Week in Review: Going out with a bang
Long has hand in trio of sprint victories in NCAA Champs
I will be very interested to see how McKenzie Long fares in the women’s 100 and 200 meters when the U.S. Olympic Team Trials are held in Eugene, Oregon, from June 21-30.
The 23-year-old sprinter capped her collegiate career with a dynamite triple in the NCAA Track & Field Championships in Eugene, Oregon, last Saturday when she ran the second leg on a University of Mississippi team that won the 4 x 100-meter relay in 42.34 seconds, won the 100 in a wind-aided 10.82 and took the 200 in a personal best of 21.83, the fastest time in the world this year.
Now the question is will she be able to produce comparable or better performances in the Trials, a meet in which a top-three finish in either the 100 or 200 would give her a spot on the U.S. team that will compete in the athletics portion of the Olympic Games in Paris from August 1-11.
Long has posted the three fastest times in the world this year in the 200 with marks of 21.83, the second-fastest in collegiate history, 21.95, and 22.03. And her 100-meter best of 10.91, which she ran in a semifinal of the NCAA championships, makes her the fourth-fastest American this season.
There was a lot to report on from last week. 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.
However, Long, like so many super high-level collegiate track and field athletes, is now faced with the daunting task of performing as well in the Olympic Trials as she did in the NCAA championships, which ended 13 days before the start of the Trials.
That’s not to mention the fact that many athletes such as Long also competed indoors prior to the outdoor season.
Long had a three-week competitive break from the last race of her indoor season — a runner-up finish in the 200 in the NCAA championships on March 9 — to the start of her outdoor campaign — when she ran a leg on a fourth-place 400 relay team and placed fourth in the 100 in a wind-aided 10.89 in the Battle on the Bayou meet at LSU on March 30. And though her schedule never required her to run in the 400 relay, 100, and 200 on consecutive weekends during the season, she still will have run in five 100-meter races, counting qualifying heats and finals, eight 200s, and seven 400 relays when she settles into the starting blocks for a first-round heat of the women’s 100 in the Olympic Trials a week from today.
“Everything was a blur because it happened so quickly,” Long was quoted as saying about her performances in the NCAA championships in a Columbus Dispatch post. “I’m really proud of myself. I’m not surprised because of all the training I’ve had, and my numbers show it in practice.”
If you would like to read detailed daily reports about the NCAA Track & Field Championships in Eugene, Oregon, last week, you can click on the following links for Day One, Day Two, Day Three, and Day Four.
Long, who had finished second in the 200 and ninth in the 100 in last year’s NCAA championships, told John Anderson of ESPN on Saturday that maintaining her composure was a key to her breakout performance in this year’s meet.
She added that running the second leg on the victorious 400 relay team in the first track event on Saturday put her in a good frame of mind for her individual races.
“It was great,” she said. “It definitely set up the whole day for me. So I’m truly thankful for that. And I’m thankful to have them support me in my individual events as well.”
Brianna Lyston of LSU and Kalia Jackson of Georgia came out of the blocks quicker than anyone in the 100, but Long stayed patient and had taken control of the race with 30 meters remaining. Her wind-aided time of 10.82 left her well clear of second-place Lyston at 10.89 and third-place Rosemary Chukwuma of Texas Tech at 10.90.
“Just remain calm and just do what I’m really good at, which is my turnover,” Long said when asked about how she came from behind to win the 100.
Long was in third place after the first 60 meters of the 200, but she had taken the lead entering the home straightaway and her advantage expanded substantially in the final 50 meters of the race. Her 21.83-second clocking lowered her previous best of 21.95 that she set in her semifinal on Thursday and moved her to second on the all-time collegiate list behind the 21.80 time that Kentucky’s Abby Steiner ran in winning the NCAA title in 2022.
The time also moved her into a tie for 10th on the all-time U.S. performer list.
The top four finishers in the race all recorded personal bests as JaMeesia Ford of South Carolina finished second in a U.S. U20 (under 20) record of 22.08, followed by Jadyn Mays of Oregon in 22.19 and Jayla Jamison of South Carolina in 22.26.
Long’s performances capped a long and winding collegiate career that began at North Carolina State during the 2018-19 academic year, saw her miss the 2021 outdoor season and 2022 indoor campaign with a severe hip injury, and then transfer to Mississippi after she had been eliminated from the 200 in the East Preliminary Round meet in 2022.
She lowered her personal bests from 11.48 in the 100 and 23.00 in the 200 to 11.00 and 22.31 during her first year at Mississippi and also posted wind-aided times of 10.80 and 21.88. And though things continued to progress well on the track this year, Long suffered a huge personal loss on January 29 when her mother, Tara Jones, died in her sleep of a heart attack. She was 45.
