Patterson's rapid rise continues in 400
Sprinter dips under 44 seconds for first time in Grand Slam Track meet
Jacory Patterson of the U.S., a sprinter who had not run under 45 seconds for 400 meters from 2022-24, produced the first sub-44 performance of his career in the Grand Slam Track meet in Miramar, Florida, on Saturday.
Running in lane eight in the one-lap race that was part of the men’s long sprints event category, Patterson powered down the home straightaway to record a 43.98 clocking that was the fastest in the world this year.
His time bettered his previous personal best of 44.27 that Patterson had run in winning the first heat of the Olympic development section of the Tom Jones Memorial Invitational in Gainesville, Florida, two weeks earlier.
That time had bettered Patterson’s previous personal best of 44.81 from 2021 and it was a yearly world-leading mark until compatriot Christopher Robinson ran 44.15 two races later.
Patterson’s 43.98 effort at the Ansin Sports Complex on Saturday left him well ahead of Olympic fourth-place finisher Jereem Richards of Trinidad and Tobago, who placed second in 44.32.
He was followed by Olympic silver medalist Matthew Hudson-Smith of Great Britain, who placed third in 44.37, Olympic bronze medalist Muzala Samukanga of Zambia, who clocked 44.56, and Alexander Ogando of the Dominican Republic, who ran 44.78.
“I feel like that helped me a lot,” Patterson said in a trackside interview when Grand Slam Track’s Taliyah Brooks asked him about racing out of lane eight. “Because I didn’t feel anything. I was just able to run my own race.”
Patterson’s victory, which followed his sixth-place finish in the 200 on Friday, placed him second behind Richards in the overall standings for the men’s long sprints category and was worth $50,000 in prize money.
The 24-year-old Patterson had never advanced to an individual final of the NCAA outdoor championships during his collegiate career at the University of Florida, but he had been a member of a pair of Gator 4 x 400 relay teams that placed first in the 2022 and ’23 meets.
The bronze medalist in the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Nanjing, China, in March, Patterson was in fifth place when he went through the first 200 meters in 21.55 seconds on Saturday. But he had moved into second behind Richards at 300 meters and his split of 11.60 for the last 100 was significantly faster than Richards’ 12.02.
Patterson was ecstatic as he crossed the finish line and said the victory would give me him confidence and momentum going forward and “keep that ball rolling.”
Sydney Mclaughlin-Levrone of the U.S. was the other athlete who posted a yearly world-leading time in Saturday’s meet.
The two-time defending Olympic champion in the women’s 400-meter hurdles won that race in 52.07 to finish two seconds ahead of second-place Andrenette Knight of Jamaica, who ran 54.08. U.S. heptathlete Anna Hall placed third in in 54.43 and Shiann Salmon of Jamaica was fourth in 54.62.
McLaughlin-Levrone, the two-time Olympic champion, led the race from start to finish. But it was not a technically clean performance on her part as she chopped her stride while approaching the fifth and sixth hurdles.
Her lead over Knight was about three tenths of a second at the sixth hurdle, but her advantage had grown to eight tenths at the eighth hurdle and it was up to 1.3 seconds at the tenth.
“Just feeling 14 strides again,” McLaughlin-Levrone said when she was asked what she had been working on during the race. “Obviously, there’s some stuff to clean up, but I’m happy where my fitness is. For a second (400 hurdle) race of the year, I’m happy.”
In the four other sprint-related races on Saturday, Kenny Bednarek won the men’s 100 in a wind-aided 9.79 seconds, Trey Cunningham placed first in the men’s 110 high hurdles in 13.00, Olympic champion Gabby Thomas took the women’s 200 in 21.95, and Ackera Nugent ran 11.09 in a 100 that was part of the women’s short hurdles event category.
Bednarek, a two-time Olympic silver medalist in the 200, was locked in a tight race with Jamaicans Oblique Seville and Ackeem Blake for the first 70 meters of the men’s 100. But he was quicker than either of them during the last 30 meters as Seville placed second in 9.84 and Blake finished third in 9.85 in the race in which the wind reading was 2.4 meters per second.
Zharnel Hughes of Great Britain placed fourth in 9.87 and he was followed by Brandon Hicklin of the U.S. in 9.98.
