UK star missed 2016 Olympics. Now she waits again. ‘You look on the brighter side.’
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UK star missed 2016 Olympics. Now she waits again. ‘You look on the brighter side.’
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Despite being one of the best track athletes on the planet, Keni Harrison understands disappointment.
After winning national championships in the 60- and 100-meter hurdles as a college senior in 2015, the former University of Kentucky star was expected to earn a spot on Team USA for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. But, shockingly, Harrison finished sixth in the 100 hurdles in the Olympic Trials and failed to qualify.
Mere weeks later, she rebounded from that setback by making history. Harrison broke the 18-year-old world record in the 100 hurdles by one one-hundredth of a second, winning the race at the London Muller Anniversary Games with a time of 12.20 seconds. That record still belongs to her.
Since then, while pursuing her professional career, Harrison has been working toward Olympic redemption. The 2020 Summer Games in Tokyo were supposed to provide the next chapter of her story; then struck the unexpected.
The outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic caused the postponement of the Tokyo Games until 2021. Having already waited four years for another shot at Olympic glory, Harrison has been forced to wait one more.
Harrison, known by her given name, “Kendra,” during her time at Kentucky, spoke with the Herald-Leader by phone recently from her home in Austin, Texas. She followed former UK track coach Edrick Floreal to the Lone Star State when he took over the Longhorns’ program two years ago. Floreal remains Harrison’s coach, and he helped ease the sting of the announcement that the Olympics had been postponed.
“We’d worked out really hard that morning, then on social media we had seen that it was for sure postponed. My coach had been saying that it was probably going to be postponed so it wasn’t a shock, it was more of he saw this coming, letting us know there’s a chance it could happen and to go ahead and prepare mentally for that,” Harrison said. “But, of course, when I heard the news it was just kind of like, ‘Really?’ It’s one of those moments where you’re just like ‘OK,’ and you go with it. At the end of the day it’s for the best, and it’s to keep us safe.”
Before COVID-19 threw things into disarray, Harrison ran in a few college meets to prepare for the Diamond League season. That series of 15 meets has been indefinitely postponed. Harrison is maintaining a positive attitude, even though she has had to move to a new training facility since Texas’ campus is shut down due to the pandemic.
“I’m holding up pretty well. My routine has kind of changed a little bit but for the most part I’m still training on a track and I still have a weight room to train in and my coaching staff is there with me. So we’re just getting in shape and thinking of things that need to be fixed,” Harrison said. “It’s something that you don’t really plan for. You just have to go in with a positive attitude. Right now I can work on things that I wasn’t able to work on when you’re in-season … You look on the brighter side.”
Keeping busy
Harrison credits the discipline she has learned through competition with helping her stay on track during uncertain times.
“I learned you need discipline to be the best. If you use shortcuts you’re not going to get the results you want, so you have to put the hard work in and do the small things,” she said. “That really sets you apart from other athletes. Discipline is especially important in my sport.”
Harrison is also finding plenty of ways to remain busy. When she’s not training her body, she’s honing her artistic and handywoman skills.
“I like to do arts and crafts, I got to do some house projects,” Harrison said. “I painted my bedroom wall, I re-did my flower bed.”
She also reupholstered her bedroom furniture, “Just to give a cool touch to it.”
Harrison gave her new city rave reviews.
“Austin’s pretty cool. It’s very young and very healthy, there’s so much to do outdoors,” she said.
Asked about her favorite experiences so far, Harrison mentioned, “Paddleboarding on the lake. Riding on a boat and seeing a lot of the mansions on the side of the lake, that’s probably been one of the most fun things I’ve done.”
So, how difficult is it to deal with the widespread shutdown of activity because of the pandemic in a city with so much to offer?
“It’s hard, but everyone is in the same boat,” Harrison said.
Harrison is also maintaining a semblance of a social life in part by training and hanging with a fellow Tokyo Olympics hopeful. Her neighbor is former Oregon standout Jenna Prandini, who won the national championship in long jump in 2014 and won USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships titles in the 200-meter run in 2015 and 2018. Prandini finished 10th in the 200 at the 2016 Rio Games.
“My training partner and friend is next door to me. So I hang with her and we train together,” Harrison said. “I still have her to hang with, so I’m not by myself.”
‘You want to see the reward’
While Harrison is maintaining a stoic attitude in the face of the disruptions caused by the pandemic, she’s eagerly awaiting the day she can get back to doing what she loves.
“I’m looking forward to competing. When you train for a long time you want to get out there and see where you’re at,” she said. “When you put the hard work in you want to see the reward.”
This story was originally published May 1, 2020 at 7:31 AM.
