What a way to end the meet!
McLaughlin-Levrone's world record caps dynamite final day in Olympic Trials
On a day when track athletes dominated the proceedings, no performer was more dominant than Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone in the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Eugene, Oregon, on Sunday.
Competing in the final event on the final day of the eight-day meet, the defending Olympic champion set a world record of 50.65 seconds in the women’s 400-meter hurdles in winning a race that was the first in history in which four women ran under 53 seconds.
The time by the 24-year-old McLaughlin-Levrone shaved three hundredths of a second off the world record of 50.68 that she had set in the 2022 World Athletics Championships while running on the same Hayward Field track at the University of Oregon.
That effort had bettered McLaughlin-Levrone’s previous world record of 51.41 by such a large margin that plenty of track and field experts and fans alike wondered if it might stand for a decade or two. But she broke it less than two years later with her performance on Sunday.
“I wasn’t expecting that,” McLaughlin-Levrone told Lewis Johnson of NBC Sports. “I’m just amazed, baffled, and shocked.”
McLaughlin-Levrone’s performance broke the Trials record of 51.90 that had made her the first woman in history to break 52 seconds in the event and it came in a race in which second-place Anna Cockrell and third-place Jasmine Jones of USC ran 52.64 and 52.77, respectively, to move to seventh and eighth on the all-time U.S. performer list.
Cockrell’s time also moved her to 11th on the all-time world list, while NCAA champion Jones is tied for 13th.
Shamier Little, the silver medalist in last year’s World Championships in Budapest, Hungary, finished fourth in 52.98, followed by Rachel Glenn of the University of Arkansas in a personal best of 53.46. Dalilah Muhammad, who won the 2016 Olympic title and finished second in the Games in Tokyo in 2021 with a career best of 51.58, finished sixth in 54.27 while competing in what was expected to be the final Olympic Trials race of her career.
McLaughlin-Levrone, who made her first Olympic team in 2016 following her junior year at Union Catholic Regional High School in Scotch Plains, New Jersey, sped to an early lead in the race on Sunday and continued to widen her advantage all the way to the finish line.
According to data on the meet website, she was .15 seconds ahead of second-place Cockrell at the first hurdle and the gap was .38 seconds at the fifth barrier. She then picked up .11 to .13 seconds on Cockrell during each of the next three hurdles before increasing her lead by .27 seconds at hurdle nine and by .29 at hurdle 10.
With the crowd roaring its approval, she cleared the ninth hurdle in perfect stride. She altered her steps a little bit approaching the 10th barrier so she could clear it while leading with her right leg, but she negotiated it cleanly before continuing on and leaning across the finish line.
Her performance came in her second 400 hurdle final of the year and comes after a 2023 season in which she had not run a race in the event while focusing her attention on the 400 meters.
It also occurred a little less than 24 hours after she had cruised to a yearly world-leading time of 52.48 in her semifinal and three days after she had run an even easier-looking 53.07 in a first-round heat.
Her latest world record gives her the three fastest times in history, as well as four of the top five, six of the top eight, and seven of the top 10.
She also has seven of the 11 sub-52 clockings ever run and the average of her top 10 times is a scintillating 51.63, a time that has been bettered only by McLaughlin-Levrone five times, and once each by Femke Bol of the Netherlands and Muhammad.
The 24-year-old Bol had dominated 400 hurdle landscape last year while McLaughlin-Levrone’s attention was focused on the 400, a event in which she lowered her personal best to 48.74 seconds while winning the USA Track & Field Outdoor Championships.
However, McLaughlin-Levrone is currently in the midst of season unlike any she has ever had as she has also run 22.07 in the 200, 48.75 in the 400, and 12.71 in the 100 hurdles this year.
If the past is any indication, there is a good chance that McLaughlin-Levrone will not contest another race until she runs in a first-round heat of the 400 hurdles in the Olympic Games in Paris on August 4.
The semifinals are scheduled for August 6, with the final on August 8.
McLaughlin-Levrone has now set four of her five world records at Hayward Field, with three of them coming in the national championships. She set her second world record of 51.46 in the Olympic Games in 2021 and her fourth of 50.68 in the World Championships in 2022.
