Kenneth Selmon (born August 27, 1996) is an American

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

athlete who specializes in the

400 metres hurdles The 400 metres hurdles is a track and field hurdling event. The event has been on the Olympic athletics programme since 1900 for men and since 1984 for women. On a standard outdoor track, 400 metres is the length of the inside lane, once a ...

. He won the USA Outdoor Championship in 2018 and represented his country at the

2018 Athletics World Cup The 2018 Athletics World Cup was held in London, United Kingdom, from 14 to 15 July 2018. This was the first and only edition of this competition. Each team entered one athlete per event, and points were gained on the basis of finishing position. ...

in London, where he won the 400 metres hurdles.

Early life

Selmon attended high school at

Pace Academy Pace Academy is a K–12 college preparatory private school, located at 966 West Paces Ferry Road in the Buckhead area of Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Pace has approximately 1,115 students. History Pace Academy was founded in Atlanta in ...

Atlanta, GA Atlanta ( ) is the capital city, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georgia, Fulton County, the mos ...

. He was a 7-time GHSA state champion in track and field and 3-time all-american in the 400 metres hurdles. While in high school, Selmon placed third at the 2013 World Youth Championships in the 400mH and won the 2014 National Championship.

Collegiate career

Selmon attended the

University of North Carolina The University of North Carolina is the multi-campus public university system for the state of North Carolina. Overseeing the state's 16 public universities and the NC School of Science and Mathematics, it is commonly referred to as the UNC Sy ...

where he competed in indoor and outdoor track and field. While at UNC, Selmon won two ACC Championships in the 400 metres hurdles and placed 4th, 3rd, and 2nd in the NCAA Division I National Championships in the 400mH in 2016, 2017, and 2018. His college personal record of 48.12, which he ran at the NCAA Division I Championships in 2018, is the fastest in UNC history. While in college, Selmon competed in the 2016 Olympic Team Trials where he placed 7th. After graduating from UNC, Selmon won the 2018 USATF Outdoor Championships in the 400 metres hurdles.

Professional career

After graduating college, Selmon represented the United States at the 2018 London Athletics World cup which he won. Kenny Selmon signed a professional contract with Spyder Korea in 2019. Selmon qualified for the 2021 U.S. Olympic team in the 400m hurdles.

International competitions

National titles

USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships The USA Track & Field Outdoor Championships is an annual track and field competition organized by USA Track & Field, which serves as the American national championships for the sport. Since the year 1992, in the years which feature a Summer Olym ...

**400 m hurdles:

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

* USATF U20 Outdoor Championships **400 m hurdles: 2015

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Selmon, Kenny Living people 1996 births People from Mableton, Georgia Sportspeople from Cobb County, Georgia Track and field athletes from Atlanta American male hurdlers American male sprinters USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships winners African-American male track and field athletes North Carolina Tar Heels men's track and field athletes Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic track and field athletes for the United States 21st-century African-American sportspeople