Long, who is working toward a master’s degree in public health at Mississippi, said in the Columbus Dispatch post that there was a pivotal moment during the indoor season when she was not happy about competing in the Tyson Invitational in Fayetteville, Arkansas, 11 days after her mom had passed.
She recalled being mad at her coach, mad at the trainers at Mississippi, and mad at anyone who had encouraged her to run so soon after the loss of her mom.
However, she admitted that competing in that meet was a “game changer” because that “was the meet where I had to make a decision and I chose to start including my mom throughout this season. I’m really glad that I did it. I knew that she wouldn’t want me to stop running track.”
Long spoke about her mom during her interview with Anderson on ESPN, saying there are times when she will find a spot in the stands during a meet or practice, and sit down and “talk with her.”
And less than five months after her passing, Long appears to have a legitimate chance at making the U.S. Olympic team — particularly in the 200 — if her performances in the Trials can rival those of her efforts in the NCAA championships.
Exceeding expectations: A lot was expected of the University of Arkansas’ quartet of women’s 400-meter sprinters entering the NCAA championships last week as senior Nickisha Pryce, freshman Kaylyn Brown, and senior Amber Anning had run 49.32, 49.47, and 49.51, respectively, in finishing 1-2-3 in the SEC championships on May 11.
In addition, junior teammate Rosey Effiong had run 50.11 in a West Preliminary Round race qualifying race on May 25.
There was some realistic talk that Pryce, Brown, and Anning could produce a 1-2-3 finish in the NCAA final and some prognosticators floated the idea of a sweep of the top four places and a whopping 29-point total in the 400 for an Arkansas squad that was expected to be in the thick of the team-title race in a meet in which the top eight finishers in each event scored points on a 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis.
And yet, the Razorback foursome managed to top those expectations in a couple of ways.
First, Pryce, Brown, Anning, and Effiong combined for an unprecedented sweep of the top four places in the final with times of 48.89 (a collegiate and Jamaican record), 49.13 (tied for second on all-time collegiate list), 49.59, and 49.72.
Then Anning, Effiong, Pryce, and Brown came back about 80 minutes later to win the 4 x 400-meter relay in a time of 3:17.96 that annihilated the previous collegiate outdoor record of 3:21.92 that was set by the same four sprinters — running in a different order — in the West Preliminary Round meet and was also faster than the collegiate indoor record of 3:21.75 that had been recorded by a Razorback foursome in the 2023 NCAA indoor championships.
While the 3:17.96 clocking was not eligible for any kind of inclusion on all-time national lists because the Arkansas squad was comprised of Americans Brown and Effiong, Brit Anning, and Jamaican Pryce, it was the 10th fastest ever run and the quickest in the world since a U.S. national team of Sydney McLaughlin, Allyson Felix, Dalilah Muhammad, and Athing Mu ran 3:16.85 in winning the Olympic title in Tokyo in 2021.
And perhaps most importantly to Arkansas’ Fantastic Four, the victory in the final event of the meet gave the Razorbacks their last 10 points in a 63-59 win over second-place Florida and their first outdoor team title since 2019.
“It kind of started last year,” Chris Johnson, Arkansas’ first-year head coach said when Anderson of ESPN asked him about the Razorbacks’ heretofore unheard-of depth in the women’s 400 this season. “Obviously as a freshman, we didn’t know [Kaylyn Brown] would go from 53 seconds to 49 seconds, but as time passed by, she kept getting better and better and better.
“I think it’s just a tribute to everyone who’s working with these young ladies, including myself, to get them to this point, to keep them healthy, and fit and execute at a tremendous meet like this, we’re fortunate and we’re blessed.”
Fantastic farewell: In what was most certainly the final meet of her collegiate career, Parker Valby of the University of Florida turned in a superb double in the NCAA championships by setting a meet record of 31:46.09 in the 10,000 meters on June 6 and a collegiate record of 14:52.18 last Saturday.
Valby finished nearly six seconds ahead of second-place Hilda Olemomoi of Alabama (31:51.89) in the 10,000 after breaking the race open with about a kilometer to go and she was nearly 18 seconds ahead of runner-up Olemomoi (15:10.04) in the 5,000 after gapping the Kenyan with 1,500 meters remaining.
Valby’s time in the 5,000 crushed the previous collegiate outdoor record of 15:03.12 set by Katelyn Tuohy of North Carolina State last year. It was also her third collegiate record of her junior year in that event as she had twice lowered the indoor 5k standard, with her second record of 14:52.79 coming in the final of the NCAA championships in March.
