Felisha Johnson


Felisha Nayomie Johnson is an American track and field athlete who specialises in the shot put. She was the 2015 national indoor champion in the weight throw. She won two NCAA collegiate titles in that event for the Indiana State Sycamores.

Early life and college

Born in Indianapolis, Indiana to Ronald and Loesker Johnson, she attended Lawrence North High School and joined the school's track and field team. Johnson broke the school record for the shot put and the discus and was a high school state champion. She gained a scholarship to study sports management at Indiana State University. She redshirted her first academic year and only began competing athletically for the Indiana State Sycamores from 2010 onwards.
In her first year for the Sycamores she was a Missouri Valley Conference finalist but did not reach the NCAA level. She broke through in the 2011 season, winning the weight throw at the 2011 NCAA Women's Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships with a personal best of. She competed at the NCAA Outdoor Championships that season in both shot put and hammer throw. She did not achieve the same success in 2012: she was third at the MVC Indoor Championships in both shot and weight throw, then did not defend her NCAA title, coming fourth in the weight throw. Outdoors she took third places in shot put and discus throw at the MVC Championships and was fifth in the shot and 22nd in discus at the NCAA Outdoors. She competed at the 2012 United States Olympic Trials and though she did not make the final, she came 13th overall in shot put.
Johnson's final year at Indiana State was her most successful. She won the weight throw at the NCAA Indoor Championships for a second time with a new best of – this moved her up to tenth on the all-time lists. Johnson's title win came ten years after her coach, Erin Gilreath, had won the same title. She was also eighth in shot put at the NCAA Indoor Championships and came fourth in the weight throw at the 2013 USA Indoor Track and Field Championships, her best senior national placing at that point. She also won her first MVC Indoor title in the weight throw and was the shot put runner-up. A school record of in the shot put came at the Indiana Relays. She improved the outdoor shot put school record with a throw of in May. At the MVC Outdoors she won both shot put and discus events, as well as taking fourth in the hammer. In her final collegiate nationals, she was third in shot put and 23rd in the hammer at the 2013 NCAA Outdoor Championships. Her last appearances as a college athlete came at the 2013 Summer Universiade, where on her international debut for the United States she placed seventh in the shot put.

Professional

Leaving college, she began competing in the shot put as a professional athlete. At the 2013 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships she placed fifth. In the 2014 season she signed a contract with Nike, Inc. and placed herself among the world's top shot putters. She came third at the 2014 USA Indoor Track and Field Championships behind Michelle Carter and Jeneva Stevens, then improved to second place to Carter at the 2014 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, setting a new personal record of in the process. She placed seventh on the global lists that year, and was the second best American behind Carter.
Johnson achieved her first national title at the 2015 USA Indoor Track and Field Championships, edging Jeneva Stevens in the weight throw by two centimetres through a personal record of. She competed on the international Diamond League circuit for the first time and set her season's best mark of in Beijing, where she was third. She dropped down the order at the USA Outdoor Championships, however, managing only sixth and failing to make the national selection.
She returned to top form in the 2016 season. A personal record of in the weight throw at the 2016 USA Indoor Track and Field Championships brought her only third behind Gwen Berry and Amber Campbell in a high quality competition. In the outdoor season she threw a shot put best of then came close to that mark to place third at the 2016 United States Olympic Trials, earning her first place on an American Olympic team.

Personal records

All information from All Athletics

International competitions

National titles