Two weeks in Review: McLaughlin-Levrone in fine form
Her runaway victory in 200 in Los Angeles Grand Prix could foreshadow another world record in 400 hurdles
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When Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone of the U.S. ran 50.68 seconds to win the women’s 400-meter hurdles in the 2022 World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon, there were plenty of people in the track and field world who understandably wondered if that mark were Beamonesque.
If she, like American Bob Beamon in the men’s long jump in the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City, had broken the previous record by such as large margin — .73 seconds — that her 50.68 clocking would stand as the world record for two decades or longer. That McLaughlin-Levrone had produced such a supreme effort in the race at the University of Oregon’s Hayward Field — in which she finished more than a second and a half in front of silver medalist Femke Bol of the Netherlands — that it would still be her personal best when she retired from the sport.
But after watching her win the women’s 200 meters in the USA Track & Field Los Angeles Grand Prix at UCLA last Saturday afternoon, I have found myself wondering if McLaughlin Levrone might become the first woman to break 50 seconds in the 400 hurdles during the next few seasons.
Cutting another seven tenths of a second off her world record might seem implausible to many. But the McLaughlin-Levrone who won Saturday’s race in 22.07 seconds while running away from a high-caliber field that included two women who had combined to win the last three U.S. titles seemed to indicate that her speed in the long sprints — which also includes a 48.74 clocking in the 400 from last year — is better now than it ever has been.
There was a lot to report on from the two previous weeks. Therefore, this column is on the long side. If this email appears clipped or truncated in your inbox, you should be able to click on “View entire message” to read it in its entirety.
While McLaughlin-Levone’s time at UCLA crushed her previous best of 22.39, it should be noted that that mark had been set during her freshman — and only — year at the University of Kentucky in 2018. She had signed a professional contract after that season and though she was running in only her second furlong race since then on Saturday, she had a clear lead over the field by 80 meters and was a stride ahead of her closest pursuers coming out of the first turn and heading down the backstretch at UCLA’s Drake Stadium.
I fully expected competitors such as World Championship silver medalist Gabby Thomas — the fourth-fastest 200 performer in history at 21.60 — and 2022 USATF champion Abby Steiner — who has a best of 21.77 — to close in on McLaughlin-Levrone during the next 50 meters of the race. But that didn’t happen and McLaughlin-Levrone more than held her own during the last fourth of the contest as she finished well ahead of second-place Steiner in 22.32, third-place Brittany Brown in 22.35, and fourth-place Rhasidat Adeleke of Ireland in 22.45. Thomas finished sixth in 22.68.
“Pretty good,” McLaughlin-Levrone said when Lewis Johnson of NBC Sports asked her what she thought of her performance. “For running a 200, it was acceptable. I was hoping to go under [22]… so I’m happy with it.”
She added that the race would aid her performances in the 400 hurdles down the road as it would increase her turnover “and being able to come off those last couple of hurdles fast. Getting the speed work is always good."
For daily reports about the USA Track & Field Los Angeles Grand Prix at UCLA, you can click here for a post about the first day of the meet on May 17 and here for a post about the second day on May 18.
Bobby Kersee, McLaughlin-Levrone’s coach, had said earlier in the week that his charge would focus on the 400 hurdles, and that event only, when she competes in the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Eugene from June 21-30. And she reiterated that fact in her trackside interview with Johnson on Saturday.
After setting four world records in the 400 hurdles during the 2021 and ’22 seasons that included the Olympic title in Tokyo and the World title in Eugene, McLaughlin-Levrone had focused on the 400 last year.
Although she bettered her previous personal best of 50.07 in all five races — including heats and semifinals — in which she ran and moved to 10th on the all-time performer list when she won the USATF title in 48.74, pain in one of her knees caused her to withdraw from a Diamond League meet in Monaco two weeks later and knee issues led her to pull out of the World Championships in Budapest, Hungary, in August.
Bol, meanwhile, had a career-best year in 2023, lowering the world record in the indoor 400 to 49.26 seconds and moving to second on the all-time performer list in the 400 hurdles outdoors with a best of 51.45.
She also won the World title in that event and broke 53 seconds an unprecedented nine times during the season. She then set two more world indoor records in the 400 earlier this year, topped by a 49.17 clocking in the World Championships in Glasgow, Scotland, on March 2.
