2025 USATF Outdoors: Twanisha “TeeTee” Terry Is Building Her Own Way Back to the Top

2025 USATF Outdoors: Twanisha “TeeTee” Terry Is Building Her Own Way Back to the Top!

Twanisha Terry doesn’t get the applause that many of the established sprinters in the game do. She has been a part of some of the most successful women’s 4x100m teams, winning Gold at the last two global championships. However, making the individual team for the women’s 100m is where it gets dicey. The woman known to fans as “TeeTee” has been here before, under the pressure of the U.S. Trials, under the weight of expectations, as she looks to make another U.S. team. She has stood on global podiums. She has also felt the sting of finishing off the podium in an Olympic final, where she placed fifth in Paris last year.

Now, with the 2025 U.S. Trials days away, Terry enters as the second-fastest American this season, behind only Melissa Jefferson-Wooden. Her buildup this season hasn’t been perfect, but it has been productive. She’s run 10.85 with legal wind and clocked a 10.83 with a +2.6 assist, both at the Star Athletics Sprint Series in Florida. Even her less sharp races, like the 11.17 at the Prefontaine Classic, were moments she used to stay grounded, not reasons to panic.

Terry is very competitive, but she is also clear-minded. She’s learned how to filter out noise and focus on what matters. That clarity helped her qualify individually for last year’s Olympic team in the 100m, a milestone that confirmed her place among America’s elite. “To make the team individually, not just as a relay runner, showed me I was stronger than I thought,” she said.

For many athletes, medals shape the narrative. But for Terry, it’s the behind-the-scenes growth that counts. She talks about being a role model, about showing younger girls that it’s possible to push through doubt, injury, and long days when motivation is low. She smiles at the idea that people know her name now. When she started running, she did it because she liked it. No one pushed her onto the track. She chose it for herself.

Terry is still refining the parts of her race she believes need more attention. She talks about small muscles, strength, and getting the most out of every step. Competing against the top athletes, such as Sha’Carri Richardson, Julien Alfred, Jefferson-Wooden, means showing up sharp every time. “Nothing is given to you,” she said. “You have to earn it.”

The path to Tokyo isn’t guaranteed. The women’s 100m is stacked. Young talents are rising, veterans are holding firm, and everyone is fighting for space. But Terry, now 26, seems to know herself better than ever. She is not in a hurry, but she is not waiting either. She is preparing.And preparation is what has kept her in the mix. The marks speak for themselves.

Her 10.85 ranks among the fastest in the country this year. She has shown she can run with the very best and hold form through the long, testing build-up of a season.If she makes the team again, it won’t be a comeback. It will be confirmation. Twanisha Terry has been putting in the work all along. Now she’s looking to make it count when it matters most.

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Deji Ogeyingbo is one of Nigeria’s leading Track and Field Journalists as he has worked in various capacities as a writer, content creator, and reporter for radio and TV stations in the country and Africa. Deji has covered varying degrees of Sporting competitions within and outside Nigeria which includes, African Championships and World Junior Championships. Also, he founded one of Nigeria’s leading Sports PR and Branding company in Nikau Sports in 2020, a company that aims to change the narrative of how athletes are perceived in Nigeria while looking to grow their image to the highest possible level.

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