Jones, Cockrell & Benjamin Earn Olympic Berths In 400m H At 2024 U.S. Olympic T&F Team Trials

Jasmine Jones and Anna Cockrell in the women's 400m hurdles and Rai Benjamin in the men's 400m hurdles earned their way to the 2024 Paris Olympics during the final day of the 2024 U.S. Olympic Track & Field Team Trials held at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore. today (June 30).

Rai Benjamin (USC, 2018) won the men's 400m title with a meet-record and world-leading time of 46.46. Benjamin won the silver medal in the event at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics (in 2021) with an American-record time of 46.17. Benjamin has won the last five U.S. 400m hurdles titles.
Senior Jasmine Jones and Anna Cockrell (USC, 2021) both made the U.S. team in the women's 400m hurdles. Cockrell placed second in the 400m hurdles with a personal-best time of 52.64 and Jones took third and bettered her school record with a time of 52.77. Dalilah Muhammad (USC, 2012), who won a gold medal in the event at the 2016 Rio Olympics and a silver medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, placed sixth with a time of 54.27. Sydney McLaughlin won the event title and set a world record with a time of 50.65.
Nia Ali (USC, 2011) placed fourth in the women's 100m hurdles final with a season-best time of 12.37 (+0.7), just missing out on the podium and a qualifying spot by .06 seconds. Ali won the silver medal in the event at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Earnest Sears III (USC, 2022) placed 10^th in the men's high jump final. He had one miss at the opening height of 7-1.00 (2.16m) before clearing, so passed over 7-3.00 (2.21m), and went out at the third height of 7-4.25 (2.24m), which knocked out all but four jumpers.

Current and graduated Trojans who clinched spots on Team USA for the Paris Olympics are Rai Benjamin (M – 400m H), Anna Cockrell (W – 400m H), Kendall Ellis (W – 400m), Jasmine Jones (W – 400m H), Michael Norman (M – 400m), TeeTee Terry (W – 100m).

Also today at the Canadian Athletics Championships, Aaron Brown (USC, 2014) won the 200m title with a time of 20.09 (+3.1w) and will represent his native country in the event at the Paris Olympics.

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Players Mentioned

Jasmine Jones