Although she has yet to run the 400 hurdles outdoors this year, her indoor exploits would seem to indicate that she is capable of bettering her personal best from last year.
The question is will she be able to run fast enough to defeat fellow 24-year-old McLaughlin-Levrone?
The six-foot (1.83 meters) tall Bol is known for having exceptional endurance as she ran seven one-lap races between the 400 hurdles and the women’s and mixed 4 x 400 relays in the World Championships last year. But with a personal best of 22.64 in the indoor 200, she lacks the speed of McLaughlin-Levrone over that distance.
Both of them are known for finishing strong during the final straightaway of the 400 hurdles, so it could be a competitive treat when they do race each other in that event.
Easier said than done: In theory, the athletics schedule for the Olympic Games in Paris this summer allows for someone like Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone or Femke Bol to compete in both the women’s 400 hurdles and the 400. However, doing so would require an athlete to run in a one-lap qualifying race for four consecutive days before competing in the final of the 400 hurdles on the fifth day, followed by the final of the 400 roughly 22½ hours later.
If an elite competitor were to attempt the women’s 400 hurdle/400 double, they would begin their quest by running in a first-round heat of the 400 hurdles, starting at 12:35 p.m. local time, on August 4.
That would be followed by a first-round heat of the 400, starting at 11:55 a.m. on August 5.
Semifinals of the 400 hurdles will start at 8:07 p.m. on August 6, with semifinals of the 400 beginning at 8:45 p.m. the following day.
The final of the 400 hurdles is scheduled to start at 9:25 p.m. on August 8, followed by the final of the 400 on 8 p.m. the following night.
Again, competing in both events is logistically possible. But it is hard for me to believe that even an athlete as talented as McLaughlin-Levrone or Bol would have much of a chance of winning a 400 final against someone such as reigning World champion Marileidy Paulino of the Dominican Republic or two-time defending Olympic champion Shaunae Miller-Uibo of the Bahamas, who would have had a day off between the first round and semifinals of the 400, followed by another day off between the semifinals and the final.
Resounding response: It didn’t take long for Rai Benjamin of the U.S. to respond to Brazilian Alison dos Santos’ superb season opener of 46.86 seconds in the men’s 400-meter intermediate hurdles in the Diamond League meet in Doha, Qatar, on May 10.
Competing in the Los Angeles Grand Prix last Saturday, the 26-year-old Benjamin trailed World Championship silver medalist Kyron McMaster of the British Virgin Islands for the first three flights of hurdles during the race at UCLA’s Drake Stadium before drawing even with him by the fourth set of barriers and taking the lead at the fifth.
He then expanded his lead around the second turn before continuing to pull away down the home straightaway and cross the finish line in 46.64, the fastest time in the world this year, the ninth-fastest in history, and the fourth-fastest of his career that includes three silver medals and one bronze medal in the last four global-title meets.
“It was very impressive,” Benjamin said when Lewis Johnson of NBC Sports asked him what he thought about dos Santos’ performance, “but I just needed to focus on my own race. I knew I was in 46 shape so I just wanted to come here… execute my own race and run like hell coming home.”
Quick opener: Bryce Hoppel of the U.S. ran the fastest outdoor season opener of his career when he won the men’s 800 meters in 1:43.68 in the Los Angeles Grand Prix last Saturday.
The 26-year-old Hoppel, who won the 800 in the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow, Scotland, on March 3, trailed Noah Kibet, fellow American Brandon Miller, and 2022 World 1,500 champion Jake Wightman of Great Britain with 200 meters left in the race, and he was still in fourth place when he entered the home straightaway. But he began to gain ground on the runners ahead of him with 70 meters remaining and he eventually took the lead with about 20 meters to go in the race in which six men ran under 1:45.
American Isaiah Jewett made a late charge to finish second in 1:44.02, followed by Wightman in 1:44.10, and Miller in a personal best of 1:44.24. Kibet placed sixth in a personal best of 1:44.83.
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Talented group delivers: The men’s 5,000 meters was regarded as having the deepest field — by far — of any event in the Los Angeles Grand Prix and the race produced a plethora of standout performances last Friday night as 11 runners ran under 13 minutes, topped by Selemon Barega’s yearly world-leading time of 12:51.60.