The two victories last week gave Valby six NCAA titles in the last 12 months as she had won the 5,000 in the outdoor championships last year before winning the cross country title in November, and the 5,000 and 3,000 in the indoor finals.
In a post-race interview on ESPN, Valby confirmed that she expected Saturday’s race to be the final competition of her collegiate career. She said to “stay tuned for the future” before adding that it was “really bittersweet. Definitely was crying this morning.”
Clutch performance: It’s one thing to come from behind and win a throwing event with a fifth-round effort in a national championship meet. It’s quite another to do that when your fifth-round attempt tops your previous best on the day by more than seven meters, exceeds the collegiate record by two meters and breaks your country’s national record that was set 24 years earlier.
Senior Rhema Otabor of the University of Nebraska did all of the above when she won her second consecutive title in the women’s javelin in the NCAA championships on June 6.
Otabor was nearly four meters behind first-place Lianna Davidson of Texas A&M after the first four rounds as Davidson’s personal best of 60.70 (199-2) left her well ahead of Otabor’s best of 56.95 (186-10). But Otabor unleashed the throw of her life in the fifth round as her effort of 64.19 (210-7) crushed her previous personal best of 60.54 (198-7) that she had set in finishing second in the Pan American Games last November, topped the collegiate record of 62.19 (204-1) set by Maggie Malone of Texas A&M in 2016, and bettered the Bahamian record of 63.73 (209-1) that Leverne Eve had recorded in 2000.
Clutch performance II: Junior Jasmine Jones of USC was disappointed with her fourth-place finish in the women’s 100-meter hurdles in the NCAA championships last Saturday, but she came back to win the 400 hurdles about 45 minutes later with a 53.15-second clocking that was the second fastest in collegiate history and a personal best by .72 seconds.
At the time, it was the third-fastest in the world this year behind Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone of the U.S. (52.70) and Femke Bol of the Netherlands (53.07), who are the two fastest 400 hurdlers in history with bests of 50.68 and 51.45, respectively.
Although Jones, the NCAA indoor champion in the 60-meter hurdles, had lowered her personal best to 12.64 in the final of the 100 hurdles, she finished well back of first-place Grace Stark of Florida, who clocked a personal best of 12.47.
In the 400 hurdles, Jones trailed defending champion Savannah Sutherland of Michigan and Rachel Glenn of Arkansas for the first 300-plus meters of the race. But she passed Glenn just before the ninth of 10 hurdles and overtook Sutherland coming off the final barrier,
She finished .11 seconds ahead of Sutherland’s Canadian record of 53.26 and was nearly a second in front of third-place Glenn, who ran 54.11.
Contrasting victories: For the second year in a row, Leo Neugebauer of the University of Texas set a collegiate and German record in winning the decathlon in the NCAA championships.
But this year’s victory was different from last year’s in a couple of big ways.
First, the Longhorn senior had an 830-point margin of victory over second-place Peyton Bair of Mississippi State in this year’s competition that concluded on June 6 after finishing 206 points in front of runner-up Kyle Garland of Georgia last year.
Secondly, Neugebauer made a serious run at the revered 9,000-point barrier this year before finishing with an 8,961-point total that was the eighth highest in history and moved him to sixth on the all-time world performer list and to fourth among Europeans.
While the difference between his 8,961-point total this year and his 8,836 score last year might not seem like that much, it should be noted that while there have been 33 scores in history of 8,800 or more points, there have only been 11 at 8,900 or more.
“It was cool playing with that idea,” Neugebauer said when ESPN’s Anderson asked him about challenging the 9,000-point barrier. “It wasn’t supposed to happen today. I really tried. I passed people for the first time ever, that I had ever passed anyone at the end of the [1,500]. So I tried. It wasn’t enough.”
Neugebauer’s next decathlon is scheduled to be in the Olympic Games in Paris in August, when he could enter the competition with the best score in the world for the year.
He had the top entry score in the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary, last August before finishing fifth with a total of 8,645 points in one of the deepest competitions in history.
“I feel great,” he said when Anderson asked him about his preparations for Paris. “We’ll go back to work in a week or two. I’m very excited.”
On a select list: Senior Caleb Dean of Texas Tech University was regarded as a potential winner of the men’s 400-meter intermediate hurdles entering the last week’s NCAA championships, but few people expected him to run as fast as he did in the final last Friday.
His 47.23 clocking in that race not only left him well clear of runner-up and defending champion Chris Robinson of Alabama (47.98) and third-place Nathaniel Ezekiel of Baylor (48.88), but it crushed his personal best of 48.05 and is the second-fastest collegiate time in history.
