Olympic Trials Recap
Track & field put the world on notice over the past two weeks in Eugene, OR.
I went to the U.S. Olympic Track & Field Trials in 2016, but to be totally honest I don’t remember too much about the actual events. At the time, I was so new to running (especially track & field), and I was just excited to be there. Eight years later, I’m so much more enmeshed in the running world and was thrilled to get another chance to experience and cover such an important competition (a big thanks to Brooks for the invite; I interviewed one of their athletes, Nia Akins, ahead of time—you can read the story at Outside Run—and she went on to win the women’s 800-meter final).
Getting to watch the making of Team USA in real-time was electric. Even though I missed hearing Kara Goucher’s extremely insightful NBC commentary in real-time (there’s no announcer commentary in the stadium), hearing the crowd cheer and gasp as the athletes battled it out on the track is a surefire way to get you invested in people you may not have even known existed a day earlier.
I know there have been a million articles on social media posts over the past few days recapping the events, but here’s my experience from Eugene.
Friday - Day 8
I’m going to keep this recap short, because there was only one finals event on Friday night. And it was a doozy: The men’s 110m hurdle final was the first race in history where three men ran under 13.00: Grant Holloway clocked 12.86 to make his second Olympic team and claim his second national title outdoors; Freddie Crittenden ran the best time of his career, 12.93, to make his first Olympic team; and Daniel Roberts ran a lifetime best of 12.96 to earn a spot on his second Olympic team.
The women’s 1500m semifinals showed just how stacked this field is and, on a larger level, the depth the U.S. has in this particular distance. Reigning four-time U.S. 1500-meter champion Nikki Hiltz won the first heat in 4:01.40, with event favorite Elle St. Pierre—who won the gold in the 2021 Trials—coming in fifth, and 2023 U.S. indoor bronze medalist Emily Mackay won the second heat in 4:02.46. By the time the semi-finals wrapped up today, the athletes had set a cutoff time of 4:05.36 for the finals, with a field that consisted of seven sub-4 runners, four Olympians, and four U.S. champs.
In the men’s 800m semifinals, Josh Hoey, Hobbs Kessler, and Bryce Hoppel won their heats. After earning a ticket to Paris with a 3:31.53 personal best in the 1500, Hobbs Kessler clocked his quickest 800 ever in the semifinals, leading the top five runners in his heat to set personal bests. (The photo below is from the first round, but it’s one of my favorites from the whole meet.)
The track was on fire for the sprinters, and it was kind of crazy to see the athletes’ speeds broadcast on the jumbotron, especially compared to the longer events (they’re literally running twice as fast). In the semifinals for the women’s 100-meter hurdles, the big story was the return Lolo Jones, one of the few athletes to have competed at both the Summer and Winter Olympic Games. More than a few spectators did a double take upon hearing her name. At 41, she was the oldest athlete to qualify for the US Trials; she did end up coming in last in her heat with a time of 14.86 (although everyone in the semifinals ended up moving to the finals).
Meanwhile, Sha’carri Richardson, McKenzie Long, and Gabby Thomas each won their heats in the 200m semifinals. Richardson did it by effortlessly matching her personal best of 21.92 win, and that was following a 100 Olympic Trials win, where she crossed the finish line in 10.71 seconds—the fastest time in the world this year—while Gabby Thomas ran a new world lead of 21.78 (a world lead is the fastest time of the year, compared to a world record, which is the fastest time ever). On the men’s side, Noah Lyles, Kenny Bednarek, and Erriyon Knighton won their heats, putting all three 2020 Olympians back in contention for Paris. And in the semifinals for the men’s 400m hurdles, unsponsored athlete Trevor Bassitt, collegian Caleb Dean, and 2020 Olympic silver medalist in the event Rai Benjamin each won their heats.
Saturday - Day 9
Saturday was a shorter night of events, but it definitely wasn’t short on drama. It started with three semifinals for the women’s 100m hurdles: Christina Clemons (who is sponsored—seriously—by Doritos) won the first heat, Alaysha Johnson (who seems to always end up as the runner-up in major competitions) won heat 2, and NCAA record holder in the event Masai Russell won heat 3.
The long jump final was taking place in the background, with Tara Davis-Woodhall, Jasmine Moore, and Monae’ Nicholes making Team USA after a bit of drama. Davis-Woodhall scratched her first two jumps and was clearly stressed about needing a mark in the third round just to keep jumping; she eventually leapt 7.0m in the fifth round to defend her national title. Meanwhile, Monae’ Nichols jumped 6.86m in her last round of the competition, jumping from fifth to third.
As the women’s 200-meter dash final kicked off, I’m not sure who got louder cheers: Olympic bronze medalist Gabby Thomas or 2020 World Championship bronze medalist Sha’carri Richardson. But Thomas defended her Olympic Trials title with a 21.81, followed by 2019 World Championship silver medalist Brittany Brown coming in second with a personal best and 200m NCAA champion McKenzie Long in third. Richardson ran slower than her prelim time and did not make Team USA in this event, but she will be representing Team USA after winning the 100m final earlier this week.
In the 400m hurdles, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone basically jogged to the win in her heat, gapping the field significantly with a 53.07. Heat 2 included Rachel Glenn, the Arkansas student who already made Team USA in the high jump at an outdoor PB of 1.94m to earn her ticket to Paris, and in heat 3, Anna Cockrell clocked the first sub-53 of her career.
