Anna Cockrell

Anna Cockrell (born August 28, 1997) is an American track and field athlete competing in sprinting and hurdling. She is a two-time medalist at the 2019 Pan American Games in Lima, Peru and won the silver medal at the 2024 Summer Olympics in 400 m hurdles event.

Early life Cockrell was born on August 28, 1997, in San Ramon, California to Serena and Kieth Cockrell as the youngest of three children. The family later moved to Charlotte from Detroit, where all three Cockrell children attended Charlotte Latin School. She comes from a family of athletes: her father played football at Columbia University, her older brother, Ross, is a cornerback who won a Super Bowl with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and her older sister, Ciera, played volleyball at Davidson College. She also won the gold medal in the women's 4 × 400 metres relay event.

Career 2017–2021: USC Trojans In June 2019, Cockrell became the NCAA champion at the year's NCAA championships for the women's 400-meter hurdle event with a time of 55.23 after being a runner-up in each of the two years prior. In August 2019, she won the silver medal in the women's 400 metres hurdles event and the gold medal in the women's 4 × 400 metres relay event at the 2019 Pan American Games held in Lima, Peru. before helping to lead her school to a third consecutive conference team title at the 2021 Pac-12 championships by winning the women's 100-meter and 400-meter hurdles events. The following month, after the cancellation of the prior year's competition due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Cockrell became the 2021 NCAA champion for the women's 100-meter hurdles and 400-meter hurdles events to help drive her school to win the team title at the 2021 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships. She ran the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 12.58 and the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 54.68 and became the second woman in history to win both events in the same season at the NCAA championships. Her achievements led her to receive the 2021 Honda Sports Award for track and field and the Pac-12's Tom Hansen Conference Medal for the year.

At the Olympics, Cockrell qualified for the semifinals after coming in third in her heat race with a time of 55.37. She later finished in second place with a time of 54.17 in the semifinals, landing her a spot in the final.

2022-2023: 2023 World Championships In 2022, Cockrell ran 53.98 to finish fourth in the 400 m hurdles at the US Championships, not qualifying for the 2022 World Athletics Championships.

The following year, she finished third at the 2023 US Championships in 54.24. At the World Championships in Budapest, Cockrell finished fifth in the 400 m hurdles, running a new personal best of 53.34.

2024: Olympic silver medal and fourth all-time At the US Olympic Trials, Cockrell finished second in the 400 m hurdles behind Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone. She ran a major personal best of 52.64 s, marking her first time under the 53-second barrier. She competed at the 2024 Olympics in Paris, where she won a silver medal in the women’s 400-metre hurdles. She came second to McLaughlin-Levrone, with a personal best time of 51.87 s, which put her fourth on the all-time top list. On 30 August, she picked up her first career Diamond League at the Golden Gala in Rome, running 52.59 s to beat Shiann Salmon into second.

2025-2026: U.S. Champion Cockrell on her way to winning at the 2026 Weltklasse Zürich. On 22 August 2025, Cockrell won at the Memorial van Damme in Brussels, running 53.66 s to beat Gianna Woodruff. At the 2025 World Championships, she finished fourth in the 400 m hurdles, losing out on a medal to Emma Zapletalová by 0.13 s.

The following year, she won over 300 m hurdles at the Arkansas Twilight meet in Fayetteville on 8 May, running an area best of 37.40, to go second all-time behind Femke Broeders-Bol's 36.86 s. On 4 June, she placed second at the Rome Diamond League behind Zapletalova, running a season's best of 52.77 s. At the US Championships, Cockrell won over 400 m hurdles in a time of 52.94 s, winning her first national title. On 27 August, she won at the Zurich Diamond League, running a world lead and meeting record of 52.13 s, finishing over a second faster than second-placed Dalilah Muhammad (53.16) and setting her fastest time since her Olympic silver two years prior.

Circuit performances

Personal life Cockrell has been an outspoken advocate for the mental health of student-athletes after suffering a hamstring injury on the first day of the 2019 NCAA Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships in which she blamed herself for her school's loss in the team competition. After exhibiting severe symptoms of depression and suicidal tendencies, she eventually sought assistance from her friends, her head coach, and a sports psychologist, all of whom she thanked in her student-athlete graduation speech at USC that later went viral.