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Former Texas Tech hurdler, U.S. champion Alaysha Johnson hitting her stride | Williams
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- Former Texas Tech hurdler, U.S. champion Alaysha Johnson hitting her stride | Williams
As she swung back through Lubbock a couple of weekends ago to compete in Texas Tech track and field's Corky Classic , Alaysha Johnson told us she has a new partnership with Oakley. She'll soon be running in shades.
"That was something that we've been in the works for since I opened up in Doha last season," Johnson said, "so it's been in the works for a very long time, and finally being able to see that come to fruition is really exciting. I'm definitely going to be only the female hurdler in the glasses."
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She's also had an endorsement agreement in the past year with Savage X Fenty by Rihanna, a lingerie, loungewear and sleepwear brand.
People who have followed Johnson's career know those developments notable, given that she's expressed frustration in recent years about not attracting sponsorship for much of her post-college career despite her successes — she's sixth in this week's World Athletics ranking of women's sprint hurdlers — and bubbly personality.
Johnson, a former Texas high-school standout at Spring, was a seven-time all-American at Oregon before she transferred to run her final college season at Texas Tech in 2019. She finished up a master's degree in sports management at Tech. Now she's 27 and trains in Frisco at the Sports Academy at The Star.
More: Former Tech hurdler wins U.S. title
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More: Former Tech hurdler makes Team USA for World Championships
She's had an eventful past couple of years. In 2022, Johnson took second at the U.S. championships in the 60-meter hurdles indoor and the 100-meter hurdles outdoor, losing the latter in a photo finish with then-world record holder Keni Harrison, who ran a time of 12.34 seconds. Johnson's 12.35 — into negative wind of 1.3 meters per second, no less — is tied for 14th all-time.
Then came disappointment at the 2022 World Championships in Eugene, Oregon. Johnson went in looking like a potential medalist, got off to a bad start in the first round of the 100-meter hurdles, crashed into a hurdle and was done. Last February, she won the U.S. championship indoors in the 60-meter hurdles.
How has Johnson handled the highs and lows?
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"I think a lot of the things I've experienced that other people call lows are lessons for me," she said. "Just understanding why I'm here has really changed the experience of what I value and what I would call a loss. Most people would think that the loss at World Championships would be considered a loss. To me, in my mind, it was a very big lesson. ...
"For me, it's been really just standing on my word and just enjoying it. Being able to travel. Being able to excite a bunch of people and have so many people drawn into one thing that they feel like they can support and stand behind. That's what's important."
Johnson's first U.S. title came last year in Albuquerque. Even better to her, though, was how she ran in Europe.
"I wasn't as excited (about the U.S. championship)," she said, "because to me the indoor tour overseas is way more competitive. The wins that I got over there, being in that space and being by yourself overseas — different food, different sleep schedule, no coach (present) — that was a lot more tedious.
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"When I got back over here, I was just really excited to be able to execute and show people, 'Hey, I can do it on U.S. soil and off of U.S. soil.' That was important for me, and I think that it kind of trickled into my season and I had a lot of new experiences last season that were amazing, that I handled very well."
It's not as if Johnson ever really struggled on the track. But now she appears to be clicking in all facets. She went through the sponsorship drought and waited a couple of years after college to turn professional.
"When I ended up going professional, I was blessed to have a coach who could fund a lot of things," she said. "And then once the money came rolling in, I was able to fund a lot of things myself. Getting an agent and now him being able to negotiate travel fees and prize money and other fees with the actual meet directors is a big thing. So now I'm all profit. I'll be (profitable) before I even get to the meets now for every single meet."
And with the results Johnson's been putting up, she's in the small circle of elite women's hurdlers.
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"Being able to cultivate those types of fan bases in places where the fans are asking for you, that's what's important monetary-wise," she said. "I'm also in the tier system, so that gives me a little cushion there. But with the deals that I've been able to create outside of track and field — like Savage X Fenty, like Oakley — those are major deals that really help take care of everything."
Alaysha Johnson, pictured at a Texas Tech meet in January, has the third-fastest qualifying time in the 100-meter hurdles for this week's U.S. track and field Olympic Trials. Johnson, a Texas Tech graduate in 2019, was second in the 100 hurdles at the 2022 U.S. outdoor championships and first in the 60 hurdles at the 2023 U.S. indoor championships.
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: U.S. champion, Texas Tech grad Alaysha Johnson hitting stride | Williams
