Kendra Harrison

Kendra Harrison is an American track and field athlete born on 18th September 1992. She hails from Clayton city of North Carolina in the United States. Kendra specializes in hurdling and represents the USA in 100m Hurdles.

Background:

Kendra Harrison is an adopted child of Gary Harrison and Karon Harrison. She was raised in a family of 10 children, out of them, 8 were adopted including Kendra.

Kendra was initially interested in pursuing soccer but later switched to track and field while studying at Clayton High School. At high school, she emerged as a promising athlete with two consecutive NCHSAA 4A State titles (2010 and 2011) in 100m Hurdles and 300m Hurdles, and 100m Hurdles title at the 2011 New Balance Indoor Nationals.

In 2011, after graduating from high school, Kendra enrolled at Clemson University and represented them at the 2012 Atlantic Coast Conference Championships and 2013 NCAA Outdoor Championships. Then she transferred to the University of Kentucky, where she competed for Kentucky Wildcats in the 2014 SEC Championships and NCAA Indoor and Outdoor Championships (2014 and 2015).

In 2015, Kendra Harrison graduated with a degree in Community Leadership Development from the University of Kentucky.

Rise to Glory:

Kendra Harrison received her first career break as a junior athlete in 2010 when she won 100m Hurdles and 400m Hurdles titles at the US Junior Olympic Track and Field Championships. In 2012, representing Clemson University, she won the 400m Hurdles and 4x400m Relay titles at the ACC Championships.

Kendra made her NCAA debut at the 2013 NCAA Outdoor Championships, where she finished 5th in the 100m Hurdles and 4th in the 400m Hurdles. The following year, she won the 100m Hurdles and 400m Hurdles titles at the SEC Championships while representing Kentucky Wildcats of the University of Kentucky.

In 2015, Kendra won her first NCAA title in 60m Hurdles Indoor, followed by 100m Hurdles Outdoor title at the NCAA Division 1 Indoor and Outdoor Championships. That year, she made her senior national debut at the USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships. Kendra has two senior 100m Hurdles national titles in 2017 and 2018 under her belt.

Kendra Harrison is the current World No.2 Women 100m Hurdler with 1421 points. She holds the national record for 400m Hurdles with the personal best time of 12.20 seconds.

Major Achievements:

Kendra Harrison made her professional international debut at the 2015 World Athletics Championships, where she finished 11th in 100m Hurdles heats and qualified for the semis before getting disqualified for a false start. The following year, she finished 8th in the 60m Hurdles final at the World Indoor Athletics Championships.

At the 2016 Diamond League, Kendra had earned 8 circuit wins before winning the 100m Hurdles title. In 2017, Kendra finished 4th in 100m Hurdles by clocking 12.74 seconds, just 0.02 seconds behind Bronze-medalist Pamela Dutkiewicz of Germany at the World Athletics Championships.

At the 2018 World Indoor Athletics Championships, Kendra Harrison clinched her first senior international title in the 60m Hurdles with the timing of 7.70s. That year, in September, she won the Silver medal in 100m Hurdles at the IAAF Continental Cup.

In 2019, at the World Athletics Championships, Kendra won the 100m Hurdles Silver by clocking 12.46s, just 0.01s ahead of Bronze-medalist Danielle Williams of Jamaica. In the Diamond League, she has 15 circuit wins, a title (2016), and a Silver medal (2018) in 100m Hurdles under her belt.

Kendra Harrison will look to qualify for her debut Olympics at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics via the U.S Olympic Trials and shall be in contention to medal in 100m Hurdles.