Barega, 24, had outkicked fearsome closer Joshua Cheptegei of Uganda in winning the 10,000 meters in the Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2021, but he had been no match for Josh Kerr of Great Britain and Yared Nuguse of the U.S. on the last lap of the 3,000 in the World indoor championships.
But he moved into second place with 600 meters left in the race on Friday and remained there until he overtook leader — and compatriot — Berihu Aregawi as they swept into the home straightaway.
Aregawi, who had finished second in the World Athletics Cross Country Championships for the second year in a row on March 30, placed second in 12:52.09, followed by three-time defending World 10,000 champion Cheptegei at 12:52.39 and his compatriot Jacob Kiplimo in 12:52.91.
Kiplimo, winner of the last two World cross country titles, was followed by American Grant Fisher in 12:53.30.
Barega ran the final 400 meters of the race in close to 54 seconds and clocked 2:25.54 for the last kilometer.
Notable opener: Elle St. Pierre moved to fifth on the all-time U.S. performer list in the women’s 5,000 meters with her winning time of 14:34.12 in the Los Angeles Grand Prix last Friday night.
The 29-year-old St. Pierre, who had outkicked favored Gudaf Tsegay of Ethiopia to win the 3,000 in the World indoor championships on March 2, posted that time in her first race of the outdoor season.
She was closely pursued by Joselyn Brea of Venezuela after she had taken over the lead from pacesetter Gemma Finch of Great Britain just before the 1,600-meter mark.
However, she began to edge away from Brea as they approached the start of the bell lap and she won the race by nearly two and a half seconds.
Brea’s second-place time of 14:36.59 was a South American record and Hannah Nuttall of Great Britain finished third in 14:57.91.
Opportunistic winners: Halimah Nakaayi of Uganda and Prudence Sekgodiso of South Africa posted respective yearly world-leading times in the women’s 800 meters last weekend after they passed race leaders in the home straightaway when those individuals left the inside of lane one open as they came off the final turn.
The 29-year-old Nakaayi edged past World indoor champion Tsige Duguma of Ethiopia with about 25 meters left in the USA Track & Field Los Angeles Grand Prix at UCLA last Saturday before Duguma fought back and was virtually inseparable from the 2019 World champion as each of them crossed the finish line in identical times of 1:57.56. It was a national record for Nakaayi.
Sekgodiso, 22, bettered those times on Sunday when she ran a personal best of 1:57.26 in the Diamond League meet in Marrakech, Morocco, after overtaking Habitam Alemu of Ethiopia with about 50 meters left in the race. Like Duguma in the L.A. Grand Prix, Alemu had run in the outside of lane one in the home straightaway, giving Sekgodiso a clear path on the inside.
It was the second personal best of the season for Sekgodiso, whose previous best of 1:58.05 had come in a meet in Pretoria, South Africa on March 2. Alemu finished second in 1:57.70, followed by World indoor bronze medalist Noelie Yarigo of Benin in 1:59.96.
“I didn’t expect to run so fast,” Sekgodiso said in quotes on the meet website. “Winning was in my mind, but not with such a fast time. It’s crazy fast. I am so proud of myself tonight. Achieving a world lead and a personal best is amazing. But I cannot say that this performance will change something for me in terms of goals and expectations. For the Paris Olympics, I will try to reach the final. I want to be in the big eight.”
Back on track: Akani Simbine of South Africa, whose run of top-five finishes in the men’s 100 meters in global title races ended last year, posted his third victory of the season without a loss when he ran 9.90 seconds in the Atlanta City Games held in downtown Atlanta last Saturday.
His time was the fastest in the world this year and left the 30-year-old Simbine well in front of second-place Ferdinand Omanyala of Kenya (10.00) and third-place Kendal Williams of the U.S. (10.05).
Williams had entered the race as the co-yearly world leader after running 9.93 a week earlier.
Simbine had placed fourth or fifth in the 100 in the two previous Olympics and in the World championships in 2017, ’19, and ’22, but he was disqualified for a false start in his semifinal in the World Championships last year.
Hot streak continues: Tara Davis-Woodhall of the U.S. posted her sixth victory of the year without a defeat when she leaped 7.17 (23-6¼) in the women’s long jump in the Atlanta City Games.
