Hurdler Alaysha Johnson earns spot to Paris Games wearing borrowed spikes and uniform she designed

EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — Alaysha Johnson ran in shoes she borrowed from a fellow hurdler and in a uniform she designed herself.

Both fast and fashion-forward.

The 100-meter hurdler earned a spot to the Paris Games with a second-place finish in a competitive field at the U.S. Olympic track and field trials on Sunday. Johnson, the hurdler who has hypothyroidism and trains around NFL and NBA players, ran a personal-best time of 12.31 seconds to finish .06 behind winner Masai Russell.

To think, Johnson was a long shot to make this team — a long shot, that is, to everyone but herself.

“People like me who come from the inner city of Houston ... it’s hard for us to get opportunities,” said the 27-year-old Johnson, who ran at the University of Oregon and at Texas Tech. “It always takes what I say is double the effort to get half as far. I always tell people if we had a little bit more support, I probably could have been here a long time ago.

"But it made me understand that regardless of how many people have your back, I’m still strong enough to do this on my own two feet.”

Running down the track in borrowed spikes, no less. Tonea Marshall, who finished fifth, was gracious enough to give Johnson a pair after the first round when Johnson said the “bubble popped” on the only pair she brought.

It hasn't been the traditional path to the starting line for Johnson.

For one, she doesn't train around sprinters/hurdlers so much as some recognizable names in the NBA and NFL realms. She said the list includes Kansas City Chiefs receiver Mecole Hardman and Memphis Grizzlies point guard Ja Morant.

“Anybody that you ever knew that was amazing, on those cereal boxes, we probably trained them,” Johnson said of the staff she works with.

Among the support staff for Johnson is an endocrinologist. She has hypothyroidism, a condition with her thyroid gland that leaves her tired and lethargic. She cut down on her warmup Sunday, "to make sure I can conserve as much as I could to be able to get through 10 hurdles,” she said.

Once she crossed the line, she anxiously looked at the board.

“I had no idea what place I was and I was like, ‘Hurry up and put these names up,’” said Johnson, who has a deal with Oakley but not a shoe contract. “I knew I was ready to make this team. I knew nothing or nobody was going to come in between me and making this team. So I feel fulfilled.

“We did this ground up. So honestly, I just hope that somebody sees that I’ve worked my tail off — my team has worked their tails off — to get this far. We could have been this far a long time ago, had we had a little bit of help.”

In the men’s 400 hurdles, Rai Benjamin won in a 46.46 seconds, a trials record, the best time of the year and the sort of time men only started dreaming about a few years ago.

Benjamin was part of the fastest 400 hurdles race ever at the Tokyo Games, where he ran 46.17 but finished second to Norway’s Karsten Warholm, who ran the first sub-46 hurdles in history.

Grant Fisher won the 5,000 meters in 13 minutes, 8.85 seconds to complete the distance double. He opened the meet with a victory in the 10,000.

Fisher holds the American record in both races. He withstood an early gamble by Woody Kincaid, who went out fast early in hopes of reaching the Olympic standard that he did not have (13:05). But Fisher was part of a pack that caught Kincaid midway through the race. Then, Fisher beat Abdihamid Nur in a sprint to the line for a .16-second win.

At Jamaican nationals, world champion Shericka Jackson won the 200 meters in 22.29 seconds. Brian Levell won the men’s race in 19.97, followed by Andrew Hudson.

Hudson’s trip to world championships last year was marred when the cart he was riding to the waiting area for his race crashed into another cart, spraying glass shards into his eye.

— Maggie Malone Hardin won the javelin throw and will head to the Olympics. Second-place finisher Kara Winger, who came out of retirement to compete, threw 62.94 meters (206 feet, 6 inches), which was short of the Olympic standard of 64 meters (209-11). She said she needed to throw 64 to go to the games because she has lost her world ranking.

— Bridget Williams won the pole vault, with reigning Olympic champion Katie Moon earning a spot by taking second place. Sandi Morris, the 2016 Rio Games silver medalist, wound up fourth.

— Shelby McEwen cleared 2.30 meters (7-6 1/2) to take the high jump title. JuVaughn Harrison, an Olympic medal hopeful, didn't make the Olympic squad.

— Bryce Hoppel won the 800 and Nikki Hiltz the 1,500 — both with meet records. Daniel Haugh (hammer) and Salif Mane (triple jump) also won.

