Lolo Jones
Lolo Jones wants her track career to end at the next Olympic Games. The Des Moines native will attempt to qualify for the World Championships this weekend when she competes at the U.S.A. Track and Field Championships. Jones has competed in the last two Olympics and hopes to make it to a third in 2016 in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil.
“Even before London I knew that I would definitely want to go to Rio,” Jones says. “It’s not uncommon for a hurdler to keep trucking away. …Alan Johnson I think retired when he was 40-something, I don’t think I want to go that long, but Rio is a nice fit for me.”
Jones is also training with the U.S. bobsled team and says her training for the hurdles has been smooth because she has been injury free. She says it’s the first year she has not had to deal with coming back from injuries. “I don’t know how to describe it when you are just running, just free,” Jones says.
Temperatures this weekend are expected to climb into the 90s but Jones does not mind those conditions, saying she trains in Louisiana and sprinters like the heat. The U.S. squad is stacked with outstanding hurdlers and Jones says it will take a very fast time to make the World Championship team.
“In a hurdle race, you can feel those hurdlers, you hear them, we all have this deep grunt over those hurdle. It can be a contact sport every now and then when our arms get in the way, crazy stuff happens and you can feed off of people’s energy,” Jones says.