“I think there’s something really exciting about trying to figure out how to improve upon history in whatever capacity that looks like,” McLaughlin-Levrone was quoted as saying in a World Athletics post. “That always is something that I’m looking at, and I’m just grateful that thus far we’ve been able to continue to do it.
“I would love to dip under 50 at some point,” she said when asked how fast she thought she could go. “I don’t know if that’s this year, I don’t know if that’s next year, but always chipping away, seeing what’s possible, and continuing to just improve.”
While McLaughlin-Levrone had the best performance of a meet that finished with an emphatic bang on Sunday, records for the Trials were set in six of the other nine events, including in all five of the races on the track.
The top performances came from Rai Benjamin, who ran the fifth-fastest time in history in the men’s 400 intermediate hurdles, Masai Russell, who moved into a tie for fourth on the all-time world performer list in the women’s 100 hurdles, and Bryce Hoppel, who moved to third on the all-time U.S. performer list in the men’s 800.
The 26-year-Benjamin led the field through the first three flights of hurdles in the intermediates, dropped back into third place for hurdles four and five, and then retook the lead at hurdle six while powering away from his closest pursuers.
Caleb Dean of Texas Tech University, who had run 47.23 in winning the NCAA title on June 7, was in the lead at the fourth hurdle and NCAA runner-up Chris Robinson of Alabama was in front at the fifth. But Dean would not complete the race after crashing the ninth hurdle while in fifth place and Robinson would finish fourth in 47.96 after being repelled by veterans CJ Allen (47.81) and Trevor Bassitt (47.82) in the homestretch.
Benjamin’s time was the third fastest of his career and bettered the yearly world-leading time of 46.63 that 2022 World Champion Alison dos Santos of Brazil had run in the Bislett Games in Oslo on May 30.
It also gave him eight sub-47 clockings during a career that has seen him win silver medals in the World Championships in 2019 and ’22, and in the Olympic Games in 2021, as well as a bronze medal in last year’s global title meet.
That third-place finish in Budapest, Hungary, occurred after his training had been severely hampered by a injury since the middle of April. But he rebounded from it to defeat world record-holder Karsten Warholm of Norway in the Prefontaine Classic in September with a time of 46.39 and he followed that with a winning time of 46.64 in the USA Track & Field Los Angeles Grand Prix at UCLA in mid-May.
Benjamin, defending Olympic champion Warholm, and dos Santos have combined to run the 15 fastest times in history and their expected showdown in Paris should be one of the athletics highlights of the Games.
“It’s going to be phenomenal in Paris,” Benjamin was quoted as saying in the World Athletics post. “One meet at a time, one round at a time, and if the conditions are right, and the circumstance is right, there’s gonna be fireworks.”
The 24-year-old Russell entered the Trials with a season best of 12.63 in the 100 hurdles. Her outdoor season had consisted of one second-place finish, as well as a fourth, a fifth, two sixths, a ninth, and a DNF (did not finish). However, she caught fire in Eugene.
First, she shaved a hundredth of a second off her personal best with a winning time of 12.35 seconds in a first-round heat on Friday. Then she ran 12.36 in taking a semifinal on Saturday.
On Sunday, she came from behind to clock a winning 12.25 in a race in which six women ran under 12.40 and the first three set personal bests.
Russell’s time moved her into second on the all-time U.S. performer list behind Keni Harrison’s 12.20 from 2016 and into a tie for fourth the all-time world list. It is also tied for the seventh-fastest performance in history.
Alaysha Johnson and NCAA champion Grace Stark of the University of Florida finished second and third in identical times of 12.31 to move into a tie for fifth on the all-time U.S. performer list and into a four-way tie for 12th on the all-time world list.
Nia Ali, the 2019 World champion, placed fourth in 12.37, followed by Tonea Marshall in fifth in 12.38, and Olympic silver medalist Harrison in sixth at 12.39.
“I have so many emotions because this has been the hardest season of my life,” a tearful Russell told Johnson of NBC Sports. “People were doubting me. Talking about ever since I signed with Nike I’ve been trash. Just saying all these things about me. But I just stayed true to myself, my work and my craft and this is all God.”
Ali and Marshall were the clear leaders after the first three hurdles of the race, but Russell began to work her way to the front of the field from hurdles four through seven before moving amongst the leaders at the eighth hurdle and then edging away from everyone during the remainder of the race.
