While the eyes of the world were on Gabby Thomas and Sha’Carri Richardson on Sunday, North Carolina A&T alumna Kayla White ran her personal best and earned a spot in the World Championships.
White finished third in the 200m finals at the 2023 United States Track and Field Championships, running a 22.01 to finish third behind Thomas and Richardson. Thomas ran a world-leading and meet record 21.60 while Richardson, who won the 100m earlier in the weekend, ran 21.94 to finish second.
It’s been a long-time coming for Kayla White.
The Miami, Florida product nearly attended Alabama A&M, but her scholarship fell through and she landed in the lap of Duane Ross Sr. at North Carolina A&T. White was a breakthrough star at A&T where she became the first national champion in school history in 2019, winning the 200m at the NCAA Indoor Track Championships in Birmingham, Ala. Her time of 22.66 seconds was the fastest in the world when she ran it in March of that year. That came on the heels of her finishing second in the 60m hurdles.
Since completeing her collegiate career in 2019, White has been on a quest to prove she’s amongst the best sprinters in the country and the world. She didn’t qualify for the most recent Olympics in either event, but she’s come back as strong as ever in 2023. She got off to a fast start in April when she beat Sha’Carri Richardson at the inaugural Botswana Grand Prix with a time of 22.38 seconds.
White made it to the semifinals of the 100m in Eugene over the weekend, but wasn’t able to get into the finals in that event. Sunday night, however, she went into the fastest race of the year and came out with a spot on the World Championships.
The World Championships will take place in Budapest, Hungary from August 19-27, 2023.