Nia Sifaatihii Ali (born October 23, 1988) 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 eve ...

athlete, who specializes in the

100 m hurdles The 100 metres hurdles, or 100-meter hurdles, is a track and field event run mainly by women (the male counterpart is the 110 metres hurdles). For the race, ten hurdles of a height of are placed along a straight course of . The first hurdle is ...

, heptathlon, and other events. She is the 2016 Olympic Silver Medalist in the 100-meter hurdles, the 2019 World champion in the 100-meter hurdles, and twice in a row world indoor champion ( 2014 Sopot and 2016 Portland) in 60 meters hurdles.

Early life

Raised in the

Germantown Germantown or German Town may refer to: Places Australia * Germantown, Queensland, a locality in the Cassowary Coast Region United States * Germantown, California, the former name of Artois, a census-designated place in Glenn County * Ge ...

section of

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

, Ali moved to

Pleasantville, New Jersey Pleasantville is a city in Atlantic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city's population was 20,629, which was an increase of 380 from the 2010 census count of 20,249, which reflected an increase of 1,237 ...

for her senior year and graduated from Pleasantville High School in 2006.

Career

NCAA

In college Ali was the 2011 NCAA leader and NCAA champion for the

USC Trojans The USC Trojans are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Southern California (USC), located in Los Angeles, California. While the men's teams are nicknamed the ''Trojans'', the women's athletic teams are referred ...

in the 100 m hurdles in a time of (2.1w) 12.63. Ali formerly competed for the

Tennessee Volunteers The Tennessee Volunteers and Lady Volunteers are the 20 male and female varsity intercollegiate athletics programs that represent the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tennessee. The Volunteers compete in Division I of the National Collegi ...

(then the Lady Volunteers) where she was

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities o ...

champion in the heptathlon and at USC she was an All-American in the heptathlon.

Professional

Ali was selected to represent the U.S. in Shenzhen, China for the World University Games where she won the Gold Medal in a time of 12.85. At the 2013 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships Ali took third in the 100 m hurdles to qualify for the

2013 World Championships in Athletics The 14th IAAF World Championships in Athletics (Moscow 2013) () was an international athletics competition held in Moscow, Russia, from 10–18 August 2013. Initially, Russia won the most gold medals to top the table for the first time since 200 ...

. At the World Championships, Ali was a semi-finalist in the

, ultimately finishing 10th. At the

2014 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships The 2014 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships was held at Hornet Stadium in Sacramento, California. Organised by USA Track and Field, the four-day competition took place June 26–29 in conjunction with the USA Junior Combined Events Outdoo ...

Ali took eighth in the 100 m hurdles. She won the 60 meters hurdles at the 2013

USA Indoor Track and Field Championships The USA Indoor Track and Field Championships is an annual indoor track and field competition organized by USA Track & Field, which serves as the American national championships for the sport. In years which feature a World Indoor Championships in ...

in Albuquerque, New Mexico in a personal best of 7.93 and repeated the year later with a new personal best of 7.80, which also qualified her for the 2014 World Indoor Championships where she took the gold medal running 7.80 a second time. In 2015, Nia took a year off to give birth to her son with hurdler Michael Tinsley. She returned to the 2016 World Indoor Championships to successfully defend her gold medal. After winning, she carried her son on the victory lap. Ali placed third in the 100 hurdles in a time of 12.55 at the 2016 United States Olympic Trials behind Team USA teammates Brianna Rollins, Kristi Castlin to qualify to represent the United States at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Brazil. Later that year she won the silver medal at the Olympics. The United States was the first country to win gold, silver, and bronze in the women's 100 hurdles in one Olympics in 2016; this was also the first time American women achieved such a

sweep Sweep or swept may refer to: Cleaning * Sweep, the action of using a brush to clean * Chimney sweep, a worker who clears ash and soot from chimneys * Street sweeper, a person's occupation, or a machine that cleans streets * Swept quartz, a cleani ...

in any Olympic track and field event. In 2019, Nia won the gold-medal for 100m hurdles at the IAAF world championships (DOHA, Qatar) with a personal-best time of 12.34. The time ties her with Sharika Nelvis as the #9 performer of all time.

Personal life

Nia has a son, Titus Maximus, with American Olympian Michael Tinsley, an American track and field athlete specializing in the 400 metres hurdles. In June 2018, she had a daughter with her partner, Canadian Olympic sprinter

Andre De Grasse Andre De Grasse (born November 10, 1994) is a Canadian sprinter. A six-time Olympic medallist, De Grasse is the reigning Olympic champion in the 200 m, and also won the silver in the 200 m in 2016. He won a second silver in the 4×100 re ...

, and a second child in May 2021.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ali, Nia 1988 births Living people American female hurdlers Pleasantville High School (New Jersey) alumni USC Trojans women's track and field athletes Tennessee Volunteers women's track and field athletes Track and field athletes from California Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics People from Pleasantville, New Jersey Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists for the United States in track and field Universiade medalists in athletics (track and field) African-American female track and field athletes Universiade gold medalists for the United States World Athletics Championships athletes for the United States World Athletics Championships medalists World Athletics Championships winners USA Indoor Track and Field Championships winners World Athletics Indoor Championships winners 21st-century African-American sportspeople 21st-century African-American women 20th-century African-American people 20th-century African-American women