Week in Review: Brooke Andersen has 'pinch-me' moment in hammer
World champion becomes third 80-meter thrower in history with her performance in Throws Festival in Arizona
With all due respect to Britton Wilson of the University of Arkansas, no one has started the outdoor track and field season on a bigger roll than Brooke Andersen.
While Wilson has posted the three fastest times in the world this year in both the women’s 400 meters and 400 hurdles, and moved to fourth on the all-time U.S. performer list in the 400 with her latest collegiate record of 49.13 seconds, fellow American Andersen has the top seven throws in the world in the women’s hammer and has moved to third on the all-time performer list in the event.
Andersen’s latest outstanding effort came in the USA Track & Field Throws Festival in Tucson, Arizona on Saturday when she won the event with a throw of 80.17 meters (263 feet).
The defending World champion had raised her personal best to 79.80 (261-10) in her season-opening meet in the Virginia Challenge at the University of Virginia on April 20. But her best toss during the competition at the University of Arizona on Saturday made her only the third woman in history to have thrown the 4-kilogram (8.8 pounds) hammer implement more than 80 meters (262-5).
The others are three-time Olympic and four-time World champion Anita Wlodarczyk of Poland (82.98/272-3) and 2019 World champion DeAnna Price of the United States (80.31/263-6).
“Throwing 80 meters for the first time is a big feat obviously,” Andersen said in an interview posted on runnerspace.com. “I didn’t see it coming at all because heading up to it in my training, we had to do a few things differently just for injury prevention … I’m kind of in shock still. It doesn’t really feel real.”
The 27-year-old Andersen, who competed for Northern Arizona University as a collegian, finished second in the Throws Festival last year when her best of 77.75 (255-1) left her short of the 78.00 (255-11) personal best of Janee’ Kassanavoid.
Kassanavoid was back to defend her title on Saturday, but the World Championship bronze medalist’s best throw of 76.60 (251-4) left her well behind Andersen in second place. Fellow American Annette Echikunwoke also posted a season best of 75.00 (246-1) while finishing third.
After fouling on her first attempt at Drachman Stadium on Saturday, Andersen took the lead for good with a 77.47 (254-2) throw in the second round. That was followed by her 80.17 bomb in the third round, a foul in the fourth, and throws of 76.56 (251-2) and 78.99 (259-2) in the fifth and sixth rounds, respectively.
The 78.99 toss in round six was the fourth best throw in the world this year for Andersen, who also won the Drake Relays on April 27 with a best of 78.69 (258-2).
While Andersen has felt that an 80-meter throw was possible since 2021 — when she raised her personal best to 78.18 (256-6) — she admitted it was nice to finally get it in a competition.
She added that while she felt “more connected to the hammer” on her 79.80 throw in Virginia, she “had a better finish” on her 80.19 effort in Arizona.
That has her feeling good about the future and confident that combining the best of those two throws will come with time.
“I’m really excited where I’m at right now,” she said.
The immediate future will see Andersen compete in the inaugural Los Angeles Grand Prix at UCLA’s Drake Stadium on Friday at 5:15 p.m., Pacific Daylight Time, against a field that is expected to include Kassanavoid, as well as World Championship silver medalist Camryn Rogers of Canada.
Rogers, who won three NCAA titles and set five collegiate records during her career at UC Berkeley, has had a strong start to her first season as a professional.
She won the Brutus Hamilton Invitational at Cal with a best of 77.30 (253-7) on April 8 before breaking her national record of 77.67 (254-10) with a 77.84 (255-4) effort to win the Mt. San Antonio College Relays in Walnut, California on April 15.
That impending clash was on Andersen’s mind following the conclusion of the Throws Festival on Saturday, but she was also taking some time to savor the first 80-meter performance of her career.
“It is like a ‘pinch-me’ moment,” she said, “and it’s very special to be able to say that I’m an 80-meter thrower now.”
Another world-leading mark: Brooke Andersen was not the only hammer thrower to produce a yearly world-leading mark in the USA Track & Field Throws Festival in Tucson, Arizona on Saturday.
