“Growing up in Jamaica was never easy,” she said. And for this hurdler, that wasn’t just a throwaway line. It was a lived reality. The kind of hardship that doesn’t end when you lace up your spikes or cross the finish line. This 22-year-old has never had it easy. But that hasn’t stopped her. At her tender age, she’s already worn the scars of an elite hurdler. Her performance at the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Nanjing was a powerful reminder that she’s not done yet.

Ackera Nugent recently clocked 12.75 and 11.57 seconds in Races 1 and 2 of the 100m hurdles at Grand Slam Track, securing third place overall behind Tia Jones and Danielle Williams. It wasn’t the statement finish many had hoped for from a former Olympic hopeful who once owned Jamaica’s national record at 12.28 seconds. And who could forget her run at Paris 2024? Clipping hurdles, veering off, and crashing out while Masai Russell soared to gold. But for Nugent, raised by a single mother who sacrificed everything so she could chase her dreams, giving up has never been an option.

It was a painful, public heartbreak, one in a string of setbacks that includes ankle injuries, hamstring pulls, and even spinal complications. “I grew up in a single-parent home, and my inspiration was to go to college,” she shared, as quoted by World Athletics. “When I saw my mom crying because she did not have the money to afford my airfare, I decided that I would never put her in that position again.” That fire didn’t start on the track. It started in her living room, watching her mother sacrifice everything. That unshakable grit was on full display in Nanjing, where she claimed bronze in the 60m hurdles in one of the most stacked fields the World Indoor Championships has ever seen.

Arriving in China as one of the title favorites, Ackera Nugent was fueled by desire, determination, and maybe even a touch of defiance. During the semifinals, she struck the final hurdle so violently that the top of it flew off. Somehow, she stayed upright. Somehow, she made it through. And just days later, she stood on the podium alongside gold medallist Devynne Charlton and silver medallist Ditaji Kambundji, a medal around her neck and fire still in her heart. After earning her SAT scores, Nugent made it to the U.S. thanks to the help of others who believed in her. She didn’t love college life, but that’s because she wasn’t there for fun. “I was more focused on not wasting the money invested in me and, more importantly, making my mom proud.” Studying at Baylor University for two years, the Jamaican hurdler shifted to join the Razorbacks’ rank from where she would end up graduating in communication and media studies.

Long before she was battling pros on the global stage, Nugent was breaking records and rewriting expectations. She set a world U20 60m hurdles record in 2021, then blazed to the world U20 100m hurdles title in Nairobi months later. When she turned pro, it was big. Nugent signed a contract with Adidas and set her professional career in motion in 2023. By 2024, she had lowered Jamaica’s national record to 12.28 seconds. Ackera Nugent’s grit, determination, and commitment to stand by her mother set her apart from the ordinary crowd. But even a rockstar like her, struggles to keep up with the sport and the spotlight occasionally.

Ackera Nugent opens up on the emotional toll after Grand Slam heartbreak

The bright lights and big stages of professional track and field aren’t always what they seem. After her third-place finish at the Grand Slam Track Meet, Ackera Nugent didn’t hide behind media polish or cliché answers. She laid it bare. In a vulnerable interview with Citius Mag, she confessed, “The transition is hard… My first two seasons were like a professional; it has been a bit depressing for me, and I haven’t really been liking the sport as much.” For someone who’s carried the weight of a nation’s expectations and her hunger to make her mother proud, those words hit different. It wasn’t about medals. It was about losing something deeper: joy.

That joy, she admits, has been hard to come by in the pro ranks. What was once her outlet, her love, now feels like a grind. “It’s not a fun thing anymore; it’s just business,” she said candidly. She’s learning to find her light again by reconnecting with the crowd and rediscovering meaning beyond the medals. For Nugent, it’s no longer just about wins and records. It’s about rediscovering herself amid a system that often values performance over passion.

The Grand Slam Track meet, with its heavy spotlight and commercial weight, only amplified the internal tug-of-war. Nugent’s words weren’t just honest. They were necessary. She may be battling hurdles on the track, but the emotional ones are proving just as steep, and she’s clearing those, too, one brutally honest interview at a time.