratified: Muhammad's world 400m hurdles record, Mahuchikh's world U20 high jump records and Cheptegei's world 10km record". WorldAthletics.org (Press release). January 30, 2020. Archived from the original on January 30, 2020. Retrieved April 15, 2020.
  20. "The Year's Best Athletes, Performances and Hall of Fame Inductees Honored at USATF Night of Legends". USATF.org. USA Track & Field. December 8, 2019. Archived from the original on December 8, 2019. Retrieved December 22, 2019.
  21. "2019 World Women's Athlete of The Year -- Dalilah Muhammad". Track and Field News. December 22, 2019. Retrieved December 31, 2019.
  22. "2009 USA Junior Outdoor Track and Field Championship". USATF.org. USA Track & Field. Archived from the original on September 20, 2016. Retrieved October 11, 2019.
  23. "US Olympic Trials Women's 400 m prelims". USATF.org. USA Track & Field. Archived from the original on October 2, 2018. Retrieved October 11, 2019.
  24. "2013 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships results". USATF.org. USA Track & Field. Archived from the original on October 13, 2016. Retrieved October 11, 2019.
External video
Women's 400m Hurdles Final - World Record, World Athletics Championships Doha 2019 on YouTube
Records
Preceded by
Yuliya Pechonkina
Women's 400 m hurdles world record holder
July 28, 2019 – present
Incumbent
Awards
Preceded by
Caster Semenya
Women's Track & Field Athlete of the Year
2019
Succeeded by
Yulimar Rojas
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