2024 USATF Indoor Championships – the stage was in 60m hurdles, and this 23-year-old track and field athlete had taken her mark on the track. The woman ran when the cue to run crackled the silence, making the finish line in 7.67 seconds the fastest 60m woman hurdler, pushing Susanna Kallur to number two. This was in the heats; in the finals, she equaled Kallur’s 7.68 for the win. But at the end of the final, Jones collided with the crash pads and tumbled down the embankment. Result? An anterior cruciate ligament injury. She had torn her ACL. Now, slowly and steadily, she made her comeback. Win in Texas Relays in March 2025. Win in Grand Slam Track in April 2025. And now she is here for the Atlanta Games. But before the game begins on May 17th, she has confessed that much may not like.

Tia Jones was born on September 8, 2000, in Pflugerville, Texas. However, she considers Marietta, Georgia, her hometown – a suburb located near Atlanta. So when she steps back in Piedmont Park for the 2025 Adidas Atlanta City Games, the interviewer couldn’t help but ask her if she had a home advantage. Her answer? No. She confessed to feeling good about her 12.19 seconds in Grand Slam Track. “I feel confident. We got a good marker. We went back to training. We worked on some things to potentially improve it and clean some things up because I have a lot more things to work on. So yeah, I feel good coming to this race,” She said. 

The interview posted on Citius Mag‘s YouTube channel saw an interviewer question her about whether she had been on a training block over the past couple of weeks, citing her dropping time. 12.63 in Kingston GST, 12.49 in Texas Invitational, and 12.19 in Miami GST, all 100 mH. That is when she confessed that, “I would like to say, I just, my coach is this type of coach that likes to break things down. So I do a lot more film study than I have before. I’m learning more about my body. I’m getting older.”

Tia Jones is currently coached by Tonja Buford-Bailey, a former Olympic bronze medalist in the 400m hurdles. In track and field, film study—also known as video analysis—is a crucial tool for athletes and coaches aiming to enhance performance. And for Jones, she has been able to break down her hurdles with this technique and better understand where she is lacking. “So I feel like we just really just reached a different barrier for me to understanding track and field itself and hurdles,” she said. 

She also claimed that the drop in her timings is inevitable once she puts what she learned from this onto the track. “Because, as you know, last year when I ran indoors, we were getting it together and broke the world record, but unfortunately I failed and tore my ACL. So I wasn’t able to complete my season. So we’re just carrying on what we were trying to do last year,” she concluded.

A lot unfolded at once in the 2024 USATF Indoor Championships for the track and field athlete. But well, she is coming back stronger, sending powerful messages. Her historic run at the Grand Slam Track is an example.

Tia Jones’ historic run in the Grand Slam Track

At the inaugural Grand Slam Track meet in Kingston, Jamaica, in April 2025, Tia Jones made a powerful statement. On April 5, she dominated the 100m hurdles final, clocking a world-leading 12.63 seconds, edging out Olympic gold medalist Danielle Williams and 2020 Tokyo bronze medalist Jasmine Camacho-Quinn, both finishing in 12.70 seconds.

The following day, the track and field athlete returned to the track for the 100m dash. Despite a challenging -3.4 m/s headwind, she posted a time of 12.26 seconds, finishing sixth in the race. These were only warning shots. The 100-meter hurdles in the Miami Grand Slam Track have been marked by Masai Russell’s storming to an American Record of 12.17 s (2.0).

But Tia Jones was not far away from another track and field record being created that day. When Russell crossed the finish line, the commentator’s exact words were, “That’s perhaps Russell just getting it.” That’s how close Jones was to victory. But finishing second also made sure a record came to her name. The commenter’s words before the race that “don’t forget Jones over lane 1” turned out to be right.

Jones clocked a personal best of 12.19 seconds, finishing second just 0.02 seconds behind Russell’s 12.17. This time made Jones the third-fastest woman ever, with Russell now second worldwide behind Tobi Amusan’s 12.12 seconds. Who do you think will break that record next?