That was the farthest outdoor jump in the world this year and was only one centimeter short of her best-ever effort of 7.18 (23-6¾) that she had leaped in winning the USA Track & Field Indoor Championships in February.
Davis-Woodhall, 25, had the three longest jumps in the competition that included second-place Quanesha Burks of the U.S. in second place at 6.89 (22-7¼) and third-place Ese Brume of Nigeria at 6.87 (22-6½).
Davis-Woodhall, who won the World indoor title on March 3, has jumped 7.07 (23-2½) or farther in each of her last four meets.
Pair equal American records: Noah Lyles and Candace Hill tied the respective U.S. records in the men’s and women’s 150 meters in the Atlanta City Games.
Lyles, who won individual gold medals in the 100 and 200 in last year’s World championships before anchoring the victorious 4 x 100 relay team, clocked 14.41 seconds in the infrequently-run, 150-meter straightaway race in Atlanta to tie the American record set by Tyson Gay in 2010 and finish .25 seconds in front of second-place Zharnel Hughes of Great Britain.
Hill, who had set a then-U.S. high school record of 10.98 in the girls’ 100 as a sophomore at Rockdale County High in Conyers, Georgia, in 2015, clocked 16.30 in the women’s 150 to tie the U.S. record set by the late Tori Bowie in 2017.
Favour Ofili of Nigeria was also credited with a time of 16.30 while finishing second in the race in which Celera Barnes of the U.S. placed third in 16.43.
Three for three: Mykolas Alekna of Lithuania posted his third victory of the season without a loss when he won the discus with a best of 70.70 (231-11) in the Diamond League meet in Marakech, Morocco, on Sunday.
The 21-year-old Alekna had the three longest throws of a competition in which Matthew Denny of Australia placed second at 67.74 (222-3) and defending Olympic and World champion Daniel Stahl of Sweden finished third at 67.49 (221-5). Kristjan Ceh of Slovenia, the 2022 World champion, placed seventh at 64.64 (212-1) after throwing a season best of 70.48 (231-3) in winning the event in the Diamond League meet in Doha, Qatar, on May 10.
Alekna, who is redshirting what would have been his junior year at California so he can best prepare for the Olympic Games in Paris in August, has thrown more than 70 meters (229-8) in all three of his meets.
He opened the season with a then-personal best of 71.39 (234-2) in the Brutus Hamilton Invitational at Cal on April 6 before setting a world record of 74.35 (243-11) in an Oklahoma Throws Series meet in Ramona, Oklahoma, eight days later.
Taking advantage of great conditions in which a strong incoming wind aided throwers’ distances, Alekna unleashed his 74.35 effort in the fifth round to break the world record of 74.08 (243-0) that had been set by Jurgen Schult of East Germany in 1986. All six of Alekna’s throws measured 70.32 (230-8) or longer in that meet.
Alekna fouled on his first throw on Sunday before taking the lead with a 69.94 (229-5) effort in the second round. He threw 67.44 (221-3) in the third round before improving to 70.70 (231-11) in the fourth.
He then fouled on his fifth throw before producing a 68.18 (223-8) effort on his sixth — and final — attempt.
“It’s a great feeling to win this game,” he said in quotes on the meet website. “My goal is to keep throwing above 70 meters. My next game is in Oslo. After that, I will start my preparation for the Olympic Games in Paris where my objective is to win the gold medal.”
An even dozen: Defending Olympic champion Soufiane El Bakkali of Morocco posted his 12th consecutive victory in the men’s 3,000-meter steeplechase while running in a front of a partisan home crowd in the Diamond League meet in Marrakech, but he did not look like his usual dominant self during the race as an injury had hampered his training earlier this year and left his fitness level at less than 100 percent.
The 28-year-old El Bakkali, who won his second consecutive World title last year by breaking away from world record-holder Lamecha Girma of Ethiopia with about 220 meters left in the race, initially broke away from Ethiopian Getnet Wale at about the same point in the contest on Sunday. But Wale twice challenged him for the lead during the final half lap before El Bakkali recorded an 8:09.40 to 8:09.78 victory in the race in which five runners ran under 8:13.