Perhaps most impressively, it moved him into a tie for 11th on the all-time world performer list, as well as to sixth on the all-time U.S. list.
The five Americans ahead of him on the all-time list are Rai Benjamin (personal best of 46.17 from 2021), Kevin Young (46.78 in 1988), Edwin Moses (47.02 in 1983), Bryan Bronson (47.03 in 1998), and Andre Phillips (47.19 in 1988).
Those five men have combined to win four Olympic and three World titles, as well as one silver medal and one bronze medal in the Olympic Games, and two silver medals and two bronze medals in the World Championships.
Moses also set four world records during his career and Young’s 46.78 clocking in the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona stood as the world record until Karsten Warholm of Norway ran 46.70 in July of 2021. He then lowered the world record further when he ran a scintillating 45.94 to win the Olympic title in Tokyo a little more than a month later.
Dean, who placed fourth in last year’s NCAA championships, began the season with a personal best of 48.39 seconds and that remained his top time until he clocked 48.05 in the quarterfinal heat of the West Preliminary Round meet in Fayetteville, Arkansas, on May 24. He then matched that time in a semifinal of the NCAA meet on June 5 before his breakthrough 47.23 effort in the final two days later.
Piecing together a championship: The University of Florida’s men’s team won its third consecutive team title — and seventh overall — in the NCAA championships by nickel and diming its way to a 41-40 victory over second-place Auburn.
It was the lowest point total for a winning team since 1970 when BYU, Kansas, and Oregon tied for first with 35.
Florida, which clinched the championship when a foursome of Reheem Hayles, JeVaugh Powell, Rios Prude Jr., and Jenoah McKiver earned six points for their third-place finish in the 4 x 400-meter relay in a season-best of 2:59.98, did not win any of the 21 events contested in the men’s meet. However, the Gators did have one second-place finish, from Robert Gregory in the 200, as well as three thirds, one fourth, one fifth, one sixth, one seventh, and one eighth in the meet in which the top eight finishers in each event scored points on a 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis.
“It was tough day,” Florida coach Mike Holloway said to ESPN’s Anderson. “We had some things not go our way. We built this program on a lot of pride and a lot of passion and we talk about a standard that we fight to and that’s what you saw today.
“Every time something went wrong, somebody else stepped up and got it done.”
Another meet, another world-leading mark: For the second time in 10 days, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone of the U.S. produced a yearly world-leading mark in a one-lap race.
Her latest superb performance came in the women’s 400 meters in the USA Track & Field New York City Grand Prix on Randalls Island on Sunday when she ran 48.75 seconds while finishing well in front of second-place Talitha Diggs of the U.S. in 50.91 and third-place Stacey-Ann Williams of Jamaica in 50.94.
The time by McLaughlin-Levrone was .14 seconds faster than the 48.89 collegiate record and yearly world-leading mark that Jamaican Nickisha Pryce of the University of Arkansas had run in the NCAA Track & Field Championships in Eugene, Oregon, the previous day.
In addition, it was only a hundredth of a second off of her personal best of 48.74 from last year and it was just five hundredths of a second off the American record of 48.70 that Sanya Richards-Ross had set in 2006.
McLaughlin-Levrone’s performance was doubly impressive because it came in cool and breezy conditions in which the competitors had to battle a headwind down the backstretch.
Despite that, the defending Olympic champion in the 400 hurdles had made up the stagger on Diggs before reaching 200 meters and she kept widening her lead during the second half of the race.
It appeared afterward that McLaughlin-Levrone had entered the event intent on breaking the American record, for when Lewis Johnson of NBC Sports asked her what she thought when she saw her final time, she said, simply, “So close.”
The streak continues: Noah Lyles of the U.S. won his first 200-meter race of the season and his 16th final in a row when he clocked 19.77 seconds in the New York City Grand Prix.
Despite running into a breeze of 1.6 meters-per-second in the homestretch and having to wait at least five minutes to start the race after an initial recall had led to more than one competitor asking for different starting blocks, the 26-year-old Lyles still displayed his superior top-end speed while finishing nearly four-tenths of a second in front of Joseph Fahnbulleh of Liberia, who placed second in 20.15.
It was the record 25th time during his career that Lyles had run under 19.80 seconds. Jamaican Usain Bolt, who set the world record of 19.19 in the 2009 World Championships in Berlin, has the second most sub-19.80 performances in a career with 21.
Long jumping continues: Tara Davis-Woodhall of the U.S. posted her sixth victory of the year without a loss in the women’s long jump while leaping more than 7.00 meters (22-11¾) for the fourth consecutive meet in the New York City Grand Prix.