Fellow American Rudy Winkler did likewise in the men’s event when his 80.88 (265-4) effort was the first 80-meter throw in the world this year.
The American record-holder at 82.71 (271-4), the 28-year-old Winkler threw 77.48 (254-2) in the first round before hitting 79.21 (259-10) in his second throw and 80.88 (265-4) on this third.
He then threw 78.90 (258-10) in the fourth round and 77.73 (255-0) in the fifth before fouling on his sixth — and final — attempt.
Diego Del Real of Mexico finished second with a season best of 78.05 (256-10 and Denzel Comenentia of Netherlands placed third with national record of 78.01 (255-11).
Comenentia’s mark topped his previous national record of 76.80 (252-0) which he had set in finishing second in the Mt. San Antonio College Relays in 2019 when the meet was held at El Camino College in Torrance, California.
Winkler’s mark bettered the previous yearly world-leading mark of 79.78 (261-9) that Olympic champion Wojciech Nowicki of Poland had produced in the Kip Keino Classic in Nairobi, Kenya on May 13.
Winkler and Nowicki are expected to compete against each other in the Los Angeles Grand Prix at UCLA’s Drake Stadium on Friday at 5:15 p.m., Pacific Daylight Time.
World record progression: In a scenario I suspect will play out several times during the next few years, the world record in the women’s 35-kilometer walk was broken in the European Race Walking Team Championships in Podebrady, Czechia, on Sunday.
Maria Perez of Spain clocked 2 hours 37 minutes 15 seconds to lower the previous world record of 2:37:44 set by defending World champion Kimberley Garcia of Peru on March 25.
"It is a nice feeling to finish the race, and the time is a big reward," Perez was quoted as saying in a post on the World Athletics site. "I did not think of any time or any special target before the start, I just wanted to finish the best I could. So, the record time was definitely not my goal today. I am happy to do my best and I am glad to see that race walk can be attractive and can attract such great crowds like in Podebrady."
The 27-year-old Perez, who finished fourth in the 20-kilometer walk in the Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2021, finished well ahead of teammates Raquel Gonzalez and Cristina Montesinos, who placed second and third in 2:45:42 and 2:45:58, respectively.
I expect the world record in the women’s 35-kilometer walk to be lowered several more times in the coming years because it is in its infancy as an event contested at the global title level.
Women have been competing in a walking event at the global championship level since 1987 when the second World Championships were held in Rome. However, the World Championships in Eugene, Oregon last July marked the first time that women — as well as men — had contested the 35-kilometer walk in addition to the standard 20-kilometer event in the same title meet.
Women and men had each contested a 20- and 50-kilometer race in the 2017 and ‘19 World Championships, but the women’s schedule had been limited to a 20-kilometer walk at the World Championship or Olympic level from 1999-2016, as well as in the Olympic Games in 2021.
The newness of the women’s 35-kilometer walk is evident when looking at the all-time lists in the event as 46 of the top 50 performances in history have been produced in 2021, ’22, or this year.
In contrast, only four of the top 50 marks in the women’s 20-kilometer walk have come during that same time span, and 38 of the top 50 performances in history occurred before 2015.
Breakthrough performance: After a trio of personal bests in the women’s 3,000 meters during the indoor season, Mizan Alem Adane of Ethiopia properly introduced herself to the international track and field community with a runaway victory in the Night of the 10,000m PBs in London on Saturday.
Essentially running unchallenged for the final 7,000 meters of the race at the Parliament Hill Athletics Track, Alem Adane ran a meet-record of 29:59.03 to finish well clear of the personal bests of Weini Kelati of the U.S. (31:04.16) in second place and of Nadia Battocletti of Italy (31:06.42) in third.
Alem Adane’s time was the fastest in the world this year and made her the 12th woman in history to have run under 30 minutes for 10,000 meters on the track. It also moved her to 11th on the all-time performer list and to sixth on the all-time Ethiopian list.
Although the 22-year-old Alem Adane had run 14:46.20 for 5,000 meters and won the World U20 (under 20) title in that event in 2021, World Athletics has no record of her racing at all last year.
