Allman, Constien, prevail in Olympic Trials
Olympic champ wins discus by a bunch, runner takes thrilling steeplechase
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One performance was incredibly dominant.
The other was the result of a good-old-fashion, highly competitive, back-and-forth foot race.
But Valarie Allman and Valerie Constien each produced stellar efforts in winning the women’s discus throw and 3,000-meter steeplechase, respectively, in the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Eugene, Oregon, on Thursday.
Allman’s top throw of 70.73 meters (232 feet 0 inches) was more than eight meters farther than what Jayden Ulrich of the University of Louisville (62.63/205-5) and NCAA champion Veronica Fraley of Vanderbilt (62.54/205-2) threw in finishing in second and third place, respectively. And the shortest of the defending Olympic champion’s five fair throws, which was 67.19 (220-5), would have won the competition by more than four and a half meters.
Constien, who underwent ACL surgery on May 23 of last year, won the steeplechase in a meet-record time of 9:03.22 that crushed her previous best of 9:14.29, moved her to third on the all-time U.S. performer list, and led the next five finishers to career bests that made them the fourth-, fifth-, seventh-, 10th, and 11th-fastest Americans in history.
The 29-year Allman entered the meet at the University of Oregon’s Hayward Field on an 11-meet winning streak since she had finished second to compatriot Lagi Tausaga-Collins in last year’s World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary, when Tausaga-Collins improved her personal best by more than four meters during the competition.
When Tausaga-Collins was eliminated in the qualifying round on Monday when none of her three throws landed inside the throwing sector, defending Trials champion Allman became even more heavily favored in the final on Thursday
She wasted no time in establishing her dominance. She threw 67.19 (220-5) in the first round and followed that with a 68.09 (223-4) effort in the second before a foul in the third that landed outside of the left-side sector line.
She improved to 69.72 (228-9) in the fourth round before hitting 67.64 (221-11) in the fifth. She then unleashed her 70.73 (232-0) effort on the final throw of the competition.
While Allman’s lone qualifying throw of 70.89 (232-7) on Monday had set a meet record, she was under a lot more pressure in the final than in the qualifying round.
“I think in 2021, (the) Olympic trials was like such a special meet for me, and I really felt like I found my momentum,” Allman was quoted as saying in a registerguard.com post. “And I was hoping to have a similar type of experience at this one that coming into this next month, I would really feel like training and my competitions, my technique was all coming together. I don't think I could feel more excited for this next month just based on how this meet went.”
Allman, who has been the No. 1-ranked discus thrower in the world for the previous three year by Track & Field News, became the third American to win an Olympic title in the women’s discus when she won the gold medal in Tokyo in 2021. But she had finished third and second, respectively, in the two World Championships since then after entering those competitions as the favorite.
“It was a great time,” she said. “It's been a bit of a journey. In 2021, it was so fun to be the underdog and climbing. That was such a fun feeling, and I think the last few years I just felt pressure and I lost like that excitement to go for it.
“I feel like it's just back you know. Whatever the result is, I'm really grateful for just how my life has changed, to have more balance and consistency outside of track that I feel like it's showing itself now when I walk into the ring. It's helping me to get to that next level that I've always hoped was there.”
Constien had finished third in the steeplechase in the Olympic Trials in 2021, but the recovery from her surgery had been a long one as she did not start running until last September and at one point figured she was not going to be fit enough to compete in this year’s meet.
“I didn’t think I was going to be here,” she said in a letsrun.com interview from Thursday. “I thought, ‘Well, it’s a bummer I am going to miss 2024, but at least I’ll be healthy for 2025.’ ”
Her outlook brightened in April when she ran 4:12.27 to win a heat of the women’s 1,500 meters in the Bryan Clay Invitational at Azuza Pacific University and a month later she ran 9:27.22 to win the steeplechase in the Track Fest meet at Occidental College in Eagle Rock, California.
That time qualified her for the Olympic Trials, but the 28-year-old still did not view herself as a contender for a top-three finish in the meet. That changed two weeks later when she ran a personal best of 9:14.29 while finishing fifth in the Prefontaine Classic at Hayward Field on May 25.
She looked very under control in finishing second in 9:29.61 in her qualifying heat on Monday and then charged into the lead heading down the final backstretch on Thursday while on her way to the fifth-fastest time in U.S. history.
It was an interesting race as Annie Rodefels pushed the pace during the early going and came through the first kilometer in 3:00.53. She was more then three seconds ahead of second-place Courtney Wayment at that point in the race, but she was employing some unusual steeplechase techniques as she would take a side-step to her left every time she was about to clear a barrier or water jump. In addition, she would land with both feet in the water jump, instead of the conventional way in which a runner lands on one foot as a way to keep their momentum going forward.
Wayment was in the lead when she came through 2,000 meters in 6:08.23 and she would remain there for the next 700 or so meters but Constien was never far behind her and she ran the final 300 meters of the race in 49.26 seconds, two and half seconds faster than Wayment’s split over the same stretch.
In the battle for the final two spots on the team, NCAA runner-up Olivia Markezich of Notre Dame had a small lead over Wayment and Marisa Howard heading over the final water jump, but Markezich fell back to fourth place after she landed awkwardly.
She was not far behind Wayment and Howard as they approached the final barrier early in the home straightaway, but she crashed to the track after either hitting the barrier or just coming down awkwardly off it.