The 25-year-old Davis-Woodhall had a best of 7.14 (23-5¼) in the meet at Icahn Stadium on Sunday while finishing well ahead of second-place Jasmine Moore of the U.S., who tied her outdoor personal best with a leap of 6.88 (22-7).
Davis-Woodhall had leaped 7.18 (23-6¾) in winning the USA Track & Field Indoor Championships in February before spanning 7.07 (23-2½) in the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow, Scotland, on March 3.
Then came a winning leap of 7.16 (23-6) in the Arkansas Twilight meet on May 3.
She also had a top jump of 7.17 (23-6¼) in the Atlanta City Games on May 18, but for some reason, World Athletics has not included the results of that meet on any of its statistical lists.
Back in the game: Kara Winger of the U.S. won the women’s javelin with a best of 63.22 (207-5) in the New York City Grand Prix while competing for the first time since winning the Diamond League Final in the Weltklasse meet in Zurich in September of 2022.
The 38-year-old Winger had retired after the 2022 season in which she won a silver medal in the World Championships in Eugene, Oregon, and set an American record of 68.11 (223-5). But the desire to compete again led to her appearance on Sunday.
After hitting 62.65 (205-6) on her first throw, she improved to 63.22 (207-5) on her second attempt and threw 61.01 (200-2) on her third. She then concluded the competition with throws of 59.16 (194-1), 55.69 (182-8), and 58.89 (193-2).
Winger will now try to become a five-time Olympian when she competes in the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Eugene, Oregon, from June 21-30.
While a top-three finish is apt to be her top goal in that meet, she will no doubt also try to meet or better the Olympic qualifying standard of 64.00 (210-0) during the competition.
Victorious return: Heptathlete Nafi Thiam of Belgium, who withdrew from last year’s World Championships due to Achilles tendon issues, returned to her winning ways when she won her third consecutive title in the multi-event competition in the European Athletics Championships in Rome last Saturday.
The 29-year-old Thiam, who will attempt to win an unprecedented third consecutive title in the Olympic Games in Paris in August, totaled a yearly world-leading score of 6,848 points to finish well in front of second-place Auriana Lazraq-Khlass of France, who had a personal best of 6,635.
Noor Vidts, Thiam’s compatriot, finished third with a personal best of 6,596 points, followed by Annik Kalin of Switzerland with 6,490.
Katarina Johnson-Thompson of Great Britain, who won her second World title with a score of 6,740 points last year, withdrew from last week’s meet after the shot put, the third event, due to what her coach, Aston Moore, described as a “small niggle in her right leg.”
Moore then added in a post on bbc.com that “We don’t want to risk losing any time from training which could be the result if she was to carry on competing for another day.”
Johnson-Thompson, who edged favored American Anna Hall by 20 points for the World title in Budapest, Hungary, last August, was in ninth place in the standings, 318 points behind first-place Thiam, when she pulled out.
Thiam, who had set a world record of 5,055 points in the pentathlon in the European Indoor Athletics Championships in March of last year, did her greatest damage in the field events in Rome while posting decent marks in the track races.
After opening day one with a time of 13.74 seconds in the 100-meter hurdles, Thiam cleared 1.95 (6-4¾) in the high jump, put the shot 15.06 (49-5), and ran the 200 in 24.81 for a first-place total of 3,955 points after four events.
She then started the second day by leaping 6.59 (21-7½) in the long jump before throwing the javelin 53.00 (173-11) and running the 800 in 2:11.79.
“I didn’t really know what to expect and am very satisfied with this performance,” she was quoted as saying in a Belga News Agency post. “But at the Games in Paris, I want to do even better.”
In particular, she said she wanted to improve on her performances in the 100 hurdles and the 200.
“We will work on the start and pure speed. That was the only thing that was a bit disappointing this championship, without being really bad.”
Rising to the occasion: Miltiadis Tentoglou of Greece produced the best long jump mark in the world since 2019 when he won the men’s event with two leaps of 8.65 (28-4½) in the European Championships last Saturday.
The two jumps of 8.65 were the farthest in the world since Tajay Gayle of Jamaica leaped 8.69 (28-6¼) in winning the 2019 World Championships in Doha, Qatar.
Mattia Furlani of Italy finished second with a national and world U20 (under 20) record of 8.38 (27-6), followed by Simon Ehammer of Switzerland at 8.31 (27-3¼).
Tentoglou, 26, had edged the 19-year-old Furlani for the World indoor title when his second-best jump had been better than the Italian’s No. 2 mark. But the defending Olympic and World champion had the four best marks of the competition last Saturday.