She had broken 8:40 in the 3,000 meters three times during the indoor season, topped by a best of 8:31.20, but none of those performances indicated that a sub-30 10,000 was in the offing on Saturday.
Racing in a festive atmosphere in which thousands of fans cheered for the runners from behind barriers along the edge of the track, Alem Adane followed pace setter Melissa Courtney-Bryant through 3,000 meters in 9:11.86 before picking up the pace and passing the half-way point in 15:09.85.
She then proceeded to run the second half of the race in 14:49.18, which was only three seconds slower than her personal best for 5,000 meters.
Double the distance: Paul Chelimo of the U.S. is best known for his accomplishments over 5,000 meters, yet he slashed more than 30 seconds off his personal best in winning the men’s division in the Night of the 10,000m PBs in London on Saturday.
Running his second five kilometers within five-hundredths of a second of his first 5,000, Chelimo set a meet record of 27:12.73 to finish comfortably ahead of the personal bests of Vincent Mutai of Kenya in second place (27:31.31) and Tadese Getahon of Israel in third (27:33.99).
His time moved him to eighth on the all-time U.S. performer list.
The 33-year-old Chelimo, who has won a combined three medals in the 5,000 at either the Olympic or World Championship level, was well clear of all of his fellow competitors when he came through the first 5,000 meters in 13:36.34 and he ran nearly the exact same time — 13:36.39 — for his second 12½-lap segment of the track.
His winning time crushed his previous best of 27:43.89 that he had set in 2019 and in an interview posted on the Athletics Weekly site, he raved about the energy he drew from the crowd, particularly in the latter stages of the race as he began to tire.
“The crowd was amazing, man. Amazing! I liked the crowd!”
Ready for prime time: Defending World Champion Fred Kerley appears to be well prepared for the upcoming Diamond League meet in Rabat, Morocco on Sunday, May 28, when he is expected to race defending Olympic champion Marcell Jacobs of Italy, World Championship bronze medalist Trayvon Bromell of the U.S., and yearly world leader Ferdinand Omanyala of Kenya, among others, in the men’s 100 meters.
The 28-year-old American made that clear last Sunday when he ran 9.88 in a qualifying heat and 9.91 in the final of the Seiko Golden Grand Prix in Yokohama, Japan.
Kerley, who led the U.S. to a 1-2-3 finish in the World Championships in Eugene, Oregon last July, dominated the final 60 meters of both races while running the 100 for the first time this season.
He had previously been victorious in a pair of races in the 200 — in which his best was 19.92 — and in a 400 —in which he ran 44.65 in Sydney, Australia on March 11.
Omanyala’s 9.84 clocking in the Kip Keino Classic in Nairobi, Kenya on May 13 is the fastest 100-meter time in the world this year.
Shades of 2021: Jasmine Camacho-Quinn looked like the performer who won the Olympic title in 2021 when she posted a runaway victory in the women’s 100-meter hurdles in the USA Track & Field Bermuda Grand Prix in Devonshire, Bermuda on Sunday.
Megan Tapper of Jamaica led the race for the first four flights of hurdles, but the 26-year-old Camacho-Quinn had pulled even with her by the fifth set of barriers and powered away from everyone in the field over the second half of the race while recording a wind-aided time of 12.17 seconds.
Jamaican Danielle Williams placed second in 12.38, followed by American Tonea Marshall at 12.39, and Olympic bronze medalist Tapper at 12.47.
Camacho-Quinn’s time, which was aided by a 3.5 meters-per-second breeze, was the third fastest time ever run under any conditions.
Tobi Amusan of Nigeria recorded the two fastest times in history on the final day of the World Championships in Eugene, Oregon last July. First, she ran a world record of 12.12 to win her semifinal and lower the previous best of 12.20 set by Keni Harrison of the U.S. in 2016. Then, about an hour and 50 minutes later, she ran a wind-aided 12.06 to win the final while finishing well in front of second-place Britany Williams of Jamaica and third-place Camacho-Quinn, who each ran 12.23.
Camacho-Quinn ended up being ranked second in the world by Track & Field News for the 2022 season, but she never looked as consistently sharp as she had during the 2021 campaign when she had run a national record of 12.26 in winning her semifinal of the Olympic Games before winning the final in 12.37.