While it might take some time to determine if Sunday’s race was a definitive changing of the guard in the U.S., there is no denying that Russell was the world leader at the conclusion of the day and Johnson and Stark were tied for third with European champion Cyrena Samba-Mayela of France on the yearly performer list.
Hoppel turned in an impressive display of front running while winning the men’s 800 meters by a large margin with a time of 1:42.77.
The time bettered his previous best of 1:43.23 from 2020, moved him to third on the all-time U.S. performer list, and was the fifth-fastest time ever by an American.
Hobbs Kessler, who trains with Hoppel in Flagstaff, Arizona, finished second in a personal best of 1:43.64, followed by Brandon Miller in 1:43.97.
The next three finishers also recorded personal bests as Josh Hoey placed fourth in 1:44.12, Jonah Koch was fifth in 1:44.32, and NCAA champion Shane Cohen of the University of Virginia finished sixth in 1:44.65.
Kessler’s runner-up finish in the 800 followed his third-place effort in the 1,500 earlier in the meet and made him the first man to have made the U.S. Olympic team in both the 800 and 1,500 since Rick Wohlhuter in 1976.
Wohlhuter placed third in the 800 and sixth in the 1,500 in the Games in Montreal.
The 26-year-old Hoppel, who won the World indoor title on March 3, was in first place when he came through the first 200 meters in 24.08 seconds and he remained there when he passed 400 in 51.20.
Miller tried to go past him down the backstretch, but Hoppel repelled his charge and led the field through 600 meters in 1:17.29.
He then ran his last 200 meters in 25.48 seconds, which was faster than anyone else in the race, save for Cohen, who is known for coming from well off the pace in the final home straightaway.
“I wanted to make it fast out here. I was saying 1:42,” Kessler said to Johnson. “Now I’m just excited to come out here, blessed to have all these people behind me. It’s not [just] me out there. My family and everyone is behind me. There’s a lot that makes me do it.”
The women’s 1,500 was another depth-laden affair as the top eight finishers ran personal bests and Nikki Hiltz, Emily Mackay, and Elle St. Pierre became the second, third, and fourth Americans to break 3:56 with their times of 3:55.33, 3:55.90, and 3:55.99, respectively.
It is interesting to note that Hiltz and Mackay had placed second and third, respectively, in the 1,500 in the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow, Scotland, in early March, while St. Pierre won the 3,000 by outkicking Gudaf Tsegay of Ethiopia.
St. Pierre had won the 5,000 earlier in the meet after winning a thrilling homestretch duel with Elise Cranny, but she pushed the pace from the start of the 1,500, coming through 400 meters in 61.19, 800 in 2:05.55, and 1,200 in 3:08.77. However, Mackay had the lead with 200 meters to go and she was closely pursued by Heather MacLean, St. Pierre, Hiltz, Sinclaire Johnson, and Cranny.
Mackay and St. Pierre were running 1-2 with 100 meters left in the race, but Hiltz went around them with about 50 meters remaining and she won going away.
The time by Hiltz annihilated their previous best of 3:59.61 and was the second fastest in U.S. history behind the 3:54.99 that Shelby Houlihan had run while finishing fourth in the 2019 World Championships in Doha, Qatar.
After the front three, Johnson finished fourth in 3:56.75, Cory McGee placed fifth in 3:57.44, and Cranny was sixth in 3:57.87
Johnson’s time moved her to sixth on the all-time U.S. performer list, while McGee moved to 10th and Cranny to 11th.
In the other track event on Sunday, Grant Fisher won the men’s 5,000 in 13:08.85 after holding off Abdi Nur (13:09.01) for the victory.
NCAA champion Parker Wolfe of the University of North Carolina placed third in a personal best of 13:10.75, followed by Graham Blanks in fourth in 13:12.61, Dylan Jacobs in fifth in 13:17.26, and Sean McGorty in sixth in 13:18.27.
Cole Hocker, who had looked so good in winning the 1,500 earlier in the meet, as well as his qualifying heat of the 5,000, placed seventh in 13:20.99.
Fisher’s victory in the 5,000 followed his win in the 10,000 on the first day of the meet and came after he led most of the final 1,400 meters of the race.