AP National Writer Eddie Pells contributed.

AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games

Rai Benjamin runs the men's 400-meter hurdles final during the U.S. Track and Field Olympic Team Trials, Sunday, June 30, 2024, in Eugene, Ore. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

Rai Benjamin runs the men's 400-meter hurdles final during the U.S. Track and Field Olympic Team Trials, Sunday, June 30, 2024, in Eugene, Ore. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

Rai Benjamin, left, speaks with Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone during the U.S. Track and Field Olympic Team Trials, Sunday, June 30, 2024, in Eugene, Ore. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

Nikki Hiltz celebrates after winning the women's 1500-meter final during the U.S. Track and Field Olympic Team Trials, Sunday, June 30, 2024, in Eugene, Ore. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

First place winner Nikki Hiltz, center, Second place winner Emily Mackay, right and Elle St. Pierre pose for a photo after they ran the women's 1500-meter final during the U.S. Track and Field Olympic Team Trials, Sunday, June 30, 2024, in Eugene, Ore. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

Nikki Hiltz wins the women's 1500-meter final during the U.S. Track and Field Olympic Team Trials, Sunday, June 30, 2024, in Eugene, Ore. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

Grant Fisher celebrates winning the men's 5000-meter final run during the U.S. Track and Field Olympic Team Trials, Sunday, June 30, 2024, in Eugene, Ore. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

Grant Fisher competes men's 5000-meter final run during the U.S. Track and Field Olympic Team Trials, Sunday, June 30, 2024, in Eugene, Ore. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

First place winner Grant Fisher, center, and second place winner Abdihamid Nur, left, and third place finisher Parker Wolfe pose for a photo after the wins the men's 5000-meter final run during the U.S. Track and Field Olympic Team Trials, Sunday, June 30, 2024, in Eugene, Ore. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

First place winner Masai Russell, center, Alaysha Johnson, at second place, right stand with third place winner Grace Stark after the win the women's 100-meter hurdles final during the U.S. Track and Field Olympic Team Trials, Sunday, June 30, 2024, in Eugene, Ore. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

Alaysha Johnson reacts to a second place during the women's 100-meter hurdles final during the U.S. Track and Field Olympic Team Trials, Sunday, June 30, 2024, in Eugene, Ore. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

LUCKNOW, India (AP) — Authorities say massive overcrowding, insufficient exits, and other factors contributed to a deadly stampede at a religious festival in Northern India that killed at least 121 people.

Five more people died on Wednesday morning, local official Manish Chaudhry said, and 28 were still being treated in hospital.

The stampede happened on Tuesday afternoon in a village in Hathras district in Uttar Pradesh state, as large crowds rushed to exit a makeshift tent. It was not immediately clear what sparked the panic.

Authorities are investigating what happened and have launched a search for a Hindu guru known locally as Bhole Baba, as well as other organizers.

Deadly stampedes are relatively common at Indian religious festivals, where large crowds gather in small areas with shoddy infrastructure and few safety measures.

Overcrowding, poor planning and bad weather were among factors noted as contributing to the disaster.

Some quarter of a million people turned up for an event that was permitted to accomodate 80,000, held in a tent set up in a muddy field. It's not clear how many made it inside the tent.

Utter Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath told reporters that a crowd of devotees surged towards the preacher to touch him as he was descending from the stage, causing chaos as volunteers struggled to intervene.

An initial report from the police suggests at this point thousands of people thronged toward the exit, where many slipped on the muddy ground, causing them to fall and be crushed by the crowds. Most of the dead were women.

The preacher’s Sri Jagar Guru Baba organization had spent more than two weeks preparing for the event.

Devotees from across the state, which with over 200 million people is India's most populous, traveled to the village, with rows of parked vehicles stretching three kilometers.

Experts said the event violated safety norms. “The function was held in a makeshift tent without ensuring multiple exit routes. Typically, there should be eight to 10 well-marked exits opening into open areas,” said Sanjay Srivastava, a disaster management expert.

Instead, officials said it appeared there was only one small exit in the tent.

On Tuesday, hundreds of relatives had gathered at local hospitals, wailing in distress at the sight of the dead, placed on stretchers and covered in white sheets on the grounds outside. Buses and trucks also carried dozens of victims into morgues.

Sonu Kumar was one of many local residents who helped lift and move dead bodies after the accident. He criticized the preacher: “He sat in his car and left. And his devotees here fell one upon another and some were in the water.”

