Rollins was born in Miami, Florida, daughter of Temperance Rollins. She is the eldest of seven siblings and the only female. She is a 2009 graduate of Miami Northwestern Senior High School. Rollins competed for Clemson University and graduated in 2013, majoring in travel and tourism. At Clemson, Rollins was a three-time NCAA champion: winning the 60 metres hurdles in 2011 and 2013 and the 100 metres hurdles in 2013. She turned professional following the 2013 NCAA Outdoor Championships, where she broke the NCAA record in the 100 m hurdles with a time of 12.39. In 2017, she married Bryce McNeal in a ceremony in San Diego. The two met at Clemson where Bryce was part of the Tigers football team.
Career
Rollins competed at the 2012 U.S. Olympic Trials, but did not make the Olympic team, finishing sixth in the 100 metres hurdles with a time of 12.94. The following month, at the 2012 NACAC Under-23 Championships, Rollins won gold in the 100 metres hurdles with a time of 12.60. At the 2013 USA Track and Field Championships, Rollins won the 100 metres hurdles in an American record time of 12.26, bettering Gail Devers's previous record of 12.33 set in 2000. At the 2013 World Championships in Moscow, Rollins won the 100 metres hurdles with a time of 12.44, beating Olympic and reigning world champion Sally Pearson. In the final, Rollins had the slowest reaction time in the field, but was able to run down the field and win gold. For her performances in 2013, she was presented the Jackie Joyner-Kersee Athlete of the Year Award. At the 2014 IAAF Diamond League, which consists of fourteen meetings from May to September, Rollins won one 100 metres hurdles race in Rome with a time of 12.53. At the 2014 USA Track and Field Championships, Rollins placed 5th in the 100 metres hurdles with a time of 12.81. At the 2016 USA Indoor Track and Field Championships, Rollins won the 60 metres hurdles in 7.76 seconds. She finished second at 2016 IAAF World Indoor Championships in 60 m hurdles. Brianna Rollins won in the 100 hurdles in a time of 12.34 at the 2016 United States Olympic Trials ahead of Team USA teammates Kristi Castlin and Nia Ali to qualify to represent United States at Athletics at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Brazil. Not only did she win a gold medal, but her teammates placed second and third, making it the first time in history that one country gained all medals in this discipline at the Olympic Games, and the first time American women achieved such a sweep in any Olympic event. She was banned for a year by the United States Anti-Doping Agency after missing three drugs tests in 2016 - two of them after she forgot to update her whereabouts details when she was attending a fete of honour in her hometown and travelling to the White House to meet the president. Rollins was punished under the World Anti-Doping Agency Code for failing to properly file whereabouts information on three occasions in a 12-month period. The start of Rollins’ 12-month period of ineligibility was backdated to 19 December 2016, the day on which USADA formally notified her of her potential rule violation. As a result, Rollins' competitive results obtained on and subsequent to 27 September 2016, the date of her third whereabouts failure, have been disqualified and any medals, points, and prizes are forfeited. She also wasn't able to compete in the 2017 World Championships in Women's 100 metres hurdles. McNeal finished third at the 2019 USA Track & Field Outdoor Championships in the 100 meter hurdles in a season's best time of 12.61, qualifying for the 2019 World Athletics Championships.
