Lyles' overdrive keys victory in 100 meters
Defending World champion ties personal best in winning Olympic Trials
Two years ago, I thought that Fred Kerley had the best top-end speed of any male sprinter on the planet.
But after watching Noah Lyles’ winning performance in the men’s 100 meters in the U.S. Olympic Trials in Eugene, Oregon, on Sunday, it would appear, at least for the time being, that no sprinter in the world is faster than him when they have shifted into overdrive.
The 26-year-old Lyles got off to a solid start in the race at the University of Oregon’s Hayward Field, but a typically-fast start from 2019 World champion Christian Coleman left him with a clear lead after 30 meters. And others such as Courtney Lindsey, prep phenom Christian Miller, and Kenny Bednarek were also out ahead of Lyles, who was clad in a red kit with a pearl necklace.
However, Lyles clearly began to make up ground on those ahead of him 50 meters in the race and he swept past first-place Coleman with about 25 to go and seem to pull Bednarek and 2022 World champion Kerley in his wake as Coleman faded to a disappointing fourth place.
Lyles’ winning time of 9.83 seconds, which was aided by a small breeze of 0.4 meters per second, tied the personal best that he first set in winning the 100 in last year’s World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary, and it left him four hundredths of a second ahead of second-place Bednarek’s personal best of 9.87.
Kerley, who had set his personal best of 9.76 in a semifinal of the USA Track & Field Outdoor Championships at Hayward Field in 2022, finished third in 9.88 with Coleman fourth in 9.93.
Miller, who just completed his senior year at Creekside High School in St. Johns, Florida, finished fifth in 9.98, followed by Lindsey in 10.02, Brandon Hicklin in 10.03, and Kendal Williams in 10.04.
“It’s part of the plan. Nothing, nothing changed… When you have a goal, you have a goal,” Lyles said when Lewis Johnson of NBC Sports asked him about him taking a big first step toward his goal of winning four gold medals in the Olympic Games in Paris in August.
Lyles, who raised his right arm in celebration with a couple strides left in the race, then added that a seventh-place finish in the 100 in the Olympic Trials in 2021 and a third-place performance in the 200 in the Olympics in Tokyo fueled the drive that helped him win the 100 and 200, and run an anchor leg on the victorious 4 x 100-meter relay team, in last year’s World Championships, and has him hoping to add the 4 x 400 relay to his competitive itinerary in Paris.
“Yeah, three years ago I got second to last. This year I came in and won it. You know, if I didn’t get that third in Tokyo, I wouldn’t have had that desire. I wouldn’t have had that fire burning. I wouldn’t have accomplished what I accomplished in the past, and because we look to the future with open eyes, anything can happen.”
Not surprisingly, the semifinals held a little more than two hours before the final produced plenty of fireworks.
Lindsey won the first semifinal in a wind-aided 9.88 to the 9.89 of Kerley and the 9.94 of Miller.
Lyles and Olympic 200 silver medalist Bednarek then clocked wind-aided times of 9.80 and 9.82, respectively, in the second semifinal before Coleman ran a season best of 9.86 in the third semifinal while easing up substantially in the last 10 meters of the race. Hicklin placed second in 9.95.
Many track and field prognosticators tabbed Coleman as the greatest threat to Lyles in the final, but he was unable to run as well as he had in his semifinal, ending up a place short of making the U.S. 100-meter squad for Paris.
While the men’s 100 was the most eagerly-anticipated event of the day on Sunday, finals were also contested in the women’s 400 and hammer throw, and in the men’s 3,000-meter steeplechase, pole vault, and javelin.
The first four events of the heptathlon were also held.
The women’s 400 could be characterized as a race of redemption for the top three finishers as winner Kendall Ellis, runner-up Aaliyah Bailey, and third-place Alexis Holmes produced personal bests of 49.46, 49.71, and 49.78, respectively.
The 28-year-old Ellis had represented the U.S. in the 400 in the 2017, ’19, and ’22 World Championships, but had been eliminated in the semifinals of last year’s USA Track & Field Outdoor Championships.
Butler, a sophomore at the University of Georgia, had run a then-personal best of 49.79 to place fourth in the SEC championships in May, but she had been eliminated in the semifinals of the NCAA championships when she finished fourth in her heat with a time of 51.64.
Holmes had run a 48.82-second anchor leg on the U.S. team that set a world record of 3:08.80 in the mixed 4 x 400-meter relay in last year’s World Championships, but a favored U.S. team was later disqualified after winning a heat of the women’s 1,600 relay because Holmes had taken off so early on her leg that she was beyond the end of the passing zone by the time she received the baton.