Following her performance on Sunday, Camacho-Quinn shared a post from World Athletics which began: “@jcamachoquinn is not playing…”
Misleading times: If one had not watched the men’s 100 meters in the USA Track & Field Bermuda Grand Prix on Sunday, it would be easy to assume that Christian Coleman edged Noah Lyles in a tightly contested race as Coleman ran a wind-aided 9.78 seconds to Lyles’ 9.80.
However, the bottom line is the 27-year-old Coleman got off to one of his typically great starts, built up a sizeable lead over the slower-starting Lyles over the first 60 meters of the race, and then appeared to step off the accelerator during the final five meters while Lyles ran all the way through the finish line and used an exaggerated lean get the fastest time possible.
I am not a proponent of what Coleman did as he made the final finish much closer than it needed to be. But the fact that he did what he did and still won shows me that Lyles, the two-time defending World champion in the 200, is far from a sure thing to be one of the U.S. team’s entrants in the 100 when the World Championships are held in Budapest, Hungary from Aug. 19-27.
Outside of defending World 100 champion Fred Kerley, there might be no sprinter on the planet who has better top-end speed than the 25-year-old Lyles. But he has yet to prove that he can get out of the blocks in a consistently efficient manner in the 100 and this often leaves him with a lot of room to make up over the final half of the race, putting unwanted pressure on himself.
Coleman, on the other hand, is relentlessly consistent with his rocket starts. The 2019 World 100 champion’s challenge is to get better at maintaining his form and speed over the final 40 meters of the race.
If he can do that, he should have a good chance at making the U.S. team when the USA Track & Field Outdoor Championships are held in Eugene, Oregon from July 6-9, and being one of the four U.S. entrants in the 100 in the World Championships.
The U.S. is expected to have four entrants instead of the typical three in the men’s 100 in Budapest because Kerley has been granted an automatic berth into the meet as the defending champion.
Looking good: Based on how he looked in the USA Track & Field Bermuda Grand Prix on Sunday, I fully expect Steven Gardiner of the Bahamas to be in the thick of the medal hunt when the men’s 400 meters is contested in the World Championships in August.
The 27-year-old Gardiner had to withdraw from the World Championships in Eugene, Oregon before they started last July due to UTE tendon inflammation in his right foot.
He had not run another 400 until Saturday’s meet at Flora Duffy Stadium in Devonshire, Bermuda, but the 6-foot-5 Bahamian exhibited the same smooth, flowing, and relaxed stride he is known for while rolling to a 44.42 to 45.24 victory over runner-up and countryman Alonzo Russell.
The winning time was half a second slower than the yearly world-leading mark of 43.91 posted by Zambia’s Muzala Samukonga in the Botswana Golden Grand Prix in Gaborone, Botswana on April 29. But Gardiner had to battle headwinds at various points in the race and he appeared to have more in the tank after he crossed the finish line.
Gardiner lowered his national record to 43.48 seconds in winning the 400 in the 2019 World Championships in Doha, Qatar and he ran the second-fastest time of his career in winning the Olympic title in Tokyo in 43.85. The man knows how to produce his best times in the biggest meets.
Excelling in the clutch: Tara Davis-Woodhall secured a come-from-behind victory in the women’s long jump in the USA Track & Field Bermuda Grand Prix on Sunday by spanning a wind-aided 7.11 (23-4) on her sixth and final jump of the competition.
Davis-Woodhall, who turned 24 a day earlier, had taken the lead with a wind-aided jump of 7.03 (23-0¾) in the second round, but fellow American Quanesha Burks had moved ahead of her with a 7.04 (23-1¼) effort in the following round.
Burks remained in the lead until the sixth round, when the first three jumpers in the standings after five rounds went in that order in the final stanza.
After first-place Burks fouled on her jump, Davis-Woodhall hit her 7.11 on a jump that was aided by a breeze of 2.1 meters per second. That became the winning mark a minute or two later after third-place Ruth Osoro of Nigeria spanned a personal best of 6.82 (22-4½) on the final jump of the competition.