“I was hesitating to participate today but I eventually decided with my coach to run,” El Bakkali said in quotes on the meet website. “I’m so happy for winning in front of my supporters as winning at home has always had a different taste. I would like to thank my parents, my coach and the Moroccan federation for their support throughout the moment of my injury. I will start my preparation for the Olympic Games where my goal is to keep my title.”
Another so-so opener: Shericka Jackson of Jamaica, the two-time defending World champion in the women’s 200 meters, won her 15th consecutive race in that event in the Diamond League meet in Marrakech, but her time of 22.82 seconds was surprisingly slow by her illustrious standards.
The 29-year-old Jackson, whose only previous race this year had been a winning 11.03 clocking in a 100 on May 4, ran a sluggish turn in Marrakech and did not overwhelm her opposition in the final 70 meters of the race as she so often does.
Maboundou Kone of Cote d’Ivoire finished second in 22.96, followed by Helene Parisot of France in 23.02.
“I think it was a pretty good race for the first race of my season,” Jackson said in quotes on the meet website. “About the time? Time is what it is. I tried to focus on my technique and execution. I think I did good. Next, I don’t know. For me it is only the start of the season. I don’t know about the next race. And it is too early to talk about the events I will do at the Paris Olympics.”
Stellar season continues: Leonardo Fabbri of Italy continued to close in on the 23-meter (75-5½) mark in the men’s shot put when he set a national record of 22.95 (75-3½) in winning the event in a meet in Savona, Italy, on May 15.
Fabbri’s put was the farthest in the world this year, broke the longstanding Italian record of 22.91 (75-2) that was set by Alessandro Andrei in 1987, and moved him to fifth on the all-time world performer list, as well as to second on the all-time European list.
Fabbri, 24, had previously raised his personal best to 22.88 (75-0¾) on May 1.
He had efforts of 21.07 (69-1½) and 21.39 (70-2¼) in Savona before improving to 22.67 (74-4½) in the third round.
He then had puts of 22.47 (73-8¾) and 22.45 (73-8) in the fourth and fifth rounds, respectively, before uncorking his 22.95 (75-3½) effort in the sixth — and final — stanza in the competition in which Scott Lincoln of Great Britain finished second at 21.14 (69-4¼).
Record performance: Mattia Furlani of Italy raised the world U20 (under 20) record to 8.36 (27-5¼) in the men’s long jump in winning the event in the meet in Savona, Italy.
The silver medalist in the World indoor championships on March 2, the 19-year-old Furlani broke the previous record of 8.35 (27-4¾) set by Sergey Morgunov of Russia in 2012.
After jumping 8.25 (27-0¾) in the first round of the competition in Savona, Furlani hit 8.36 (27-5¼) in the second before passing his final four attempts.
Ruswahl Samaai of South Africa finished second with a wind-aided mark of 8.05 (26-5).
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Record performance II: Flor Dennis Ruiz of Colombia, the silver medalist in the women’s javelin in the World Championships last year, posted a South American record and yearly world-leading mark in winning that event in the Ibero-American Championships in Athletics in Cuiaba, Brazil, on May 12.
The 33-year-old recorded her record throw with a third-round effort of 66.70 (218-10) that broke her previous area record of 65.47 (214-9) that she had set in the World Championships.
She also had throws of 65.36 (214-5) in the second round and 62.83 (206-1) in the fourth before passing her final two attempts.
Jucilene de Lima of Brazil finished second at 62.31 (204-5), followed by Manuela Rotundo of Uruguay, who set a national record of 61.84 (202-11) in third.
Come-from-behind victories: Damian Warner of Canada and Anouk Vetter of the Netherlands came from behind to win the decathlon and heptathlon, respectively, in the Hypomeeting combined events competition in Gotzis, Austria, last weekend.
Defending Olympic champion Warner totaled 8,678 points in the decathlon while winning an unprecedented eighth title in Gotzis. Sven Roosen of the Netherlands placed second with 8,517 points, followed by Johannes Erm of Estonia with 8,462, Ash Moloney of Australia with 8,367, and Lindon Victor of Grenada with 8,366.
Vetter posted a yearly world-leading total of 6,642 points in the heptathlon while recording the fourth-best score of her career and winning in Gotzis for the second time in the last three years.
