USA Championships
Three-time USA Outdoor 400mH champion – 2005 (53.35); 2006 (53.07); 2011 (54.21);
2002 USA Junior champion (56.35)
International Championships
2011 World Outdoor gold medalist (52.47)
Two-time World Outdoor 400mH silver medalist – 2005 (53.27); 2009 (52.96)
2009 World Outdoor 4x400m gold medalist (3rd leg, 3:17.83)
2002 World Junior champion (54.70)
1999 Pan Am junior champion
Collegiate Championships
2002 NCAA Outdoor champion (54.85)
2003 NCAA Indoor 400m champion (51.79)
Awards and Honors
World Junior record holder (54.70)
2006 Outdoor Visa champion
About Lashinda
Demus has been a fixture among the nation’s top hurdlers for nearly a decade. Now at the peak of her career and a mother of five-year-old twins, she enjoys the support of her mother, who is her coach, and her husband, who serves as her agent. The world’s top-ranked 400m hurdler in 2006, the supremely talented and speedy Demus in 2008 attempted an unusual comeback from maternity, having given birth to twin boys in June 2007. At the 2008 Olympic Trials she went from first to fourth in the final stretch, not quite at full strength since giving birth. But 2012 finds her at the top of her game as the reigning world champion and American record holder. She won her second straight national title in 2006 in a then-personal best, world-leading time of 53.07, and also won the $100,000 first prize in the Visa Championship Series with her performance. Early in her career her time of 56.35 in winning the 2002 U.S. Junior title would've placed second at the 2002 USA Outdoor Championships behind winner Sandra Glover (ranked #3 in the world, #1 U.S.). Demus broke her own World Junior record by clocking 54.70 to win the 2002 World Junior Championships in Kingston, Jamaica. As a South Carolina freshman in 2002, Demus anchored the Gamecocks 4x400m relay squad of Tiffany Ross, Tacita Bass and Demetria Washington to the 2002 NCAA title in collegiate record time of 3:26.46. She departed the South Carolina team during the 2003 season. A sensational high school athlete, Demus was named a 2001 Track and Field News All-American in five events (100 hurdles, 300 hurdles, 4x1, 4x4, sprint medley). She set the national record in the 300m hurdles (39.00). Demus was a member of her high school’s 4x400m relay that set the national record her freshman and senior seasons. She won state titles as a senior in the 100m hurdles and the 4x100m relay after running around a hurdle and not qualifying for the state championships in the 300m hurdles.
Results
2011: World Outdoor gold medalist (52.47AR); USA Outdoors champion in the 400m hurdles (54.21); 1st at Luzern (54.18); 1st at Pre Classic (53.31); 2nd at Shanghai (54.58).
2010: 1st at Pre Classic in 400m hurdles (53.78); 1st at Rome (52.82WL); 1st at Shanghai (53.34); 4th at Monaco (54.54); 1st at Mt. Sac Relays in the 400m (51.40); 5th at Oslo in the 400m (51.09PR).
2009: World Outdoor silver medalist (52.96), 4x400m gold medalist (3rd leg, 3:17.83); USA Outdoor champion (53.78WL); 1st at Baie Mahault (54.17); 1st at Rethymno (54.29); 1st at Monaco (52.63); 1st at London (53.65).
2008: 4th at Olympic Trials (54.76); 6th at World Athletics Final (55.44); 1st at Reebok Grand Prix (55.17); 1st at Fort-de-France (53.99); 1st at Kingston (54.83).
2007: did not compete (maternity).
2006: USA Outdoor Champion (53.07); 1st at Meeting Gaz de France Paris Saint-Denis (53.76); 1st at Golden Gala (53.51); 1st at Athens Super Grand Prix (53.02PR); 1st at World Athletics Final (53.42); 2nd at IAAF World Cup (54.06).