Ellis had a personal best of 49.99 from 2018 entering the meet, but she won her semifinal in 49.81 on Saturday and moved from fourth to first in the home straightaway of the final on Sunday while moving to ninth on the all-time U.S. performer list.
Butler had a small lead over second-place Shamier Little with 100 meters left in the race, and though three women ran faster than her over the final fourth of the contest, she was able to hang on for second place.
Holmes went from sixth place to third during the final 100 meters as her 49.78 clocking bettered her previous best of 50.19 that she had run in her semifinal and left her well ahead of fourth-place Kaylyn Brown of Arkansas, who finished fourth in 50.07 after leading the race through 200 meters in 23.54 seconds.
“I told y’all in February that I was here to make some teams. And that’s exactly what I did today,” Ellis told Johnson as he interviewed the three medalists.
“The goal today was to put all the pieces together,” Holmes said. “I knew it was going to take a lifetime best so I came out here knowing I was going to execute it.”
The women’s hammer throw produced some of the biggest surprises of the meet thus far as Annette Echikunwoke won the event with a season best of 74.68 meters (245 feet 0 inches) in a competition in which 2022 World champion and yearly world-leader Brooke Andersen put all three of her throws into the right-side netting of the cage and 2023 World Championship silver medalist Janee Kassanavoid finished sixth at 69.46 (227-11) after fouling on her three of her first four attempts.
DeAnna Price, the 2019 World champion and the bronze medalist in last year’s meet, finished second behind Echikunwoke with a best of 74.52 (244-6) and Erin Reese finished third after her sixth-round throw of 71.21 (233-7) moved her up three spots from sixth place.
The 27-year-old Echikunwoke had entered the meet with a season best of 73.80 (242-1), but that left her well behind Andersen (79.92/262-2), Price (77.16/253-2), and Kassanavoid (75.99/249-3).
However, she got off her 74.68 effort in the first round, which exceeded the Olympic qualifying standard of 74.00 (242-9), and to the surprise of many, that ended up being the best throw of the competition.
Price had three throws ranging from 74.01 (242-9) to 74.52 (244-6), but she could not overtake Echikunwoke.
“I’m so freakin happy.” Echikunwoke was quoted as saying in a registerguard.com post. “The goal coming in was just be top three and to be No. 1 right now, like, oh my God, I’m super stoked.”
It was a strange competition as seven of the 12 throwers fouled on their second-round attempts and Andersen, the third-longest thrower in history with a best of 80.17 (263-0), was unable to register a fair throw.
A shoulder injury had contributed to Andersen’s elimination in the qualifying round of last year’s World Championships, but she did not appear to be dealing with any physical issues on Sunday.
“To be a competitor and also a spectator of those big names, it’s like dang, you’re hoping that people do their best,” Echikunwoke said. “You want to compete when everybody’s at their best. But you also gotta win on the day and that’s the name of the game so I’m glad I was able to play that game well today.”
Sam Kendricks cleared a meet record of 5.92 (19-5) to win the men’s pole vault and qualify for his third Olympic team.
Behind him, Olympic silver medalist Chris Nilsen and Jacob Wooten tied for second at 5.87 (19-3).
It was 31-year-old Kendricks’ second Olympic Trials victory as the 2017 and 2019 World champion had six clearances and only one miss during the competition.
Kendricks, who missed the Olympic Games in Tokyo after testing positive for COVID-19, cleared 5.47 (17-11¼) on his first attempt before also making 5.62 (18-5¼), 5.72 (18-9¼), 5.82 (19-1), and 5.87 (19-3) on his first tries.
He was in first place based on his clean sheet at that point in competition and he clinched the victory when he made 5.92 (19-5) on his second attempt and Nilsen and Wooten missed all three of their tries at that height. Kendricks did not attempt another height after that.
Kenneth Rooks won the men’s 3,000-meter steeplechase in 8:21.92 and he was followed by Matthew Wilkinson in second place in 8:23.00 and James Corrigan of BYU in 8:26.78.
Rooks, 24, had won the USA Track & Field Outdoor Championships last year after falling over a barrier early in that race, but he managed to avoid any mishaps on Sunday and won the race by a comfortable margin.
With the early pace being extremely slow, Joey Berriatua led the field through 1,000 meters in 3:00.18 and Wilkinson was in the lead at two kilometers in 5:47.79. Rooks was in third place at that point in the race and when he surged into the lead with just under two laps to go, no one was able to go with him.