Annik Kalin of Switzerland placed second with 6,506 points, followed by Michelle Atherley of the U.S. with a personal best of 6,465, Emma Oosterwegel of the Netherlands with 6,337, and Vanessa Grimm of Germany with 6,307.
Warner, the runner-up in the decathlon in last year’s World Championships, was in second place at the end of the first day in Gotzis, as his 4,585-point total trailed first-place Simon Ehammer of Switzerland (4,601) by 16 points. Olympic bronze medalist Maloney was third with 4,477 points.
The 34-year-old Canadian began the competition with a superb time of 10.20 seconds in the 100 meters before leaping 7.80 (25-7¼) in the long jump, putting the shot 14.55 (47-9), clearing 2.03 (6-8) in the high jump, and running 47.46 in the 400.
He began the second day with a strong performance of 13.45 seconds in the 110 high hurdles and he followed that with a best of 46.41 (152-3) in the discus to move into first place in the overall standings as he picked up 185 points on Ehammer, whose best was 37.36 (122-7).
Warner followed the discus by clearing 4.80 (15-9) in the pole vault, throwing the javelin 57.53 (188-9), and running the 1,500 in 4:36.94.
Ehammer dropped to fourth place in the standings after recording a best of 48.57 (159-4) in the javelin and he did not run the 1,500 as his nine-event-total was 7,722 points.
Atherley, propelled by a superb 12.71 clocking in the 100-meter hurdles, was in the lead after the first day of the heptathlon with 3,944 points. She was followed by the 31-year-old Vetter in second place with 3,826 points and Abigail Pawlett of Great Britain in third with 3,820.
After producing marks of 13.64 seconds in the 100 hurdles, 1.74 (5-8½) in the high jump, 15.37 (50-5¼) in the shot put, and 23.73 in the 200 on Saturday, Vetter started Sunday by leaping 6.70 (21-11¾) in the long jump before throwing the javelin 57.91 (190-0) and clocking 2:21.37 in the 800 meters.
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Moving up the list: Alex Rose of American Samoa raised his Oceania record in the men’s discus to 71.48 (234-6) when he won the event in the Grand Valley State University Last Chance meet in Allendale, Michigan, on May 11.
The 32-year-old thrower, who finished eighth and 12th, respectively, in the previous two World Championships, produced his area-record effort on his fifth throw to move to 11th on the all-time performer list.
Rose fouled on his first attempt in the GVSU meet, before registering marks of 55.75 (182-11) and 63.74 (208-1) in the second and third rounds.
He then improved to 66.51 (218-2) in the fourth round, followed by his personal best of 71.48 (234-6) in the fifth stanza and a throw of 66.54 (218-4) in the sixth.
Rose’s previous Oceania record had come last year when he threw 70.39 (230-11) in a meet in Ramona, Oklahoma, at the same site where strong winds helped Mykolas Alekna of Lithuania break the 38-year-old world record in the discus with a throw of 74.35 (243-11) on April 14.
Moving up the list II: Sarah Mitton of Canada, the World indoor champion in the women’s shot put, raised her national record to 20.68 (67-10¼) when she won the Throws U meet in Leesport, Pennsylvania, on May 11.
The 27-year-old Mitton, who won the competition by more than three meters, unleashed her yearly world-leading mark on her first attempt before registering puts of 20.38 (66-10½) in the second round and 19.06 (62-6½) in the fourth. She fouled on her other three attempts.
Her national record moved her to second on the all-time North American list — behind American Chase Ealy at 20.76 (68-1½) — and came in her third outdoor meet of the season. Her two previous meets had produced non-winning bests of 19.35 (63-6) and 19.86 (65-2), respectively.
Mitton had set her previous national record of 20.33 (66-8½) in 2022.
In the books: Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands opened up her outdoor track season on May 11 when she won the women’s 5,000 meters in 14:58.83 in the Track Fest meet at Occidental College in Eagle Rock, California.
The 31-year-old Hassan was followed across the finish line by second-place Natalie Rule of Australia in 15:07.00 and third-place Amy-Eloise Neale of Great Britain in 15:07.38.
Hassan’s only other race this year had come on March 3 when she finished fourth in the Tokyo Marathon with a time of 2:18:05.
