Aleia Hobbs hasn’t had an easy road. For years, she’s faced a wave of online abuse, often centered around her powerful frame and elite speed. Critics, hiding behind screens, have questioned her gender identity and legitimacy as an athlete. But Hobbs chose not to retreat. Instead, she showed up to the 100m final at the USATF Championships ready to race. The backlash was often based on her muscular build, because that did not align with the stereotypical image of how a woman athlete should be. Not bowing to the trolls, Hobbs addressed the abuse herself, saying, “Oh, my goodness, it’s horrible. Like everybody keeps saying, ‘that’s a trans…of course she’s going to win, she’s a man …’ I am not, but its ok.” It’s ok because she can rise above this hate and perform like she did today.
Under the lights of Hayward Field, Aleia Hobbs lined up for the women’s 100 m final with everything on the line. After a shaky semifinal at 11.10 seconds, she needed a big finish, and she delivered. Exploding out of the blocks, Hobbs surged past rivals to clock 10.92 seconds, claiming third place behind Melissa Jefferson-Wooden (10.65) and Kayla White (10.84). It wasn’t just a podium finish; it was her ticket to the World Championships in Tokyo. The athlete was so happy that she broke down.
“Oh, it was hard. I’m not going to lie. It was a time I was literally at my lowest, like, like I was…” The track and field athlete could only say that much in the post-race interview on August 1st before her hand went over her mouth. Aleia Hobbs’ eyes were filled with tears of joy. Not just because she had triumphed over all the hate, but because she made her first U.S. team in three years. She fought through injuries to get back where she once was.
“Man, my emotions are going crazy. I’m just so happy and grateful.”
After dealing with back-to-back Achilles and hamstring issues early on in the season, Aleia Hobbs made her first U.S. outdoor team since 2022 and was feeling all the feels
Hobbs finished 3rd in the 100m… pic.twitter.com/Tpv2TMJZfA
— CITIUS MAG (@CitiusMag) August 2, 2025
After two micro‑fracture surgeries on her knees early in her collegiate career, a nasty fall at the 2023 U.S. Indoor Championships left her with a broken left wrist, sidelining her from weight training and block starts for several weeks despite her record‑breaking 6.94-second run. At the 2024 World Indoor Championships in Glasgow, she pulled out of the 60 m final, limping off in a wheelchair after suffering a calf cramp that intensified during the semifinal.
Then, at the 2025 U.S. Indoor Championships, she scratched the 60 m as the defending champion, withdrawing due to lingering injury concerns. Notably, this was not the first trial she cried at.
Aleia Hobbs’ emotional ride at the Trials
Going back four years in time, Aleia’s first trials nearly broke her, but also revealed her fight. On the evening of June 19, 2021, at Hayward Field, Eugene, Hobbs lined up in the semifinals of the U.S. Olympic Trials for her first-ever such appearance, after overcoming knee surgery and season-best 10.90s runs earlier that year. She felt ready, but fate had its plans. “I felt like everything I did that year — the consistent times — went down the drain. That was my very first thought, and once I had that thought, that’s when the tears came,” she confessed in an interview.
But all was not dead yet; her coach had filed a protest. She said, “I found my coach and agent, and they were telling me to keep on warming up because they were going to protest. I was trying to stay warm and jog, but I was crying hard. I felt like I could barely move my body.” As the clock ticked down, all other finalists were led to the start line. Still no word. Then, 2–3 minutes before the race, officials reversed the call, reinstating her. She rushed to the call room, pinned a makeshift bib (she’d torn off hers), and sprinted for Lane 9.
Running on emotion and adrenaline, Hobbs gave everything she had left, crossing the line in 11.20 seconds, seventh place, just 0.17 seconds short of the individual Olympic team. It wasn’t the fairytale ending she wanted, but it wasn’t the end. When Sha’Carri Richardson was later ruled ineligible, Hobbs was pulled into the U.S. 4×100 m relay pool for Tokyo.
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