ONE REGRETTABLE ELEMENT of the culture generally — and track & field specifically — is to build up heroes, then tear them down. Or at least forget them.
Could have happened to Tia Jones. Did not happen to Tia Jones.
Because she was hurdling to records a decade ago, we forget she is 23. What she did at the USATF Indoor Championships last week will be a lasting memory.
The 5-4 former teen superstar tied the World Record, 7.67, in a 60 hurdles heat. Then, 105 minutes later and after two restarts, she nearly matched that by winning the final in 7.68.
Such an outcome might have been forecast as long ago as 2015. As an eighth-grader, she won New Balance Nationals in the 100 hurdles and reached 13.08w. She said she ended up as a hurdler because she was repulsed by the 400 meters.
In 2016, as a frosh, she set a still-standing High School Record of 12.84 and won a bronze medal at the U20 (Junior) World Championships at age 15.
But three years ago?
No sports book was taking bets on Tia Jones.
Regrettably, she was knocked out of the upcoming indoor Worlds — the news reaching T&FN shortly before publication of this article. An MRI revealed an injury (not disclosed) from tumbling down the track at the USATF final, coach Tonja Buford-Bailey said. Jones had banged off crash pads at the end of the straightaway.
This is not the end, the hurdler had said in Albuquerque. More like a new beginning.
“If I put my beginning and my end together,” she said, “the world’s in my hands.”
Since age 8, Jones’ career has mostly been in the hands of her father, Tyronne Jones, a SWAC player of the year at Grambling and Arena Football League wide receiver. Dad knew speed.
After a 2018 World Junior gold medal, Tia went pro in her senior year of high school. She clocked 12.88 in 2019 but did not advance out of the first round of nationals. She acknowledged it “took me some time” to transition from preps to pros.
Then the pandemic, a ruptured Achilles and a pulled hamstring ruined her next three seasons.
By 2022, the Marietta, Georgia, native was training in Florida with Olympic champion Jasmine Camacho-Quinn under Irish coach John Coghlan. Jones returned to her father last year but has since switched to Buford-Bailey, the former hurdler who coaches a sprint/hurdles…
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