That was her first loss in three marathons as she had posted victories in London and Chicago last year. Her 2:13:44 clocking in Chicago is the second fastest in history behind the world record of 2:11:53 that Tigst Assefa of Ethiopia ran in the Berlin Marathon two weeks earlier.
Supplanting the world leader: Kenny Bednarek registered a decisive victory over fellow American and co-yearly world-leader Courtney Lindsey when he won the men’s 200 meters in 19.67 seconds in the Diamond League meet in Doha, Qatar, on May 10.
Bednarek’s time was the fastest in the world this year, moved him to 14th on the all-time world performer list and to ninth on the all-time U.S. list, and shaved a hundredth of a second off his previous personal best that he had run in winning the silver medal in the Olympic Games in 2021.
It also gave him a large margin of victory over second-place Lindsey (20.01), who had entered the race as the co-yearly world leader at 19.71 along with Letsile Tebogo of Botswana.
The 25-year-old Bednarek had placed a disappointing fifth in the World Championships last year after winning a bronze medal in 2022, but he has won four races of six races outdoors this season, finishing second in the two contests he did not win.
The roll continues: Christopher Morales Williams continued his superb sophomore season for the University of Georgia when he won the men’s 400 meters in 44.05 seconds in the SEC Championships in Gainesville, Florida, on May 11.
The time was the fastest in the world this year and crushed the previous Canadian record of 44.44 set by Tyler Christopher in 2005. It also came in a race in which the Alabama duo of freshman Samuel Ogazi and senior Khaleb McRae finished second and third, respectively, with times of 44.58 and 44.68.
The rise of the 19-year-old Morales Williams is one of the more surprising stories of 2024 as he had personal bests of 45.48 outdoors and 47.42 indoors at the end of last year.
He lowered his personal best three times during the indoor season and won the NCAA title after winning the SEC championship in 44.49, the fastest indoor time in history. However, the mark was not considered for world-record ratification because the starting blocks in use at the meet were not the type required by World Athletics for record purposes.
He began his outdoor season with a 45.18 clocking in the Battle of the Bayou meet at LSU on March 30 before running 44.91 in the Tom Jones Memorial Invitational at the University of Florida two weeks later.
He then ran 44.88 in a qualifying heat of the SEC meet on the same University of Florida track on May 10 before clocking 44.05 the next day.
Phenomenal depth: The University of Arkansas put on an unprecedented show of strength in the women’s 400 meters in the SEC meet on May 11 when senior Nickisha Pryce, freshman Kaylyn Brown and senior Amber Anning finished first, second, and third, respectively, with times of 49.32 seconds, 49.47, and 49.51.
Pryce’s time was the fastest outdoor mark in the world this year and moved her to third on the all-time collegiate list and into a tie for second on the all-time Jamaican list.
Brown and Anning became the fourth- and fifth-fastest collegians in history with their efforts, while Brown moved to eighth on the all-time U.S. performer list and Anning moved to third on the all-time Great Britain list.
Arkansas senior Rosie Effiong finished fifth in 50.75 in the SEC meet, meaning that the Razorbacks appear to have the makings of a 4 x 400 relay team that could not only break the collegiate record of 3:21.93 set by Kentucky in 2022, but one that could challenge the 3:20 barrier in the event.
Taking it to another level: McKenzie Long of the University of Mississippi took a big chunk of time off her personal best in the women’s 200 meters when she won the event in 22.03 seconds in the SEC meet on May 11.
Her time was the fastest in the world this year, crushed her previous best of 22.37, and moved her to fifth on the all-time collegiate list while coming in a race in which six women ran under 22.40.
Freshman JaMeesia Ford of South Carolina finished second in 22.11 and senior Thelma Davies of LSU placed third in 22.17.
Ford, the NCAA indoor champion in the 200, tied the U.S. junior (age 19 and under) record that Allyson Felix had set in Mexico City in 2003 when she was a senior at what was then called Los Angeles Baptist High School in North Hills, California.
