Hurdlers Ali and Cockrell keen to make amends in Budapest

Nothing could be more natural for a hurdler than to expect a career offering a series of challenges.

Such has certainly been the case for Nia Ali and Anna Cockrell, who sat alongside each other in a press conference on the eve of the World Athletics Championships Budapest 23.

In June last year, with a wild card to defend her 100m hurdles title at the World Athletics Championships in Oregon, Ali said that everything was “falling into place” after she had returned to training following the birth of her third child.

But she was the one who took a fall when the championships began as, after establishing an early lead, she clipped the ninth hurdle in her heat and failed to clear the 10th before being officially disqualified.

A year on, Ali, now 34, has arrived in Budapest as the US champion – and with a renewed sense of her own competitive possibilities balanced with a sensible caution about the strength of the field that has been assembled.

After hearing for the first time the late news that Tobi Amusan will be defending her title, Ali made the point that the Nigerian was only one of several serious contenders.

“Good for her – I will see her at the starting line. I’m looking forward to some very fast racing, and there are more than just Tobi. The title could go to anybody in the final.”

By this point in her career, Ali knows all about controlling the controllables. But controlling three young children is a different matter.

Following her victory at the World Athletics Championships Doha 2019, Ali was joined on the track by her then four-year-old son Titus and one-year-old daughter Yuri, and she and her partner Andre De Grasse have since welcomed their son Kenzo into the world.

Reflecting upon the challenge of combining her roles as athlete and mother to two boys and a girl, Ali said: “They co-exist but they don’t exist in the same place.

“My life is about being able to compartmentalise and to be where I am in that moment.

“When I’m at home, I don’t think about the track, I have a clear space with my children.

“And when I’m on the track I give it my 100% focus, while my children are focused on their schooling.

“There are heavy obligations, but I have learned to manage it.

“My children keep me very humble. They are straight shooters! They watch my races on TV and if I don’t win, they tell me all about it.

“It’s like: ‘You fell last time – I thought you were going to go out there and win!’

“But when I come home from training, they say how proud they are. I think they understand the competitive nature.

“I’m excited that they are going to be here in Budapest. They’re getting their hair done, getting their outfits, putting the pressure on me, waiting for their moments!”

Like Ali, Cockrell also experienced the downside of life in her last outing at a global championships.

After earning a place at the Tokyo Olympics by finishing third in the 400m hurdles at the US Trials in a personal best of 53.70, she followed through in Japan by reaching the final, where she finished seventh, only to be later disqualified after officials discovered she had made a lane violation.

This summer Cockrell has again risen to the challenge at the US Trials, securing her place by finishing third – this time behind Shamier Little and 2016 Olympic and 2019 world champion Dalilah Muhammad.

The 25-year-old from San Ramon, California, who won the world U20 400m hurdles title in 2016 and added Pan American Games silver in 2019, is also an accomplished performer in the shorter hurdles event.

“I trained over 100m hurdles this year,” said Cockerell, who has a PB of 12.54, set en route to a double hurdles victory at the 2021 NCAA Championships. “I love it. I don’t think it’s something I will ever let go of, even if I do eventually choose to focus on the 400m hurdles.

“I definitely want to double in the future. Both events are unbelievably competitive, but when the timing is right, I am going to be there. It’s something I look forward to.”

Mike Rowbottom for World Athletics