He had a 30-meter lead over second-place Wilkinson when he began the bell lap, and though he gave up some of his advantage during the final home straightaway, he was never in danger of being passed.
Curtis Thompson won his second Olympic Trials title in the men’s javelin after getting off a season-best throw of 83.04 (272-5) in the first round.
Capers Williamson placed second with a season best of 79.57 (261-0) and Donavon Banks finished third at 79.19 (259-9).
The 28-year-old Thompson, who won the USATF title last year, followed his 83.04 effort in the first round with throws of 73.92 (242-6) and 80.75 (264-1) on his next two attempts before fouling on his last three.
Because no competitors in the steeplechase or javelin fields have met the Olympic qualifying standards of 8:15.00 or 85.50 (280-6), each of the top three finishers will have to hope that they will advance to the Olympic Games in Paris based on their standing in World Athletics’ ranking system.
With the one-year qualifying period ending on June 30, which is the last day of Olympic Trials, World Athletics is expected to release its final rankings on July 7.
The athletics competition in the Olympic Games will start on August 1.
In the heptathlon, favored Anna Hall had the lead after the first day, but the standings were extremely tight as her 3,884-point total gave her a 10-point lead over second-place Chari Hawkins at 3,874 and a 23-point advantage over third-place Taliyah Brooks at 3,861.
Allie Jones was in fourth place with 3,763 points, followed by Jenelle Rogers at 3,751, and Cheyenne Nesbitt at 3,744.
Michelle Atherley had posted the fastest time of the competition in the 100-meter hurdles when she ran 12.73 seconds in the opening event, but Hall was in the lead in the overall standings following the high jump as her clearance of 1.82 (5-11½) topped the competition after she had run the No. 7 time in the 100 hurdles at 13.34.
Hall had a very solid 14.35 (47-1) effort in the shot put, but Hawkins’ personal best of 14.67 (48-1¾) was enough to give her a 19-point lead (2,913 to 2,894) over second-place Hall in the standings.
The 23-year-old Hall then produced a 23.90 clocking in the 200 that helped the silver medalist in last year’s World Championships pick up 29 points on Hawkins, who ran 24.21 in the event.
Semifinals in the men’s 400 meters and the women’s 800 were also contested on Sunday.
In the men’s 400, the three semifinals were won by 2023 World Championship bronze medalist Quincy Hall in 44.42, Bryce Deadmon in 44.44, and 2022 World champion Michael Norman in 45.30.
The top two finishers in each semifinal automatically advanced to tonight’s final, with three more individuals advancing based their times in their respective semifinal race.
Quincy Wilson, who just completed his sophomore year at the Bullis School in Potomoc, Maryland, was the fastest competitor to advance on time as he finished third in the second semifinal in a personal best of 44.59.
The time lowered the world U18 (under 18) and national high school record of 44.66 that the 16-year-old Wilson had set in winning his first-round heat on Friday.
In the women’s 800, the three semifinals were won by Olympic and 2022 World champion Athing Mu in 1:58.84, Olympic bronze medalist Raevyn Rogers in 2:01.08, and Allie Wilson in 2:00.29.
The three time qualifiers all came out of the first semifinal in which Kate Grace placed second in 1:58.97, followed by Michaela Rose of LSU in 1:59.00, Juliette Whittaker of Stanford in 1:59.58, and Kristie Schoffield in 2:00.64.
Rose, as she often does, pushed the pace from the start of the race, leading the field through 200 meters in 27.48 seconds, 400 in 57.75, and 600 in 1:27.91.
She still had a solid lead midway down the final straightaway, but Mu passed her in the final 15 meters of the race and Grace was able to nip her at the finish line as Rose left the inside of lane one open.
The heptathlon long jump will kick off today’s meet at 1 p.m., Eastern Daylight Time, and it will be followed by the heptathlon javelin throw at 2:10 p.m.
Qualifying in the women’s discus will commence at 8 p.m., followed by heats in the men’s 110-meter high hurdles at 8:05.
In addition to the conclusion of the heptathlon, finals will be held in the women’s high jump, starting at 8:15, the men’s long jump, beginning at 8:25, and the men’s 1,500 at 8:47.
The meet will conclude with finals in the men’s 400 at 9:59, the women’s 5,000 at 10:09, and the women’s 800 at 10:32.
You can click on the following link for live results of the meet.