Meet Brittany Brown, USA sprinter who could shake up the women’s 200m competition at Paris 2024
“It feels amazing, phenomenal, sensational, delectable, appetizing” is one way to describe the feeling of qualifying for the Olympic Games*, but it perfectly epitomises Brittany Brown of the USA.
The California-born sprinter produced a stunning performance at the 2024 U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Track and Field on Saturday (29 June), finishing second in the women’s 200m final with a personal best of 21.90.
Gabby Thomas was victorious with a time of 21.81, while Brown pipped McKenzie Long to second spot by just one thousandth of a second in an enthralling final.
*As National Olympic Committees have the exclusive authority for the representation of their respective countries at the Olympic Games, athletes' participation at the Paris Games depends on their NOC selecting them to represent their delegation at Paris 2024.
Brown has a 2019 World Championships silver medal to her name, while she also recently won the women’s 200m final at the 2024 World Athletics Diamond League in Norway.
As she looks set to make her Olympic debut at Paris 2024, get to know American sprinter Brittany Brown.
Brittany Brown’s unconventional route
Brown, by her own admission, has been on a unique path compared to other American track and field athletes.
“I never won a track state title, I didn’t go to a ‘big track school’, I never won a NCAA title, [I] wasn’t signed right out of college to a shoe company, but I just woke up an Olympian!!” she said after the trials on X (formerly Twitter).
She graduated from the University of Iowa with a degree in Human Services, where she ran the 100m and 200m for her college team, the Iowa Hawkeyes.
Her battle with endometriosis
2024 has been an important year for Brown on and off the track, as this was the year that she publicly spoke about her endometriosis diagnosis for the first time.
Endometriosis is a disease which sees the growth of tissue outside the uterus, causing inflammation and scar tissue inside the body.
On her diagnosis, Brown explained in an interview with August. Period., “I do try to stay away from inflammatory foods and high stress situations even though my job is a high stress situation. I don’t really have time to get a surgery, so it’s really just homeopathic ways of figuring out. I’m doing really good right now.”
Brittany Brown: Paris bound
Qualifying for Paris 2024 is just the latest feat in a remarkable upwards trajectory for Brown. Her 200m victory at the Diamond League in Oslo back in May 2024 was just a sign of what was to come, winning in a competitive field and from Lane 8.
The women’s 200m final at the US Olympic Trials marked her best ever run, once again from the outside lane, with what was her second-ever sub-22 second finish and a first in two years.
Now, Brown is preparing to represent Team USA at her first Games in Paris, bringing in new competition and a breath of fresh air in the women’s 200m competition.
The women’s 200m final at Paris 2024 will take place on 6 August 2024 at the Stade de France, scheduled as the final showpiece event of the day in the athletics competition.