Bailey making a name for himself
Victory on first day of Grand Slam Track's inaugural meet follows win in World Indoor Champs
When it comes to name recognition in the world of track and field, Christopher Bailey is not in the same league as fellow Americans such as Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, Gabby Thomas, Kenny Bednarek, or Grant Fisher.
Nor is he as well known as Brazilian Alison dos Santos.
Yet none of those athletes turned in a better performance than Bailey during the first day of Grand Slam Track’s inaugural meet in Kingston, Jamaica, on Friday.
One could argue that McLaughlin-Levrone’s winning time of 52.76 seconds in the women’s 400-meter hurdles and dos Santos’ first-place clocking of 47.61 in the men’s 400 intermediate hurdles were statistically better performances than Bailey’s 44.34 victory in the men’s 400. But the fields they defeated were not as deep as the one he faced in the 400.
Neither two-time Olympic gold medalist McLaughlin-Levrone or two-time Olympic bronze medalist dos Santos had to face any other Olympic medalists in their races. In contrast, Bailey defeated the silver and bronze medalists from the Games in Paris, as well as the fourth-place finisher.
Olympic champion Quincy Hall of the U.S. had been expected to be in the race as well, but he had previously withdrawn from it.
Running in lane seven on the newly resurfaced green and yellow track at Kingston National Stadium, Bailey trailed Olympic silver medalist Matthew Hudson-Smith of Great Britain by three or four meters after the first 220 meters of the 400. But the 24-year-old American reduced his deficit during the next 70 meters of the race and he had a small lead over second-place Hudson-Smith as he turned into the home straightaway.
He proceeded to widen his advantage after that as his 44.34-second clocking left him well ahead of Hudson-Smith, who finished second in 44.65.
Vernon Norwood of the U.S. finished third in 44.70, followed by Busang Kebinatshipi of Botswana in 45.15, and Olympic bronze medalist Muzala Samukanga of Zambia in 45.27.
Bailey’s time was the fastest in the world this year, the second-fastest of his career, and only three hundredths of a second off the 44.31 personal best he had set in a semifinal of the Olympic Games.
It was also the ninth consecutive time that Bailey had run under 45 seconds outdoors in a 400.
Bailey had only accomplished that feat once in his life prior to last year’s HBCU Pro Classic – Edwin Moses Legends Meet at Morehouse College in Atlanta on May 31. But he ran a then-personal best of 44.42 to win that race before placing third in the U.S. Olympic Team Trials and sixth in the Olympic Games.
He then lowered his indoor personal best to 44.70 in mid-February before winning the USA Track & Field Indoor Championships eight days later and leading the U.S. to a 1-2-3 sweep of the event in the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Nanjing, China, on March 22.
Although his victory on Friday was worth 12 points in the standings for Grand Slam Track’s men’s long sprint category, Bailey still has to compete in a 200-meter race tonight to determine if his overall point total will be good enough to win the overall category title and the cool $100,000 in prize money that will go with that.
Bailey has not run a 200-meter race since 2019, but he said in an interview prior to the World indoor championships that he and his coach were working on improving his speed in the 200 because they figured it would make him faster over the opening 200 of the 400.
“Who knows. We’ll see after tomorrow,” Bailey said in a post-race interview on Peacock when the trackside reporter mentioned that he could win “an awful lot of money” if he performed well in the 200.
McLaughlin-Levrone, dos Santos, Bednarek, and Fisher all appear to have an excellent chance at winning their respective event categories after their victories on Friday.
Rushell Clayton of Jamaica was nearly even with McLaughlin-Levrone for the first five barriers of the 400 hurdles, but the American began to pull ahead at the sixth hurdle and her yearly world-leading time of 52.76 left her nearly two seconds in front of compatriot Dalilah Muhammad, who ran 54.59.
Clayton placed third in 55.02, followed by fellow Jamaican Andrenette Knight in 55.06.
McLaughlin-Levrone will compete in the 400 on Sunday and if she wins that race as expected, she will win the title in the long hurdles category.
Dos Santos will be in a similar situation to McLaughlin-Levrone as he will be favored to win the 400 in the men’s long hurdles category on Sunday after winning the 400 intermediate hurdles on Friday.
Caleb Dean, who won the NCAA title for Texas Tech as a senior last year, got out ahead of dos Santos for the first 150-plus meters of the intermediates. But the tall Brazilian caught him by the fifth hurdle and he had taken charge of the race by the seventh set of barriers.
His winning time of 47.61 was the fastest in the world this year and left him well clear of second-place Roshawn Clarke of Jamaica in 48.20, third-place Dean in 48.58, and fourth-place Malik James-King of Jamaica in 48.69.
Bednarek is a two-time Olympic silver medalist in the 200 meters so when he won the 100 on Friday, he put himself in great position to win the short sprints category.
