Nikki Hiltz Stays On Fire, Wins Pan Am 1500m Gold
Nikki Hiltz Stays On Fire, Wins Pan Am 1500m Gold
Nikki Hiltz keeps racking up the accolades in a her breakout 2019 season.
First year pro Nikki Hiltz added another accolade to her breakout rookie campaign on Friday, as the 24-year-old won women’s 1500m gold at the 2019 Pan American Games in Lima, Peru.
The hits keep coming for @Nikki_Hiltz... She wins Pan Am 1500 gold in 4:07.14! ?for @aishapraught, ?@AlexaEfraimson pic.twitter.com/h8bQmhVnqy
— FloTrack (@FloTrack) August 9, 2019
Hiltz, who finished third in the U.S. 1500m two weeks ago with a late kick to qualify for her first World Championship team, used a similar formula to win in Lima in 4:07.14. The American zoomed past Jamaica’s Aisha Praught-Leer in the final 100m, sprinting away to a comfortable win with a 62-second final 400m.
Praught-Leer nabbed the silver in 4:08.26, with Hiltz’s fellow American, Alexa Efraimson, earning bronze in 4:08.63.
For the gold medalist Hiltz, it was her eighth win in the span of 10 races this spring and summer. She improved her PB to 4:03.55 in the U.S. final on July 27, beating out NCAA champion Sinclaire Johnson by .17 seconds for the third and final spot to Doha for the 2019 IAAF World Championships.