Woody Kincaid, the runner-up in the 10,000, had a sizeable gap on the field when he came through 1,000 meters in 2:41.77 and 2,000 in 5:20.57, but Nur was in the lead when he went through 3,000 in 8:03.60.
The 27-year-old Fisher was in third place at that point in the race and he had moved into first 600 meters later.
He quickly began to string out the pack after that as he ran the next 400 meters in 59.66 seconds and followed that with a lap in 60.78.
The race for first was down to him and Nur at that point and Nur would move past him going down the backstretch for the final time.
However, Fisher took the smallest of leads over Nur with 100 meters to go and he had expanded that advantage by a little more when he crossed the finish line. He ran his final 400 meters in 57.55 seconds, his last 800 in 1:58.85, and his closing kilometer in 2:28.55.
While meet records were set in all six of the track events on Sunday, the lone meet best in the four field events came in the women’s javelin when Maggie Malone Hardin defeated sentimental favorite Kara Winger for the title.
It was the third Olympic Trials victory for the 30-year-old Malone Hardin, who hit her meet-record throw of 64.58 meters (211 feet 10 inches) in the first round and also had a toss of 63.70 (209-0) on her sixth attempt that would have been far enough to win.
Winger finished second with a sixth-round throw of 62.94 (206-6) and Madison Wiltrout placed third with a personal best of 61.17 (200-8).
The 38-year-old Winger was throwing in her second meet of the year season after retiring at the end of the 2022 season in which she won the silver medal in the World Championships and set an American record of 68.11 (223-5).
She came out of retirement in an attempt to compete in the Olympic Games for the fifth time. But as of Sunday night, her season best of 63.22 (207-5) was short of the automatic qualifying standard of 64.00 (210-0) for Paris and her chances of getting into the Games via her World Athletics ranking seemed remote.
While Malone Hardin won her third consecutive Olympic Trials title in the women’s javelin on Sunday, Bridget Williams won her first in the pole vault when she cleared 4.73 (15-6¼).
Defending Olympic champion Katie Moon and NCAA Division II champion Brynn King of Roberts Wesleyan College in Rochester, New York, also cleared 4.73, but Williams placed first because she had fewer misses in the competition than either second-place Moon or third-place King.
Sandi Morris’ fourth-place finish at 4.68 (15-4¼) means that the Games in Paris will be the first outdoor global title meet since the 2013 World Championships that she will not be a member of the U.S. team.
She won the silver medal in the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro and also placed second in the World Championships in 2017, ’19, and ’22.
The 28-year-old Williams passed the opening height of 4.28 (14-0½) in the pole vault before clearing 4.43 (14-6¼), 4.53 (14-10¼), 4.63 (15-2¼), 4.68 (15-4¼), and 4.73 (15-6¼) on her first attempts.
After Williams missed all three of her tries at 4.78 (15-8¼), the bar was raised to 4.81 (15-10) for Moon, who had passed at 4.78. A clearance at that height would have clinched her second consecutive victory in the Olympic Trials. But when she missed all three of attempts, Williams won her first national championship.
In the two men’s field events on Sunday, Daniel Haugh won the hammer throw at 79.51 (260-10) and NCAA champion Salif Mane of Farleigh Dickinson placed first in the triple jump with a personal best of 17.52 (57-5¾).
The 29-year-old Haugh, who had placed second in the Olympic Trials in 2021, was in fourth place after the first two rounds with a best of 76.10 (249-8). But his season best of 79.51 in the third round held up for the victory as he fouled on each of his last three attempts.
Rudy Winkler placed second at 78.89 (258-10) and Justin Stafford finished third at 77.07 (252-10).
Winkler had set an American record of 82.71 (271-4) in the Trials in 2021.
Mane had bounded a then-personal best of 17.14 (56-2¾) in winning the NCAA title on June 7, but he topped that mark three times on Sunday in the competition in which NCAA runner-up Russell Robinson of Miami placed second at 17.01 (55-9¾) and Donald Scott finished third at 16.87 (55-4¼).
The 22-year-old Mane took the lead with a then-personal best of 17.28 (56-8½) in the first round and he also had a 17.18 (56-4½) jump in the third that was better than his pre-meet best. He then passed on his fourth attempt and fouled on his fifth before raising her personal best of 17.52 (57-5¾) on the final jump of the competition.