The 10000m women’s race was one of the most anticipated of the night, with marathon trialers Keira D’Amato, Jessica McClain, Stephanie Bruce, Maggie Montoya, Kellyn Taylor, and Natosha Rogers taking another swing at Team USA. The women spent a large majority of the race running a relatively slow 10-11 miles per hour pace, equivalent to 5:30 to 6:00 minute miles, before the race started to spread out 23 minutes in. It was a big finish—honestly, the best kind you could hope for as a fan—as half marathon record holder Weini Kelati, five-time NCAA champ Parker Valby, and Tokyo Olympian Karissa Schweizer, turned on the burners, lapping several athletes; Kelati took the W, with Valby in second and Karissa Schweizer in third (and just 0.004 seconds between them). Fun fact: Jess McClain earned her second alternate spot on Team USA by coming in fourth; she was also fourth at the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials.
The night wrapped with the final for the men’s 200m dash, in which Noah Lyles ran a world-leading 19.53, followed by Kenny Bednarek and Erriyon Knighton—so the same team from Tokyo will be headed to Paris. Christian Coleman came in fourth, his second alternate position at the Games, after finishing fourth in the 100m as well (he’ll likely represent Team USA in the relay).
Sunday - Day 10
Every competition on Sunday was for a spot on Team USA, and the athletes delivered, even under intense pressure: Day 10 produced 33 personal bests, seven meet records, and one world record.
The men’s 5000m kicked the day off, with a battle between last year’s U.S. champion Abdi Nur and this year’s 10,000m champion Grant Fisher. Woody Kincaid went out hard, likely to push the pace, and Fisher and Nur traded the lead back and forth until the final strides, where Fisher kicked for the win (and this was after setting a meet record in winning the 5000m). There was another fight for third, with Parker Wolfe finally edging out Graham Blanks with a new personal best (but Blanks has the Olympic standard while Wolfe does not, so it’s unclear who’s going to Paris).
The men’s 800m final was similarly exciting. Six out of the top seven finishers clocked personal bests, but Bryce Hoppel won with a meet record of 1:42.77; Hobbs Kessler came in second and Brandon Miller fought for his life to snag that third spot on Team USA.
In the women’s 100m hurdles, the top three women all ran personal bests, but Masai Russel ran a world lead and meet record of 12.25 to secure the gold (and earn her the fourth spot on the world all-time list).
The women’s 1500m was one of the most anticipated races of the night, with four Olympians competing alongside several national champions and an American record holders in the final. Elle St. Perrier set the pace for the majority of the race, but Nikki Hiltz, Emily Mackay, and Tokyo Olympian Heather MacLean challenged her in the final lap. Hiltz’s lethal kick over the last 100 earned them the W and a spot on their first Olympic team. Mackay was second and St. Pierre third, and it took running sub-3:56 to make Team USA for the Paris Olympics—considerably faster than the Olympic standard of 4:02:50. (Read more about this race and what it means for American women’s distance running at Outside Run!)
In the 400m hurdles, Rai Benjamin ran a world lead and meet record of 46.46, finishing over a second faster than his competitors; he now has eight of the top ten fastest times in American history in this event.
And, finally, Sydney McLaughlin shut down the meet by setting a world record in the women’s 400m hurdles: 50.65 seconds. No one was surprised that she won the race, but the fact that she made a world record look easy is pretty mind-blowing.
Overall, we have a pretty stellar team representing the USA in Paris this summer. I wrote about how American runners have never been faster for Outside Run, and want to reiterate that here: Track and field athletes are pushing the limits of human potential, and the amazing amount of athleticism on display at Hayward Field is driving viewership numbers: 5.2 million people tuned in to NBC to watch the Sunday, June 24 Olympic Trials, according to four-time Olympic medalist and NBC Sports broadcast analyst Ato Boldon—that’s the biggest audience for the sport in 12 years. But industry estimates suggest that nearly 50 million people in the United States went running at least once in 2023. It’s time to convert those runners into fans of the sport, and these Trials may have been the best place to start.
the rundown
Brooks Hyperion Max 2
I know Brooks running shoes are super popular, but their models have never really made it into my go-to rotation. That’s going to change with the second iteration of the Hyperion Max. The biggest update is a nylon plate, which potentially puts this in the super trainer category depending on your definition. I found it to be the bounciest Brooks shoe I’ve worn, and that may also be thanks to the addition of nitrogen-infused DNA FLASH v2 cushioning, which the brand says is nearly 10 percent more responsive than before. Plus, there’s a lot more cushioning: four more millimeters in the heel and six in the forefoot, which brings the full stack height to 30 (much closer to my “max” preferences). I also loved how much like a hug the upper felt like, and the colorway is fire—although I did a number on it running Pre’s Trail in Eugene.
Are You Fatigued or Just Bored?
You know how easy it is to mentally check out during a run? Well, a small new study published in Psychology of Sport and Exercise investigated the effects of different types of mental fatigue on running performance. Researchers had participants complete a three-kilomention run after three separate 32-minute conditions: a demanding task, a boring task, and a control control condition (watching a nature documentary). Before after the three cognitive tasks, they also completed an attention-based task. They found that the cognitively demanding task led to poorer performance on the attention-based task, while the boring task led to the slowest 3K completion times. The takeaway: Boredom can negatively impact running performance, so choose what you do beforehand and what you listen to during your run wisely!
Michael Johnson’s Grand Slam Track Starts Fast. Will It Succeed Where Others Have Failed?
Details are starting to trickle out around Michael Johnson’s new track league, and Runner’s World has a great article covering the launch event (which announced Sydney McLaughlin-Levine as the marquee athlete). Writer Andrew Grief breaks down how the league will work, where the money—”the largest pool of prize money in the sport’s history”—is coming from and how it will be distributed, and how this is different from previous attempts to take track mainstream.
It was such a fun weekend event to watch; I didn’t know you were there!