While Wayment went on to finish second in 9:06.50 and Howard placed third in 9:07.14 to move to fourth and fifth, respectively, on the all-time U.S. performer list, a completely spent Markezich cross the finished line in sixth place with a time of 9:14.87 that made her the 11th-fastest American ever.
Gabbi Jennings, considered a pre-race favorite by many, placed fourth in 9:12.08 to move to seventh on the all-time U.S. performer list and Kaylee Mitchell finished fifth in 9:14.05 to move to 10th.
Constien had previously said that she thought it would take a sub-9:10 clocking to place among the top three finishers in the race, but she was pleasantly surprised to have run much faster than that.
“I knew it was going to be fast,” she said. “Did I think I was going to run 9:03? No.”
Although Courtney Frerichs and Emma Coburn, the two fastest Americans in history at 8:57.77 and 9:02.35, did compete in the Trials because they are working their way back from surgeries, their absence should take nothing away from the performance of Constien, who moved to third on the yearly world performer list with her effort.
“I feel like I am just starting to reach my potential and figure out how good I am and hopefully I can keep it going,” Constien said.
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After a two-day break from competition on Tuesday and Wednesday, no other finals were contested on Thursday, which was the fifth day of the eight-day meet.
Semifinals were contested in the men’s 110-meter high hurdles and the remainder of the schedule for track events included first-heats in the men’s and women’s 200 meters, the men’s and women’s 400 hurdles, the men’s 800 and 5,000, and the women’s 1,500.
In the field events, qualifying was held in the men’s high jump and discus, and in the women’s long jump.
Grant Holloway, the three-time defending World champion in the men’s 110 high hurdles, turned in another stellar performance when he won the first of three semifinals in 12.96 seconds, the second-fastest time in the world this year.
He had run a world-leading 12.92 in winning his qualifying heat on Monday.
Freddie Crittenden won the second semifinal in 13.05 and World Championship bronze medalist Daniel Roberts took the third in 13.11.
Noah Lyles and Sha’Carri Richardson, winners of the men’s and women’s 100 meters last weekend, led qualifying in the first-round heats at the half-lap distance.
Lyles, the three-time defending World champion, won the second of four men’s heats in 20.10. The other winners were Erriyon Knighton in 20.15, and Courtney Lindsey and Kenny Bednarek, both in 20.28.
Richardson won the second of four women’s heats in 21.99, with the other heats going to World Championship silver medalist Gabby Thomas in 22.11, Brittany Brown in 22.29, and recently-crowned NCAA champion McKenzie Long in 22.49.
In the five heats of the men’s 400 intermediate hurdles, the three fastest times were produced by NCAA champion Caleb Dean of Texas Tech at 49.45, NCAA runner-up Chris Robinson of Alabama at 49.54, and Olympic silver medalist Rai Benjamin at 49.56.
In the women’s 400 hurdles, defending Olympic champion and world record-holder Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone won the first of four heats with a time of 53.07 seconds. The other heats were won by Anna Cockrell in 54.71, Rachel Glenn of the University of Arkansas in 55.03, and NCAA champion Jasmine Jones of USC in 55.54.
The two heats of the men’s 5,000 were won by Woody Kincaid in 13:23.91 and Cole Hocker in 13:33.45.
While Kincaid, the runner-up in the 10,000 earlier in the meet, clocked 54.43 seconds for his last lap and 1:53.91 for his final 800 in the second heat, 1,500 winner Hocker was even faster as he produced splits of 53.35 and 1:52.63 in the first heat.
Elle St. Pierre, Cory McGee, and Heather MacLean, the top three finishers in the women’s 1,500 meters in the Olympic Trials in 2021, won the three heats of that event on Thursday.
St. Pierre, winner of the 5,000 on Monday, ran 4:06.41 in the third heat, with McGee taking the first in 4:15.75 and MacLean clocking 4:07.31 in the second.
Sadie Engelhardt of Ventura High, who had lowered the national high school outdoor record in the girls’ mile to 4:28.26 earlier this month, finished 12th — and last — in the second heat in 4:19.66 as a long season filled with a lot of fast races appeared to have caught up with her.
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The four first-round heats of the men’s 800 were won by World indoor champion Bryce Hoppel in 1:46.83, NCAA runner-up Sam Whitmarsh of Texas A&M in 1:46.13, Clayton Murphy in 1:47.05, and Tinoda Matsatsa of Georgetown University in 1:46.73.
In the men’s high jump, 10 competitors, including World Championship silver medalist JuVaugh Harrison, advanced to the final by clearing 2.19 (7-2¼) and another two moved on by making the opening height of 2.14 (7-0¼) on their first attempts.
Reggie Jagers was the leading qualifier in the men’s discus with a throw of 65.52 (214-11). He was followed by Andrew Evans in second place at 65.31 (214-3) and Turner Washington in third at 65.00 (213-3).
World indoor champion Tara Davis-Woodhall led qualifying in the women’s long jump at 6.93 (22-9), and she was followed by Jasmine Moore at 6.92 (22-8½), and World indoor silver medalist Monae’ Nichols at 6.85 (22-5¾).
Moore won the triple jump earlier in the meet.
Today’s meet will begin today at 7 p.m., Eastern Daylight Time, with qualifying in the women’s javelin.
Qualifying in the men’s hammer throw will start at 7:30, with the first track events beginning at 8:23 with first-round heats of the women’s 100-meter hurdles.
The final of the men’s 110-meter high hurdles, which will be held at 10:50, will conclude the fifth day of competition. It will be the only final of the day.
You can click here for a meet schedule, as well as results.