2005: World Outdoor Championships 400mH silver medalist (53.27); USA Outdoor champion (53.35); 1st at Rio (54.60); 1st at Belem (53.56); 1st at Paris (53.85); 1st at Rome (53.68); 3rd at Oslo 400mH (54.59); 2nd at Zurich (53.83); 1st at Brussels (53.61); 1st at World Athletics Final (53.37); 6th in 400m at Nike Prefontaine Classic (51.92); 1st at Fortaleza (54.36).
2004: 3rd at Olympic Trials 400mH (53.43); 5th in semi finals at Olympic Games (54.32); NCAA Outdoors runner-up (54.22); NCAA Outdoors 4x400m relay runner-up (2nd leg - 3:28.09); 5th in 400m at NCAA Indoors (51.63i); 3rd at NCAA Indoors 4x400m relay (anchor - 3:30.27i); 1st in 400m at Atlanta (51.70); 1st in 400mH at Columbia, S.C. (54.87); 3rd in 100mH at SEC Championships (13.08); SEC Champion in 400mH (54.50); 1st in 400mH at Gainesville (54.77); 1st in 400mH at Columbia (54.87).
2003: 8th at USA Outdoors (59.05); 1st in semifinal at USA Outdoors (55.65); 1st in 400m at NCAA Indoors (51.79); 2nd at SEC Indoors 400m (52.91); 2nd in 4x400m relay at NCAA Indoors (3:28.25); 1st in Los Angeles Outdoors (55.92).
2002: U.S. Junior champion (56.35); NCAA Outdoor champ (54.85); World Junior champ (54.70); 2nd at SEC Outdoors; anchored South Carolina women's 4x400m relay team to an NCAA record (3:26.46) at NCAA Outdoors; ran second leg on USC's NCAA Indoor 4x400m relay championship team (3:30.36).
2001: 5th at USA Outdoors (56.51); 8th in semis at WUGs.
1999: USA Junior champion (57.95); 1st at Pan American Juniors.
USA/World Rankings and Personal Bests
2011: Outdoor bests – 400mH, 52.47 (No. 1 in the USA, No. 1 in the world)
2010: Outdoor bests – 200m, 23.62; 400m, 51.09 (No. 7 in the USA, No. 23 in the world); 400mH, 52.82 (No. 1 in the USA, No. 1 in the world); 4x400m relay, 3:26.12 (No. 1 in the USA, No. 5 in the world)
2009: Outdoor bests – 400m, 51.40 (No. 12 in the USA, No. 33 in the world); 400mH, 52.63 (No. 1 in the USA, No. 2 in the world); 4x400m, 3:17.83 (No. 1 in the USA, No. 1 in the world)
2008: Indoor bests – 400m, 54.01; 800m, 2:09.78; Outdoor bests – 200m, 23.35; 400m, 51.58 (No. 12 in the USA); 400mH, 53.99 (No. 3 in the USA, No. 6 in the world)
2007: Did not compete.
2006: Indoor bests – 800m, 2:08.91; Outdoor bests – 400m, 51.65 (No. 10 in the USA); 400mH, 53.02 (No. 1 in the USA, No. 1 in the world)
2005: Indoor bests – 800m, 2:09.19; Outdoor bests – 200m, 23.50; 400m, 51.79 (No. 13 in the USA); 800m, 2:16.46; 100mH, 13.09 (No. 16 in the USA); 400mH, 53.27 (No. 1 in the USA, No. 2 in the world)
2004: Indoor bests – 200m, 24.51; 400m, 51.63 (No. 3 in the USA, No. 13 in the world); 55mH, 7.65; 60mH, 8.11 (No. 13 in the USA, No. 42 in the world); Outdoor bests – 400m, 51.70 (No. 14 in the USA); 800m, 2:09.16; 100mH, 13.08; 400mH, 55.43 (No. 4 in the USA, No. 8 in the world).
2003: Indoor bests – 400m, 51.79 (No. 1 in the USA, No. 8 in the world); 55mH, 7.84; 60mH, 8.34; Outdoor bests – 400m, 53.50; 100mH, 13.35; 400mH, 55.65 (No. 6 in the USA, No. 26 in the world)