Background
Kendra Harrison was born in Tennessee on September 18, 1992, and adopted by Gary and Karon Harrison. She grew up in a large family with ten other children, eight of them also adopted.
Kendra Harrison was born in Tennessee on September 18, 1992, and adopted by Gary and Karon Harrison. She grew up in a large family with ten other children, eight of them also adopted.
Harrison"s first sports were cheerleading and soccer. She took up track and field at Clayton High School. She competed in the 2012 Olympic Trials in the 100 m hurdles, but was eliminated in the heats.
In 2013 she placed fifth in the 100 m hurdles (1288) and fourth in the 400 m hurdles (5575) at the outdoor championships.
Harrison transferred from Clemson to the University of Kentucky after the 2013 season, together with sprinter Dezerea Bryant and coach Tim Hall. Harrison injured her hamstring in the winter of 2014-2015 and missed the early part of the 2015 indoor season.
The Americans were heavy favorites for the world championships, but underperformed. Harrison took a false start in the semi-finals and was disqualified.
Her time ranks 10th in the world.
In 2015 she won championship titles both indoors and outdoors and placed second in the 100 m hurdles at the United States championships. She soon became a leading scholastic hurdler, winning state championship titles at the 2010 and 2011 North Carolina Class 4A state meets. In 2011 she also won the 100 m hurdles at the New Balance Nationals and was named Gatorade North Carolina Girls Track & Field Athlete of the Year. After graduating from Clayton High in 2011 Harrison went to Clemson University. As a freshman in 2012 she was Atlantic Coast Conference champion in the 400 m hurdles and the 4 × 400 m relay and qualified for the championships in both hurdles races. She continued to develop, winning both the 100 m hurdles (1286) and the 400 m hurdles (5476) at the 2014 Southeastern Conference (Securities and Exchange Commission) championships. She was the first athlete to win both events since 1999. She returned in time to win the 60 m hurdles at the Securities and Exchange Commission and indoor championships, setting personal bests in both meets. Her time in the meet (787 seconds) ranked her fourth in the world that indoor season. Harrison also won her first outdoor title in 2015, winning the 100 m hurdles in 12.55. In the 400 m hurdles she placed second to Little in a personal best 54.09, at that point the second-fastest in the world that year. At the 2015 United States championships, which doubled as trials for the World Championships in Beijing, Harrison decided to concentrate on the 100 m hurdles only. She set a personal all-conditions best of 12.46w in the heats and ran 12.56 (-01) in the final, placing a close second to 2008 Olympic Champion Dawn Harper-Nelson and qualifying for the American team Keni opened her 2016 indoor season winning the 60 metres hurdles in Lexington, Kentucky, Karlsruhe, Germany and Glasgow in 7.92 - watch her races McCravy Memorial Final 60 m hurdles 2016 Glasgow Grand Prix Karlsruhe Germany.
