Lauren Hoffman, refreshed by the warm and sunny weather, once again toppled a Philippine national record with training partner Angel Frank, this time at the Duke Invitational Athletics meet on Saturday (Sunday in Manila) in Durham, North Carolina.
The 25-year-old Hoffman, who now seeks to claim the national marks, sprinted to a silver-medal finish in the women’s 100-meter hurdles, finishing behind Duke University bet Skyla Wilson in 13.41 seconds.
“It was good! Weather was warm and sunny which was nice, I had 3 events today which is more than I’m used to. But had a lot of fun. And I had some good takeaways,” said Hoffman in an interview with the Manila Standard.
Hoffman, who also won a gold medal in the 400-meter hurdles, fought off a slight headwind of 0.8 meter/second that barely slowed her down, allowing her to blow away the 17-year-old national mark of Sheena Atilano.
Atilano used to own the Philippine mark with a time of 13.65 seconds, established in the 2007 Asian Grand Prix in India.
Wilson, who has the same college alma mater with Hoffman, claimed the gold medal in 13.36 seconds, while Sydni McMillan, an East Carolina campaigner, got the bronze in 13.69 seconds.
In the women’s 400-meter hurdles, Hoffman snatched the gold medal in 56 seconds, ahead of Riley Knebes (57.93) and Wilson (59.52).
So far, Hoffman has smashed three Philippine marks, ripping the women’s 400-meter hurdles’ time last March and the indoor women’s 400-meter clocking twice last February.
Last March, the 5’6” Hoffman earned the gold medal in record-breaking fashion in the women’s 400-meter hurdles of the annual Hurricane Collegiate Invitational at Cobb Stadium where she ran in 56.39 seconds
Hoffman went below the record done by Robyn Brown in the 2022 Southeast Asian Games in 56.44 seconds for the bronze medal.
Last January, Hoffman beat Kayla Richardson’s six-year-old national clocking of 54.94 seconds in the 2024 Bob Pollock Invitational indoor athletics meet in Clemson, South Carolina at 53.91 seconds.
In February, Hoffman had a better clocking when she ran in 53.71 seconds for second place in the heats at the Clemson Paw Invitationals at the Clemson Indoor Track & Field Complex in South Carolina.
Meanwhile, Frank, a two-time Athlete of the Year winner at University of South Carolina, smothered the Philippine women’s 400-meter mark when she finished at seventh place.
The 23-year-Frank ran in 53.72 seconds, shattering the record that Richardson also used to own.
Richardson clocked 53.81 seconds to win the silver in the Mt. San Antonio College Relays in Walnut, California back in 2017.
Frank lated landed fifth in the women’s 200-meter sprints at 23.69 seconds, with Halle Bieber taking the gold (23.46), Taylor Smith settling for the silver (23.55) and Mia Edima bagging the bronze (23.66).