“Hey, I’m dangerous,” Bednarek said when he was asked about the statement he had made with his performance. “All I kept saying is that I need experience (in the 100). I’ve been getting that experience and you see what happens.”
Cunningham’s winning time of 13.00 in the high hurdles tied the personal best that he had set in winning the NCAA title when he was a senior at Florida State University in 2022. He had finished second behind U.S. teammate Grant Holloway in the World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon, later that year, but he had struggled during his first two seasons as a professional.
However, he had run 13.09 while defeating Holloway in the Tom Jones Memorial and his performance on Saturday was the second fastest in the world this year behind a scintillating 12.87 clocking that Cordell Tinch of the U.S. had run in a Diamond League meet in Shanghai, China, earlier in the day.
Although Cunningham led the race in Miramar from start to finish, he received plenty of competition as Sasha Zhoya of France placed second in a personal best of 13.06, and Americans Freddie Crittenden and Jamal Britt followed in times of 13.09 and 13.10, respectively.
“I think I’m finally getting back my rhythm, getting back to where I was at,” Cunningham said. “I’m just coming out focused on my race.”
Thomas did not seem particularly pleased after winning the women’s 200 in a season best of 21.95 while running out of lane four, but she finished a tenth of a second ahead of U.S. compatriot Tamari Davis, whose 22.05 effort left her a tenth of a second ahead of fellow American Melissa Jefferson-Wooden at 22.15.
Jefferson-Wooden had won the 100 in a wind-aided 10.75 on Friday in a race in which Davis placed second in 10.79 and Thomas was fourth in 10.97.
Nugent was a runaway winner of the women’s 100 in the short hurdles category as the Jamaican’s personal best of 11.09 left her well ahead of compatriot Megan Tapper, who finished second in 11.33, and American Keni Harrison, who placed third in 11.35.
The U.S. duo of Masai Russell and Tia Jones, who had run the second- and third-fastest times in history in the 100 hurdles with their 12.17 and 12.19 efforts on Friday, finished fourth and fifth in the 100 in times of 11.40 and 11.50, respectively.
In the two middle-distance races contested on Saturday, Marco Arop of Canada won the men’s 800 in 1:43.69 and Freweyni Hailu of Ethiopia placed first in the women’s 1,500 in 4:06.96.
Olympic 800 silver medalist Arop, who had placed sixth in a tightly-contested 1,500 on Friday, led the two-lap event from start to finish.
He came through the first 200 meters in 25.62 seconds, 400 in 51.63, and 600 in 1:17.77 before finishing in 1:43.69.
Kethobogile Haingura of Botswana finished second in 1:43.75 and Peter Bol of Australia was third in 1:44.13 in a race in which Olympic 1,500 medalists Yared Nuguse (1:44.77), Josh Kerr (1:45.01), and Cole Hocker (1:45.13) set personal bests while finishing in fourth, fifth, and sixth place
The women 1,500, which was part of the short distance category, started out slow before finishing fast.
Nikki Hiltz of the U.S. led the field through the first 400 in 73.47 before Mary Moraa of Kenya was in front when she passed 800 meters in 2:21.64.
Hailu, who had won the women’s 3,000 in the World indoor championships, was in front when she came through 1,100 meters in 3:08.48 and she never trailed again.
Hiltz made a strong run at Hailu during the final 75 meters of the race before she finished second in 4:07.08. She was followed by Diribe Welteji of Ethiopia in 4:07.46 and Jessica Hull of Australia in 4:07.67.
In addition to the eight individual races contested on Saturday, event category titles were won by Richards in the men’s long sprints, Kerr in the men’s short distance, Jefferson-Wooden in the women’s short sprints, and Nugent in the women’s short hurdles.
Those titles were each worth $100,000 in prize money, with the breakdown for the second- through eighth-place finishers being $50,000, $30,000, $25,000, $20,000, $15,000, $12,500, and $10,000.
The meet will conclude today, with the women’s 800 kicking things off at 3:42 p.m., Eastern Daylight Time, and the men’s 200 concluding the festivities at 5:21.
Coverage of the meet will start at 3 p.m. on Peacock.
You can click here for results.