Jamaicans Ackeem Blake and Oblique Seville were ahead of Bednarek for the first 70-plus meters of the 100 after the American had stumbled during his first few steps of the race. But he recovered well enough to edge Seville, 10.07 to 10.08, for the victory while running into a breeze of 1.3 meters per second.
Zharnel Hughes of Great Britain finished third in 10.13, the same time that was credited to fourth-place Blake.
“It feels great,” Bednarek said. “The first time being in Jamaica so I definitely [heard] the crowd, they’re electrifying… My block structure got a lot better this year. But that race didn’t really show it. I ended up stumbling, but other than that, a win’s a win and I’m happy to be here.”
Fisher, who had set world indoor records of 7:22.91 in the 3,000 and 12:44.09 in the 5,000 in February, won an incredibly tactical 5k in 14:39.14 after moving from third place to first in the final home straightaway.
The race had been run at a painstakingly slow pace for the first 3,800 meters as there was a lap or two that took 75 seconds to complete. However, the tempo began to pick up a little with three laps to go and it really intensified when Hagos Gebrhiwet of Ethiopia charged into the lead at the start of the bell lap.
Fisher appeared to have been caught off guard by the move as he was in seventh place entering the the backstretch for the final time. But he had moved up to third behind Gebrhiwet and Dylan Jacobs of the U.S. going into the final turn and fellow American Cooper Teare had joined the battle for first place with 100 meters to go.
After Fisher and Jacobs had worked their way past Gebrhiwet, the hard-charging Teare was moving quicker than anyone, but Fisher repelled his rush by really going to his arms during the final 50 meters of the race.
Teare finished second in 14:39.31, followed by Jacobs in 14:39.56 and Gebrhiwet in 14:40.20.
“That’s one of the slowest 5ks I’ve run in a while, but it was championship style,” Fisher said. “I need to kick if I want to do well at these meets, and my kick’s there, so I’m really happy.”
In the other three races held on Friday, Olympic champion Thomas won the women’s 200 in 22.62 while running into a slight breeze, Ejgayehu Taye of Ethiopia placed first in the women’s 3,000 in 8:28.42, and Nikki Hiltz of the U.S. took the women’s 800 in a yearly world-leading time of 1:58.23.
Thomas was favored to win the 200 as part of the long sprint category and her margin of victory was more than three tenths of a second after she had entered the home straightaway with a small lead over second-place Dinah Asher-Smith of Great Britain.
Asher-Smith had won the 200 in the 2019 World Athletics Championships in Doha, Qatar, but she could not keep pace with Thomas during the final 80 meters of the race on Friday and Marileidy Paulino of the Dominican Republic nipped her for second place, 22.93 to 22.96.
Paulino’s runner-up finish could prove to be critical as she is favored to win the 400 tonight after setting an Olympic record of 48.17 in the Games in Paris.
If Paulino wins the race, she would win the long sprints title outright if Thomas finishes in third place or lower in the eight-woman field.
While Thomas is a fine 400-meter sprinter with a personal best of 49.68, the field will also include Olympic silver medalist Salwa Eid Naser of Bahrain, who has run 48.14, and Nickisha Pryce of Jamaica, who has a best of 48.57.
Naser finished fourth in the 200 in 22.99 and Pryce was eighth in 23.75.
Agnes Ngetich of Kenya, the world record-holder in the women’s 10k road race at 28:46, pushed the pace for much of the 3,000 on Friday. But she was never able to break away from Taye and the Ethiopian went past her heading into the final turn and then had enough to hold her off in the final 20 meters of the race.
While Taye’s 8:28.42 clocking was the fastest outdoor time in the world this year, Ngetich ran a personal best of 8:28.75 to finish second. She was followed by Tsige Gebreselama of Ethiopia in third in 8:38.15 and Hellen Lobun of Kenya in fourth in 8:52.51.
Hiltz, the silver medalist in the 1,500 in last year’s World indoor championships, was in second place behind compatriot Heather MacLean during the first lap of the 800. But she had a small lead over second-place Diribe Welteji of Ethiopia and third-place Jessica Hull of Australia when she came through 600 meters.
Welteji, fourth in the 1,500 in the Olympics, drew very close to Hiltz in the final 25 meters of the race. But she was unable to draw even with the American, who finished seventh in the Olympics in the 1,500.
Hiltz’ 1:58.23 clocking was a personal best, while Welteji finished second in 1:58.29.
Olympic 1,500 silver medalist Hull finished third in a personal best of 1:58.58, followed by Sage Hurta-Klecker of the U.S. in 1:59.26.
Mary Moraa of Kenya, the 2023 World champion in the 800, never looked comfortable during the race and finished eighth in 2:00.97.
Peacock will broadcast day two of the three-day meet, staring at 6 p.m., Eastern Daylight Time, today.