All Hogs

Razorback Sets National Record, Cruises into Olympic Final

Just one of four athletes representing her country, former Hog has a shot at first medal in country's history

Daniel Shi

Shafiqua Maloney of Arkansas and Amber Tanner of Georgia lead the women's 800m during the NCAA Track and Field Championships at Hayward Field.
Shafiqua Maloney of Arkansas and Amber Tanner of Georgia lead the women's 800m during the NCAA Track and Field Championships at Hayward Field. / Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
In this story:

PARIS — Being an Olympian is special, but making history for your country in the Caribbean of just over 100,000 people is unique. Former Arkansas Razorback Shafiqua Maloney, representing St. Vincent and the Grenadines, ran a national record of 1:57.59 to make the finals of the women's 800 meters.

It's the first time anyone from her country has qualified for an Olympic final since the International Olympic Committee recognized St. Vincent and the Grenadines for the first time at the Seoul Games in 1988.

St. Vincent and the Grenadines have just four members at this year's Olympics and the country has never won a medal at either the Summer or Winter Games. Maloney finished second in her heat to take one of the two automatic qualifier spots into the final. She will enter the final as the fourth fastest qualifier out of the three semifinal heats.

Maloney has already improved on her showing at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, where she did not make it out of the preliminaries in the 800 meters with a time of 2:07.89.

The road to Paris has been anything but linear. Maloney revealed in February in an interview to SportsMax TV
that she was struggling financially, an issue that is suprisingly common for Olympic-Level athletes from smaller federations.

"I'm unsponsored so I don't have any support," Maloney said. "I can't work legally. I don't have any income. Trying to figure out where your next food is going to come from. If I get some money from somebody, do I pay bills? Do I buy supplements? Do I get some groceries or do I go get me a massage and go see the chiropractor?"

Maloney opened about about her journey to reporters in Paris after making it to the Olympic final.

"“I’ve been homeless [and] not having food to eat and all this stuff," Maloney said. "God carried me through all of that and when I got here I had to believe that he didn’t bring me this far just to leave me and that he would carry me straight through. I made the final. I came in ranked like 27th and now I’m in the top eight going to the final."

Maloney will try to win the first ever medal for her country 2:47 p.m. Monday. The race will be broadcast on NBC and streamed live on Peacock.

HOGS FEED:

• Even when taking break, Calipari getting players signed for Hogs

• Interesting watching Petrino's subtle ways coaching quarterbacks

• Razorback legend makes cameo at latest Hogs' commitment anouncement

• Subscribe and follow us on YouTube
• Follow allHOGS on X and Facebook

Published
Daniel Shi

DANIEL SHI

Home/Hogs News