Two liners: Brooke Andersen of the U.S. defeated a stellar field in winning the women’s hammer throw in the USA Track & Field Los Angeles Grand Prix at UCLA last Friday. The 2022 World champion placed first at 77.32 meters (253 feet 8 inches) and she was followed by 2019 World champion DeAnna Price of the U.S. at 77.16 (253-2), 2023 World champion Camryn Rogers of Canada at 75.56 (247-11), and 2023 World silver medalist Janee Kassanavoid of the U.S. at 72.99 (239-5). . . . . Defending Olympic champion Valarie Allman of the U.S. posted her ninth consecutive victory in winning the women’s discus in the Los Angeles Grand Prix last Friday. Allman had the five longest throws in the competition, with her top three marks measuring 67.93 (222-10), 67.79 (222-5), and 67.22 (220-6). . . . . Maia Ramsden of Harvard set a New Zealand record of 4:02.58 in the women’s 1,500 meters when she finished 11th in the Los Angeles Grand Prix last Saturday. The defending NCAA champion now ranks second on the all-time collegiate performer list behind Jenny Barringer (now Simpson), who ran 3:59.90 for Colorado in 2009. . . . . Junior Tarsis Orogot of the University of Alabama lowered his Ugandan record in the men’s 200 to 19.75 when he won the event in the SEC championships in Gainesville, Florida, on May 11. That bettered his previous national record of 19.90 that he had set a month earlier and moved him to third on the all-time collegiate performer list and to fifth on the all-time African list. . . . . Junior Nathaniel Ezikiel of Baylor University set a Nigerian record of 48.00 in the men’s 400-meter intermediate hurdles when he won the event in the Big 12 Conference championships in Waco, Texas, on May 11. His time bettered his previous personal best of 48.29 that he had run a month earlier and moved him to seventh on the all-time collegiate performer list and to eighth on the all-time African list. . . . . Freshman Ja’Kobe Tharp of Auburn University set an American junior (age 19 and under) record of 13.18 seconds in the men’s 110-meter high hurdles when he won the event in the SEC Championships in Gainesville, Florida, on May 11. The time, which tied Tharp for seventh on the all-time collegiate performer list, broke the previous U.S. junior record of 13.23 set by Renaldo Nehemiah during his freshman season at the University of Maryland in 1978. . . . . Tobi Amusan of Nigeria ran a yearly world-leading time of 12.40 in winning the women’s 100-meter hurdles in the Jamaica Athletics Invitational in Kingston on May 11. The 2022 World champion and world record-holder at 12.12, Amusan finished six hundredths of a second ahead of runner-up Danielle Williams of Jamaica, who won her second World title last year. . . . . Beatrice Chebet of Kenya ran a yearly world-leading time of 14:26.98 in the Diamond League meet in Doha, Qatar, on May 10. It was the first outdoor track race of the year for Chebet, who had won her second consecutive individual title in the World Athletics Cross Country Championships in Belgrade, Serbia, on March 30. . . . . Jakub Vadlejch of the Czech Republic finished two centimeters in front of defending Olympic and World champion Neeraj Chopra of India when he won the men’s javelin with throw of 88.38 (289-11) in the Diamond League meet in Doha, Qatar. It was the first meet of the year for Chopra and the second for Vadlejch, the bronze medalist in last year’s World Championships.
Out for the season: Courtney Frerichs of the U.S., the silver medalist in the women’s 3,000-meter steeplechase in the 2017 World Championships and the Olympic Games in 2021, announced in a social media post on Sunday that she had undergone surgery on May 15 to reconstruct her medial collateral ligament (MCL) and repair a torn meniscus in her right knee.
Frerichs, 31, wrote in the post that last month she suffered a “complete tear” of her ACL and tears in both her medial and lateral menisci while practicing the water jump two days before she was going to run her first race of the outdoor season.
With an American record of 8:57.77 in the steeplechase, she ranks eighth on the all-time performer list. In her lone indoor race this year, she ran 15:01.06 to win the 5,000 meters in the Boston University David Hemery Valentine Invitational in February.
In addition to her silver-medal winning performances in the 2017 World Championships and the Olympics Games in 2021, Frerichs placed sixth in the World Championships in both 2019 and 2022. She also finished 11th in the 2016 Olympic Games.
A paragraph is her social media post was as follows: There have been many tears and my brain has tried to make sense of all this and what went wrong. As runners we tend to view things systematically, but truth is this was a freak accident that comes with the inherent risk of being a steeplechaser combined with my hyper-mobile body. I am absolutely heartbroken to be missing this season- especially it being an Olympic year, but I keep reminding myself that a single season doesn’t define me or my running career.