“I felt everything that I've done at practice in that final jump, I couldn't ask for more,” Woodhall-Davis was quoted as saying in a post on The Royal Gazette site.
What’s in a time?: I will give Jamal Britt credit for defeating a good field to win the men’s 110-meter high hurdles in the USA Track & Field Bermuda Grand Prix on Sunday. But I do not know what to make of his wind-aided 12.99-second clocking.
While the time gave the American his first sub-13 performance of his career, the tail wind of 4.0 meters-per-second was twice the allowable of 2.0 for record purposes. And considering that he ran his personal best of 13.08 last year with just a 0.3 meter-per-second breeze at his back, that performance is probably six-hundredths of a second better than his performance in Bermuda when you adjust the times for the difference in wind readings.
Nonetheless, the 24-year-old Britt was quick to point out afterward that he was running in only his third meet of the outdoor season after not racing indoors.
He had opened his outdoor season with a winning time of 13.29 seconds in the Drake Relays on April 29 before finishing third in the final of the Atlanta City Games in 13.14 on May 6 after running 13.28 to place first in his qualifying heat earlier in the day.
On Sunday, his wind-aided 12.99 effort gave him a solid margin of victory over second-place Eric Edwards Jr. (13.07). Fellow American Freddie Crittenden, who has a personal best of 13.00, finished third in 13.13.
Two global leaders: A defending World champion and another athlete who has been slowed by injuries in recent years produced a pair of yearly world-leading marks in the HALPLUS Westerfage meet in Halle, Germany on Saturday.
Chase Ealey, who became the first U.S. woman to win the shot put in the World Championships in Eugene, Oregon last July, won that event with a best of 20.06 meters (65-9¾) while finishing comfortably ahead of defending World indoor champion Auriol Dongmo of Portugal (19.16/62-10½). Yue Ma of China placed third at 18.88 (61-11½).
It was the second victory of the outdoor season without a defeat for the 28-year-old Ealey, who won the Drake Relays under less-than-ideal conditions with a best of 19.12 (62-8¾) on April 29. It was also the eighth time during her career that Ealey has topped 20 meters (65-7½) in a meet, with the first seven coming last year.
The other world-leading mark went to Sigrid Borge of Norway, who won the women’s javelin with a personal best of 66.50 (218-2) that added more than three meters to her previous best of 63.28 (207-7) from 2017.
The 27-year-old Borge unleashed her best mark on her first attempt and followed it with a 63.29 throw in the second round that was second-best of her career.
After throwing less than 56 meters from 2020-22, Borge posted a video of her throw on Instagram expressing thanks for her first personal best in six years and to her coach, Andreas Thorkildsen, the 2004 and ’08 Olympic champion in the men’s javelin and the winner of one gold medal and three silver medals in the World Championships.
Welcome to the club: When Lukas Weißhaidinger of Austria threw the discus 70.68 (231-11) in a meet in Schwechat, Austria last Friday, he became the 31st man in history to have thrown the 2-kilogram (4.4-pound) implement 70 meters (229-8) or farther.
He also became the fourth man to have accomplished that feat this year.
The other three are UC Berkeley sophomore Mykolas Alekna of Lithuania (71.00/232-11), Kristjan Ceh of Slovenia (70.89/232-7), and Alex Rose of Samoa (70.39/230-11).
This marks the first year since 1984 that four or more men have thrown the discus 70 or more meters in the same season.
The five men who had season bests of more than 70 meters in 1984 were Americans John Powell (71.26/233-9), Art Burns (70.98/232-10), and Mac Wilkins (70.44/231-1), Swede Ricky Bruch (71.26/233-9), and Czechoslovakian Imrich Burgar (70.26/230-6).
The 31-year-old Weißhaidinger, the bronze medalist in the Olympic Games in Tokyo, took a lot of satisfaction with his accomplishment. In a post on the archyde.com site, he said: “That’s something very special. A sound barrier similar to the ten seconds over 100 meters. The distance is equivalent to the Olympic medal, I don’t know what’s more valuable. I’m now in the 70 [meters] throwers’ club. It’s a big lift from my heart, we’ll definitely toast with a glass of sparkling wine.”
