Kenyan athlete Rukia Nusra racing at the University of Kentucky in the US.

📋 Breaking It Down

Kenya’s Rukia Nusra Omulisia broke the national record once again on Thursday night in the women’s 100m hurdles at the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field First Rounds (Regionals), taking place at the UK Track and Field Complex in Lexington, Kentucky, USA.

Rukia, a Public Health student at the University of Kentucky, took full advantage of the home ground in the semi-finals, winning her heat in 12.96—clocking a sub-13-second time—and comfortably qualified for today’s finals.

And the runner is no stranger to records. In February, she stunned the athletics world by shattering the Kenyan national record in the women’s 100m hurdles not once, but twice on the same day, underlining her rapid rise in the sprint hurdles discipline.

📌 What You Need to Know

Kenyan athlete Rukia Nusra during her training sessions at the University of Kentucky in the US.

Competing for the University of Kentucky, 24-year-old Rukia achieved a historic career breakthrough in the 100m hurdles. She clocked 13.18 seconds in the preliminary rounds before lowering her time to 13.13 seconds in the final to finish third.

Rukia set another record in the 60 metres, lowering her own indoor 60 metres record to 8.31 seconds at the Razorback Invitational in Fayetteville, Arkansas, USA, in early February. This broke the national record of 8.38 seconds she had set at the Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships in Bowen Fieldhouse, Ypsilanti, Michigan, USA.

Remarkably, she broke her own record twice in one meet, first clocking 8.32 seconds in the first round, then lowering it to 8.31 seconds in the semi-finals. However, she did not qualify for the finals, finishing sixth in her heat.

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She initially joined the University of Akron in 2024, before transferring to the University of Kentucky last year to study Public Health. The University of Kentucky is renowned for producing some of the world’s best sprinters.

📰 Source: Nation Africa