FIL-AMERICAN Lauren Hoffmann resumes her chase for an Olympic ticket as she returns to her alma mater to compete in the Duke Invitational Meet starting tomorrow (Thursday in the US) at the Morris Willams Stadium inside the Duke University campus in Durham, North Carolina.
A former mainstay of the Blue Devils’ varsity athletics team, Hoffmann is scheduled to run in the women’s 400-meter hurdles on the last day of the meet on Saturday (Sunday in Manila) that has been validated by World Athletics as a world-ranking competition.
She will be vying in the track meet that serves as one of the highlights of the Duke University’s centennial celebration.
Hoffman, who clocked 57.21 seconds in placing fifth in her forte in the Hangzhou Asian Games last year, has a personal best of 55.47 in the women’s 400-meter hurdles, just a shade over the Olympic entry standard of 54.85 seconds.
Only the top 40 athletes in the event either duplicating or surpassing the time during the cut-off date on July 7 will be eligible to compete in Paris, and she will have a lot of scrambling to do since the current No. 20 in the list is Italy’s Rebecca Sartori, whose time is above the cut at 54.82 seconds.
Hoffman is currently ranked No. 32 in the World Athletics ratings, four rungs higher than Asian women’s 400-meter hurdles queen and compatriot Robyn Brown.
A silver medalist in the 2023 Cambodia Southeast Asian Games, Brown is scheduled to compete with Tokyo Olympic Games veteran Kristina Knott and hurdler Eric Cray in the 64th Mt. SAC Relays set from April 17 to 20 at the Mt. Sac Hilmer Lodge Stadium in Walnut, California.
Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association Jasper Tanhueco said Cray, a six-time SEA Games men’s 110-meter hurdles champion, will also compete in the Drake Relays from April 24 to 27 at the Blue Oval inside the Drake University grounds in Des Moine, Iowa.
They are all eager to join pole vaulter Ernest John Obiena, the country’s first Olympic qualifier, in the track and field competitions of the Paris Summer Games from Aug. 1 to 11, with most of the events, except for the men’s and women’s marathon, to be held at the sprawling 80,000-seat Stade de France.