Two liners: Abby Steiner of the U.S. posted her third 200-meter victory of the season without a defeat when she ran a wind-aided 22.06 seconds in the USA Track & Field Bermuda Grand Prix in Devonshire, Bermuda on Sunday. Steiner had previously run 22.23 in the Miramar Invitational on April 8 and 22.30 in the Texas Invitational on April 21. . . . Will Claye of the U.S. produced his longest triple jump performance since the 2019 season when he won the men’s event with a wind-aided jump of 17.45 meters (57 feet 3 inches) in the Bermuda Grand Prix on Sunday. Claye, the silver medalist in the Olympic Games in 2012 and ’16, and in the World Athletics Championships in 2017 and ’19, had sustained a ruptured Achilles tendon in 2020. . . . Hellen Obiri of Kenya ran 31:14 for 10,000 meters to win the women’s division of the Great Manchester Run in Manchester, England on Sunday. The Boston Marathon champion finished well in front of countrywoman and Olympic marathon champion Peres Jepchirchir, who placed second in 31:59.
Big-name withdrawals: The inaugural Los Angeles Grand Prix, which will be held at UCLA’s Drake Stadium this coming Friday and Saturday, lost some of its luster last week when Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, Athing Mu, and Michael Norman withdrew from the meet.
McLaughlin-Levrone, the defending Olympic and World champion in the women’s 400-meter hurdles and the setter of the last four world records in the event, pulled out of the 400 due to a hamstring issue.
Mu was scheduled to run in the women’s 1,500 in the L.A. Grand Prix, but the defending Olympic and World champion in the 800 recently contracted a case of COVID-19.
Norman, the defending World champion in the men’s 400, pulled out due to knee soreness.
Despite the withdrawal of the aforementioned trio, the meet is shaping up to be a very high-quality affair that is scheduled to include world-record holders Mondo Duplantis of Sweden in the men’s pole vault, Ryan Crouser of the U.S. in the men’s shot put, and Tobi Amusan of Nigeria in the women’s 100-meter hurdles.
Other Olympic and/or World Championship gold medalists scheduled to compete are Wojciech Nowicki of Poland in the men’s hammer throw, Jasmine Camacho-Quinn of Puerto Rico in the women’s 100 hurdles, and Americans Katie Moon in the women’s pole vault, Chase Ealey in the women’s shot put, Valarie Allman in the women’s discus, and Brooke Andersen in the women’s hammer throw.
The women’s 100 meters is scheduled to include Sha’Carri Richardson and Aleia Hobbs of the U.S., as well as Marie-Josee Ta Lou of Ivory Coast.
Olympic bronze medalist Gabby Thomas of the U.S. is the leading entrant in the women’s 200, with Olympic and World Championship silver medalist Marileidy Paulino of the Dominican Republic heading the entries in the women’s 400.
Click here for an event schedule.
On the provisional suspension front: Rhonex Kipruto of Kenya, who holds the world record of 26:24 in the men’s road 10,000 meters, has been provisionally suspended by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU).
The AIU, the independent anti-doping body of World Athletics, said Kipruto’s provisional suspension was based on biological passport irregularities. These inconsistencies were found between July 2018 and March 2022.
An athlete’s biological passport is an electronic record of various biological levels of an individual that are tracked over time. Doping violations can then be detected by documenting differences from an athlete’s established levels, as well as levels that are outside permissible limits.
The 23-year-old Kipruto, who could be suspended from competition for four years if found guilty of doping, was quick to deny any wrongdoing on his part. In a statement, he said that “I don’t cheat or dope! The truth is on my side. That is all I can say.”
In addition to his world record for 10,000 meters on the road, Kipruto has run 26:50.16 for 10,000 meters on the track and he was the bronze medalist in that event in the 2019 World Championships in Doha, Qatar. He finished ninth in the Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2021.
He also placed sixth in the World Cross Country Championships in 2019 and won the 10,000 in the World U20 (under 20) Championships in Tampere, Finland in 2018.