His first 8.65 effort, which topped his previous personal best of 8.60 (28-2¾) from 2021 and moved him to fourth on the all-time European performer list, came in the fifth round. He equaled it on his sixth — and final — effort and also had jumps of 8.49 (27-10¼) and 8.42 (27-7½) while winning his third consecutive continental title.
“My coach told me after the first 8.65m that I should push myself even more because I could do it,” Tentoglou was quoted as saying in a World Athletics post. “I told him that I did five jumps around 8.50m and felt tired. ‘I am dead, I gave my everything.’ And he said: ‘Come on, you can do it.’ And I did.”
Hot hurdler: After winning silver medals in the women’s 60-meter hurdles in the last two World Athletics Indoor Championships, Cyrena Samba-Mayela of France is in the midst of a breakout season in the 100 hurdles outdoors.
The latest evidence of that came in the European Championships last Saturday when she ran a national record of 12.31 seconds in winning the straightaway hurdles event with a time that was the fastest in the world this year and moved her into a tie for 10th on the all-time world performer list and to fourth on the all-time European list.
Her performance came in a race in which Ditaji Kambundji of Switzerland finished second in 12.40 and Pia Skrzyzowska of Poland placed third in 12.42.
Both times were personal bests, with Kambundji setting a Swiss record that moved her to eighth on the all-time European performer list and Skrzyzowska moving into a tie for 10th.
“I have never felt so alive,” Samba-Mayela was quoted as saying in a World Athletics post. “Everything is going well and I hope it will keep well until Paris. I am walking on a positive path.”
Although the 23-year-old Samba-Mayela had posted her second consecutive runner-up finish in the 60 hurdles in the World Indoor Championships in Glasgow, Scotland, on March 3, she had never had as much success in the longer 100-meter hurdles race outdoors and began the season with a personal best of 12.68.
However, she has lowered her personal best five times since mid-April.
Her first personal best of the season came when she ran 12.65 to finish eighth in the Tom Jones Memorial Invitational in Gainesville, Florida, on April 13, and she followed that with a national record of 12.55 a week later to place third in the Diamond League opener in Xiamen, China
She then posted winning times of 12.52 in two separate meets — including the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Oregon, on May 25 — before running 12.43 in her semifinal of the European Championships prior to her 12.31 clocking in the final later in the day.
Hot hurdler II: Like Cyrena Samba-Mayela of France in the women’s 100-meter hurdles, Lorenzo Ndele Simonelli of Italy is in the midst of a breakout outdoor season after finishing second in the men’s 60 high hurdles in the World Indoor Championships.
While Simonelli had finished .14 seconds behind American Grant Holloway in the 60 highs in the World Championships, he currently sits only two hundredths of a second behind Holloway on the yearly world list after running 13.05 to win the European title last Saturday.
Enrique Llopis of Spain finished second in a personal best of 13.16, followed by Jason Joseph of Switzerland in 13.43.
Simonelli’s time cut a large .15 seconds off the 13.20 personal best he had run in a semifinal earlier in the day and that time had trimmed a hundredth of a second off a national record of 13.21 that he had clocked in a meet in Tomblaine, France, on May 25.
Simonelli began the season with a best of 13.33.
Bouncing back: Kristjan Ceh of Slovenia had been beaten in three of his previous four discus competitions entering the European Championships, yet he managed to win his first continental title last Friday while handing world record-holder Mykolas Alekna of Lithuania his first loss of the season.
The 25-year-old Ceh won the gold medal with a best of 68.08 (223-4), followed by Lukas Weibhaidinger of Austria at 67.90 (222-9) and defending champion Alekna at 67.48 (221-5). Daniel Stahl of Sweden, the defending Olympic and World champion, placed fourth at 66.94 (219-3).
Ceh, the silver medalist in last year’s World Championships after winning the gold medal in 2022, threw 66.59 (218-5) on his first throw before improving to what turned out to be his winning effort of 68.08 in the second round.
Alekna, who had broken a 38-year-old world record with a throw of 74.35 (243-11) in a meet in Ramona, Oklahoma, in the middle of April, fouled on his first effort before moving into second place with a throw of 66.98 (219-9) in the second round.
He improved to 67.48 in the fourth round, before Weibhaidinger overtook him for second place in the fifth round with a throw of 67.90.
Alekna had previously thrown 70.70 (230-11) or farther in four of his six meets this season.
“I finally got my self-confidence back and I think I will be in even better shape in Paris,” Ceh was quoted as saying in a Athletics Weekly post. “Everybody was talking about Alekna so, of course, he is the man to beat – he is the world record-holder so everybody wants to beat him. I think it is going to be something big in Paris.”
A record seventh gold medal: Sandra Elkasevic of Croatia became the first athlete in the history of the European Championships to win seven consecutive titles in one event when she placed first in the women’s discus in the meet at the Olympic Stadium in Rome last Saturday.
Elkasevic, formerly known as Perkovic before getting married to longtime boyfriend and coach Edis Elkasevic on December 31 of last year, produced the top throw of the competition with an effort of 67.04 (219-11) in the first round and none of the other competitors in the 12-thrower field could top or equal that mark.
Jorinde van Klinken of the Netherlands, who had placed second in the shot put a day earlier, matched that silver-medal winning performance in the discus with a best of 65.99 (216-6). She was followed by Liliana Ca of Portugal in third at 64.53 (211-8).
It was a season-best throw for the 33-year-old Elkasevic, who previously won gold medals in the Olympic Games in 2012 and ’16, and in the World Championships in 2013 and ’17. She has also won silver medals in the 2015 and ’22 World Championships, as well as a bronze medal in 2019.
“This gold medal means a lot to me,” she was quoted as saying in a European Athletics post. “Here in Rome I won my seventh gold medal at a European Championships and as Rome was built on seven hills I wanted to have a medal for each hill. It was an amazing crowd. Thanks to the Italians and also to the Croatians who came here to support me.
“I knew that I am the best one here and that I can throw far. But I am still a human and I get a little nervous. If something does not go according to the plan, it is not good… It is emotional because this is my first medal for me and my husband under the name of Elkasevic, like there is a new girl in town. I won six under the name of Perkovic and this is the first one for our family. And that gold goes to him.”
Two liners: Christopher Morales Williams of the University of Georgia remained unbeaten in the men’s 400 meters outdoors when he won the event in the NCAA Track & Field Championships in Eugene, Oregon, last Friday. The 19-year-old sophomore ran 44.47 seconds after having run a Canadian record and yearly world-leading time of 44.05 in winning the SEC title on May 11. . . . . Doris Lemngole of the University of Alabama set a collegiate record in the women’s 3,000-meter steeplechase in the NCAA championships last Saturday after breaking away from Olivia Markezich of Notre Dame after the final water jump. Lemngole, a freshman from Kenya, ran 9 minutes 15.24 seconds to break the previous college best of 9:16.00 set by Courtney Wayment of BYU in 2022, while grad student Markezich ran the No. 3 time in collegiate history with her time of 9:17.36. . . . . Jakob Ingebrigtsen of Norway, the two-time defending World champion in the men’s 5,000 meters, won his third consecutive title in that event in the European Athletics Championships in Rome last Saturday. Ingebrigtsen timed 13:20.11 — after running his final lap in 53.14 seconds — and he was followed by George Mills of Great Britain in 13:21.38 and Dominic Lokinyomo Lobalu of Switzerland in 13:21.61. . . . . Marcell Jacobs of Italy won his second consecutive title in the men’s 100 meters in the European Championships last Saturday. The defending Olympic champion clocked a season best of 10.02 seconds while posting his third victory in five finals this season. . . . . Defending Olympic champion Wojciech Nowicki of Poland won his third consecutive title in the men’s hammer throw in the European Championships on Sunday. Nowicki threw a season best of 80.95 meters (265 feet 7 inches) and he was followed by Bence Halasz of Hungary in second place at 80.49 (264-1) and Mykhaylo Kokhan of Ukraine in third at 80.18 (263-1). . . . . Ireland won its first gold medal since 1998 in the European Championships when a quartet of Christopher O’Donnell, Rhasidat Adeleke, Thomas Barr, and Sharlene Mawdsley won the mixed 4 x 400-meter relay with a national-record time of 3:09.92 on the first day of the meet last Friday. Adeleke and Mawdsley produced splits of 49.53 and 49.40, respectively, in the race in which Italy finished second in 3:10.69 and a Netherlands squad anchored by Femke Bol placed third in 3:10.73. . . . . Yaroslava Mahuckikh of Ukraine cleared an outdoor season best of 2.01 (6-7) in winning the women’s high jump in the European Championships on Sunday. It was the second consecutive outdoor continental title for the defending World champion as Angelina Topic of Serbia finished second at 1.97 (6-5½) and Iryna Gerashchenko of Ukraine placed third at 1.95 (6-4¾). . . . . When Ana Peleteiro-Compaore of Spain bounded 14.85 (48-8¾) in winning the women’s triple jump in the European Championships on Sunday, it equaled the top outdoor mark in the world this year. The bronze medalist in the Olympic Games in 2021 was followed by Tugba Danismaz of Turkey in second place at 14.57 (47-9¾) and Ilionis Guillaume of France at 14.43 (47-4¾). . . . . Karoline Bjerkeli Grovdahl of Norway won the women’s half marathon in the European Championships on Sunday two days after placing second in the 5,000 meters. The three-time defending European cross country champion clocked 1 hour 8 minutes 9 seconds in the half marathon after her 14:38.62 time in the 5,000 left her a little more than three seconds behind Nadia Battocletti of Italy, who placed first with a national record of 14:35.29.