“The screams were so heart-wrenching. We have never seen anything like this before in our village,” Kumar added.

Binod Sokhna, who lost his mother, daughter and wife, wept as he walked out of a morgue on Wednesday.

“My son called me and said papa, mother is no more. Come here immediately. My wife is no more," he said, crying.

In 2013, pilgrims visiting a temple for a popular Hindu festival in central Madhya Pradesh state trampled each other amid fears that a bridge would collapse. At least 115 were crushed to death or died in the river.

In 2011, more than 100 Hindu devotees died in a crush at a religious festival in the southern state of Kerala.

Relatives and volunteers carry the bodies on stretchers at the Sikandrarao hospital in Hathras district about 350 kilometers (217 miles) southwest of Lucknow, India, Tuesday, July 2, 2024. Thousands of people at a religious gathering rushed to leave a makeshift tent, setting off a stampede Tuesday that killed more than hundred people and injured scores. (AP Photo/Manoj Aligadi)

Relatives mourn next to the bodies of their relatives outside the Sikandrarao hospital in Hathras district about 350 kilometers (217 miles) southwest of Lucknow, India, Tuesday, July 2, 2024. Thousands of people at a religious gathering in India rushed to leave a makeshift tent, setting off a stampede Tuesday that killed more than hundred people and injured scores. (AP Photo)

Women mourn next to the body of a relative outside the Sikandrarao hospital in Hathras district about 350 kilometers (217 miles) southwest of Lucknow, India, Tuesday, July 2, 2024. Thousands of people at a religious gathering in India rushed to leave a makeshift tent, setting off a stampede Tuesday that killed more than hundred people and injured scores.(AP Photo/Manoj Aligadi)

A woman watches members of a forensic team investigate the scene a day after a fatal stampede, in Fulrai village of Hathras district, Uttar Pradesh, India, Wednesday, July 3, 2024. Thousands of people at a religious gathering rushed to leave a makeshift tent, setting off a stampede Tuesday that killed more than hundred people and injured scores. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh)

Rain puddles are seen at the scene of a fatal stampede, in Fulrai village of Hathras district about 350 kilometers (220 miles) southwest of the state capital, Lucknow, India, Wednesday, July 3, 2024. Hathras district, Uttar Pradesh, India, Wednesday, July 3, 2024. Thousands of people at a religious gathering rushed to leave a makeshift tent, setting off a stampede Tuesday that killed more than hundred people and injured scores. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh)

Police tape cordons off the scene a day after a fatal stampede, in Fulrai village of Hathras district, Uttar Pradesh, India, Wednesday, July 3, 2024. Thousands of people at a religious gathering rushed to leave a makeshift tent, setting off a stampede Tuesday that killed more than hundred people and injured scores. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh)

Members of a forensic team investigate the scene a day after a fatal stampede, in Fulrai village of Hathras district, Uttar Pradesh, India, Wednesday, July 3, 2024. Thousands of people at a religious gathering rushed to leave a makeshift tent, setting off a stampede Tuesday that killed more than hundred people and injured scores. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh)

People injured in a stampede receive treatment at Hathras district hospital, Uttar Pradesh, India, Wednesday, July 3, 2024. Thousands of people at a religious gathering rushed to leave a makeshift tent, setting off a stampede Tuesday that killed more than hundred people and injured scores. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh)

A man weeps while hugging the father-in-law of his 37-year-old sister Ruby, victim of a stampede, outside Hathras district hospital, Uttar Pradesh, India, Wednesday, July 3, 2024. Thousands of people at a religious gathering rushed to leave a makeshift tent, setting off a stampede Tuesday that killed more than hundred people and injured scores. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh)

A man mourns by the body of his 37-year-old sister Ruby, victim of a stampede, outside Hathras district hospital, Uttar Pradesh, India, Wednesday, July 3, 2024. Thousands of people at a religious gathering rushed to leave a makeshift tent, setting off a stampede Tuesday that killed more than hundred people and injured scores. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh)

Family members of 37-year-old Ruby, victim of a stampede, mourn after receiving her body from a mortuary as they prepare to leave for their hometown, outside Hathras district hospital, Uttar Pradesh, India, Wednesday, July 3, 2024. Thousands of people at a religious gathering rushed to leave a makeshift tent, setting off a stampede Tuesday that killed more than hundred people and injured scores. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh)