Lauren Hoffman: Record-breaking female hurdler of Team Philippines

LAUREN HOFFMAN, a 25-year-old athletic hurdler for Team Philippines has finally qualified for the Paris Olympics 2024 as announced last July 3, 2024, by PATAFA and PSC, and as confirmed by World Athletics.

It was reported by One Sports PH that Hoffman finished at the 39^th spot on the world ranking for women’s 400m hurdles, making her a part of the top 40 rankings that will run for the Olympics. 

Currently, Hoffman is on the 41^st ranking in women’s 400m hurdles, as disclosed on the official World Athletic Organization site. Nevertheless, on the deadline for the qualifications, Hoffman reached the required ranking. 

But before making it into the Olympics, Hoffman has undergone an incredible journey that made her more than eligible to join the prestigious sports event. 

In a YouTube video entitled “48 Hours in Miami: Lauren Hoffman” by Brandon Barry, Hoffman shared how she started from a running club in elementary school and continued to train for track in middle school until she was in college at Duke University. 

When she made it to the podium for the regionals in her sophomore year of college, she decided that she wanted to compete both professionally and internationally to represent the country her mother and grandmother were from: Team Philippines. 

Hoffman told Spin PH that her mom and Lola were strong, resilient Filipino women, which further convinced her to compete for the country. 

She first competed for Team Philippines for the Asian Games in October 2023 and finished fifth place in the 4×400 meters relay and 400 meters hurdles. 

Playing for Team Philippines

Before playing for the country, Hoffman was a two-time USA championship finalist finishing at seventh and sixth place consecutively. She knew her capabilities and knew that she could give the country and her family something to be proud of. 

Considering that her role models were her mom and Lola, she made sure that her preparations were more intact as she wanted them to be proud of her. 

She mentioned in the video by Brandon Berry that she would do affirmations such as: “I’m fit and ready. I’m confident and ready to be here.” 

She also goes through visualizations wherein she explains that she would mentally go through each hurdle, step, cue, and what she wanted to do throughout the race.

In the video, Brandon Berry followed Hoffman to her match in Miami, her 2024 season opener, where she broke the national record with a time of 56.39 seconds. 

Road to Olympics

According to Inquirer, in the Duke Invitational in Durham, North Carolina in April, Hoffman broke the national record in the women’s 100m hurdles with 13.41 seconds. 

She also broke the Philippine national record for 400m hurdles with 55.72 seconds which made her finish the Drake Relays with a silver medal—this also prompted her to move no. 29 in the World Athletics Olympic Qualifying ratings. 

In May, Philstar reported that ICTSCI spearheaded the Philippine Athletics Championships which staked Olympic ranking points from World Athletics for athletes to reach the top 40 ranking that will be the qualification for Paris Olympics 2024. 

Hoffman then won a gold medal on both 400m and 100m hurdles, clocking at 55.92 seconds breaching the national mark of 56.39 seconds that she got in the Asian games but not her 55.72 from the Drake relays. Nevertheless, this helped her hook up on the rankings for qualifications. 

As mentioned, on July 3, 2024, Hoffman was confirmed to join the Olympics. Inquirer reported that Hoffman plans on beating the local record of 56.44 seconds for her to continue to the semi-finals. 

She will race in the qualifying heats on August 4, 2024, at Stade de France and if she wins, she’ll run in the semi-finals on August 6, 2024. 

Considering Hoffman’s back-to-back breaking of national records, will she continue to reach greater heights for Team Philippines on her first time running in the Olympics or will she hurdle past the finish line this season?

With reports from Ashley Kristieanne Ignacio