Shamier Little
American hurdler (born 1995)
Shamier Little (/ʃəˈmɪər/ shə-MEER; born March 20, 1995) is an American track and field sprinter specializing in the 400 metres hurdles. As a 20-year-old college sophomore at Texas A&M University, Little was the 2015 US champion. She then went on to win the silver medal in her signature event at the 2015 and 2023 World Championships. In July 2021, she became the fifth fastest woman of all time at the event.
01Early life
Born in Louisville, Kentucky, Little is the child of athletic parents, her father a football cornerback and her mother a star basketball player and high jumper at Eastern Kentucky University. Shamier began participating in youth track and field as an 8 year old. She made her first appearance at the national level at the 2004 USATF Youth Championships as a 100 meter sprinter running for the University of Chicago Youth Track Club. She regularly participated in all comers track meets. Later Little ran for the Country Club Hills Gazelles both in USATF and AAU competitions. None of her early youth competitions could be labeled exceptional.
At Robert Lindblom Math & Science Academy in Chicago, Little got more serious setting the IHSA Class 2A records in 100 meters hurdles, 200 meters and 400 meters. She won the 2011 AAU Junior Olympics at 400 hurdles. In 2012, she won the Arcadia Invitational in the 400 meters, which she repeated in 2013. She won the Junior National Championships in 400 hurdles, which qualified her for the 2012 World Junior Championships in Athletics, but she did not finish the final, falling over the last hurdle while in medal contention. In 2013, Little tried 100 meters hurdles and 400 at the National Championships, finishing off the podium in both.
02Career
After high school, Little chose to go to Texas A&M University. As a freshman, she won the NCAA Championships at 400 hurdles and helped her team get second place in the 4 × 400 meters relay. Later that summer, she won the 2014 World Junior Championships in the 400 hurdles.
In 2015, before winning the overall national championship, she repeated as NCAA Champion, running the #1 time worldwide to that point in the season. The National Championship offered Little an invitation to run in the 2015 Pan American Games, where she took the gold medal.
In 2016, Little won a third consecutive NCAA 400 m hurdles champion title.
In October 2024, it was announced that she had signed up for the inaugural season of the Michael Johnson founded Grand Slam Track.
03Achievements
All information taken from World Athletics profile.
Personal bests
| Event | Time (m:)s | Wind | Venue | Date | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 200 meters | 23.02 | +1.5 m/s | Baton Rouge, LA, United States | 29 April 2023 | |
| 400 meters | 49.68 | , N/a | Monaco | 21 July 2023 | |
| 400 meters indoor | 50.57 | , N/a | Fayetteville, AR, United States | 21 February 2021 | |
| 600 meters indoor | 1:24.65 | , N/a | Fayetteville, AR, United States | 13 January 2023 | 8th woman all time |
| 100 meters hurdles | 13.77 | +0.4 m/s | Baton Rouge, LA, United States | 3 May 2014 | |
| 400 meters hurdles | 52.39 | , N/a | Stockholm, Sweden | 4 July 2021 | 5th woman all time |
International competitions
Circuit performances
| Grand Slam Track results | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Slam | Race group | Event | Pl. | Time | Prize money |
| 2025 Miami Slam | Long hurdles | 400 m hurdles | 8th | 57.55 | US$20,000 |
| 400 m | 4th | 51.84 | |||
| 2025 Philadelphia Slam | Long hurdles | 400 m hurdles | DNF | ||
| 400 m | DNS | ||||
Circuit wins
- Diamond League meetings
- 400 metres hurdles wins, other events specified in parentheses
National and NCAA titles
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Shamier Little”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Littecropped.jpg by Erik van Leeuwen, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Shamier Little London 2017.jpg by Erik van Leeuwen, attribution: Erik van Leeuwen (bron: Wikipedia)., GFDL
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