Lashinda Demus is an Americanhurdler who specializes in the 400 meter hurdles, an event in which she was the 2011 world champion and 2012 Olympic silver medalist. Her personal best time over 400m hurdles is 52.47 seconds in Daegu, South Korea on September 1, 2011, which is currently the women's 4th fastest time ever. At the time it was the American record in 400m hurdles. She is an alumna of Long Beach Wilson High School where she ran and until 2017 held the national high school record for the 300 hurdles,. She ran on the 4x400 relay team that set the national record in 1998, ran the second fastest time in history in 1999, and then broke its own national record in 2001. She also competed in the 100 meter hurdles, winning the CIF California State Meet in 2001, on the 4x100 relay team, champions in 2001, as well as many of the sprint medley teams. In 1999 and again in 2001 she was named the national Girl's "High School Athlete of the Year" by Track and Field News. She is the only person to be so honored twice, non-consecutively. After High School, Lashinda attended the University of South Carolina to work under Curtis Frye. Her top times in college were as follows: 55m H: 7.80; 60m H: 8.32; 100m H: 13.35; 400m H: 54.70; 400m: 51.38; 800m: 2:13.77. While at South Carolina, Demus won the world Junior Championship in 2002, the NCAA Indoor Championship at 400 metres in 2004, the first of three National Championships and a silver medal in the 2005 World Championships. Demus also was a member of the school's first NCAA team national championship when the women's track and field team won the 2002 NCAA outdoor national championship. Demus qualified for the American team at the 2004 Olympics. In the semi-final, she ran exactly the same time as her teammate Sheena Johnson and.7 seconds faster than Brenda Taylor who qualified in the first semi, but Demus had the misfortune to run in the much faster second semi. Her fifth place did not advance her to the final. Leaving behind the memory of failure to qualify for the 2008 Summer Olympics, she won the 2009 US Championships in the 400 m hurdles, with a world-leading 53.78 seconds, gaining herself a place at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics. She improved upon this with a time of 52.63 seconds at the Herculis meeting in July. This was a meeting record and was then the fourth fastest time ever for the event. With that time she was the favorite to win the World Championships but faltered over the last two hurdles as she was passed by Olympic Gold MedalistMelaine Walker of Jamaica who was en route to the #2 time in history, leaving Demus to take home a second silver medal. However, Demus got her revenge at the 2011 World Championships in Athletics in Daegu, South Korea, when she won the gold medal in 52.47, a new American Record and the third fastest time in history. She beat reigning Olympic Champion and defending World Champion Melaine Walker, who finished second. Heavy favorite Kaliese Spencer who had set the fastest time in 2011, could only finish fourth behind Demus, Walker and 2010 European Champion and former Olympic 400m bronze medalistNatalya Antyukh. At the 2012 Summer Olympics, she won the silver medal in the women's 400 m hurdles.
