Personal Bests - Shamier Little

Published by IAAF on September 21, 2015

Just 20 years old, Shamier Little has already banked world junior, NCAA and US 400m hurdles titles. The US athlete also won a silver medal at the IAAF World Championships in Beijing and here she takes time out of her busy life to answer our personal bests questions.  

My best achievement in athletics

I may have won a silver medal at the World Championships, but I would say becoming world leader this season (she first achieved the feat with a 54.68 run in May and then did so again by running 53.74 to secure the NCAA title in Eugene). To become a world leader at such a young age is big. That is when everybody starts to turn their attention on you. To have that world-leading mark, which appears in the corner of every women’s 400m hurdles race screened on TV, is major.  

My greatest rival

I would say I have two. One would be the Jamaican hurdler Janeive Russell. She won gold at the 2012 World Juniors in Barcelona, which was a final I failed to finish. From that point on I’ve always kept a close eye on her and managed to beat her in the 2015 World Championship final, where she finished fifth.