Moving up the list: Sadie Engelhardt of Ventura High School in California lowered her personal best to 4:08.86 in the 1,500 meters when she finished eighth in the first section of the women’s race in the Portland Track Festival at Lincoln High in Portland on Sunday.
The time, which bettered her previous best of 4:09.70 that she had set in March while winning a race at The TEN meet in San Juan Capistrano, California, moved her to fifth on the all-time national high school performer list.
Anna Camp-Bennett of the U.S. won the race in 4:07.13 and she was followed by compatriots Ella Donaghu in 4:07.57 and Gracie Hyde in 4:07.60.
Fun while it lasted: Lex Young’s reign as the national high school record-holder in the boys’ 5,000 meters came to an end in the Portland Track Festival when Daniel Simmons of American Fork High in Utah ran 13:25.86 to finish eighth in the men’s 5,000.
Simmons’ time bettered the national prep record of 13:34.96 that Young had set last year when he finished 18th in the inaugural USA Track & Field Los Angeles Invitational at UCLA.
Young recently completed his freshman year at Stanford.
New championship meet on horizon: World Athletics announced on June 3 that a new bi-annual meet called the World Athletics Ultimate Championship would be held for the first time from September 11-13, 2026, with Budapest, Hungary, serving as the host city of the inaugural competition.
The meet, which will be divided into a trio of three-hour segments held over successive evenings, will consist only of semifinals and finals in track events, and only of finals in field events. It will be designed to pit World champions, Olympic champions, Diamond League winners, and the year’s top performing athletes against one another in a competition to determine the ultimate champion, according to World Athletics.
The meet will have a record $10 million prize pot, with $150,000 going to the winner of each event and every competitor receiving some sort of financial compensation.
Athletes, who will compete as members of national teams, are expected to take part in the sprints, middle- and long-distance races, hurdles, relays, jumps, and throws. However, current plans do not call for competition in the multi-events or walks.
“With only the best of the best on show and cutting straight to semifinals and finals, we will create an immediate pressure to perform for athletes aiming to claim the title of the ultimate champion,” World Athletics president Sebastian Coe said in a statement. “The World Athletics Ultimate Championship will be high on action and excitement for fans, setting a new standard for track and field events. Featuring athletics’ biggest stars, it will be a must-watch global sports event and means track and field will host a major global championship in every single year, ensuring for the first time that athletics will enjoy a moment of maximum audience reach on an annual basis.”
World Athletics concluded its announcement by stating that it would be consulting stakeholders — such as athletes and their representatives, coaches, shoe companies, broadcast organizations, member federations, and others — throughout the summer before a full event launch occurs in the fall.
On the performance enhancing drug front: Rhonex Kipruto of Kenya, a runner who had set a world record of 26:24 for 10 kilometers on the road in 2020 and won the bronze medal in the men’s 10,000 meters in the 2019 World Athletics Championships in Doha, Qatar, has been banned from competition for six years.
A disciplinary panel of the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) found that abnormalities in Kipruto’s blood samples pointed to “a deliberate and sophisticated doping regime” in which he most likely had help from an unknown person or people.
As part of the ban, all of Kipruto’s performances since September of 2018 are to be disqualified.
That means that Berihu Aregawi of Ethiopia will become the world record-holder for 10k on the roads, as he previously ranked second on the all-time list with his 26:33 clocking that he ran in Laredo, Spain, in March of last year.
In addition, Adamlak Belihu of Ethiopia could be retroactively awarded the bronze medal for the 10,000 meters for the 2019 World Championships.
Belihu originally finished fifth in that race with a time of 26:56.71, but the doping ban of third-place Kipruto came about a month after fourth-place finisher Rodgers Kwemoi of Kenya had been banned for six years in a case with circumstances similar to that of Kipruto’s.
Great stuff John! Any chance that you (and maybe Brenda) will be going to Paris for the Olympics? Also we hope that you both could make it to Karen’s Crew tailgate in Milwaukee for the Brewers game on 7-28.