Natasha Hastings
Natasha Monique Hastings (born July 23, 1986) is an American sprint athlete of Jamaican and Trinidadian descent.[1]
Career
Hastings began her track career at a very early age and made a first place win at the USATF Junior Olympics in the 400 metres in the Youth Girls division.[1] She attended A. Philip Randolph Campus High School in Harlem, New York,[2] where she was able to take her track and field interest to a more competitive level.
Hastings attended the University of South Carolina to work under Curtis Frye.[3] There, Hastings started to become known as "the 400M Diva” after accidentally describing the ladies track team as the "Gamecock Divas" in honor of the school's mascot,[4] the Gamecock. After coming back from a key injury, 2007 was considered Hastings' breakout year. Hastings went home to New York for the New Balance Collegiate Invitational and won the 400 m race in 51.70, a personal record at the time, and anchored the 4 × 400 m to a win with the fastest collegiate time for the year. Also in 2007, she won the SEC Championships by running a 50.84. Hastings went on to win the NCAA Championship title and her time in the 400 m at 50.15 was the second fastest time ever on the collegiate level and she had successfully competed undefeated all season becoming the Indoor and Outdoor 400 m champion.[5]
In 2008 at the age of 22, Hastings made the USA Olympic Track and Field Team.[6] She won an Olympic Gold Medal in the Women’s 4 × 400 m relay team by running a 49.97 split in heat two at the 2008 Summer Olympics, where the United States won their heat in 3:22.45 with the team of Mary Wineberg, Monique Henderson,Hastings, and Sanya Richards-Ross. Hastings was replaced in the final by Allyson Felix as the U.S. won gold in 3:18.54. Athletes who run in the heats for medal-winning teams are awarded a medal.
In 2013, Hastings made the USA World Moscow Track and Field Team. She won the USATF 400 meters outdoor title in 49.94 on 22 June 2013.[7]
Natasha Hastings made the US Olympic team for Rio 2016 after coming in third in the US trials with a time of 50.17 for the 400M
She is the cousin of Trinidadian and Tobagonian former footballer Shaka Hislop.[8]
At the 2016 Great North City Games in the UK, Hastings ran a personal best 16.67 150m straight track race, finishing second.[9]
References
- 1 2 "TrackMom.com". Retrieved 14 June 2010.
- ↑ "USATF".
- ↑ http://gamecocksonline.cstv.com/sports/c-track/mtt/hastings_natasha00.html. Extracted 24 August 2009.
- ↑ "The State Newspaper". Retrieved 2 May 2011.
- ↑ "Player Bio-USATF". 2003-2010.
- ↑ "2008 NBC Olympics".
- ↑ http://www.usatf.org/events/2013/USAOutdoorTFChampionships/results/track.aspx?EN=6&RN=3
- ↑ "World Championships: Christine Ohuruogu turns on the afterburners to rocket into final". The Independent. 11 August 2013.
- ↑ Women's 150m Great North City Games 2016
External links
- Natasha Hastings profile at IAAF