Week in Review: Long time coming
Hoey's third continental record gives him fifth victory of season in USATF Champs
It no doubt took much longer than Josh Hoey had planned, but the immense talent that he displayed as a high school senior in 2018 has burst forth during the last year.
The latest evidence came on Sunday in the USA Track & Field Indoor Championships in Staten Island, New York, when he won the men’s 800 meters in 1:43.24, a North American record and the second-fastest short track time in history.
Only Wilson Kipketer of Denmark, a winner of the 800 in the 1997 and ’99 World Athletics Championships and a runner who was ranked as the top 800 performer in the world six times during his career, has run faster than Hoey indoors, with his 1:42.67 effort from 1997.
Hoey’s latest victory gave him five wins in the five finals in which he has competed during the current indoor season. In addition, he has lowered his personal best in each of those races and has lowered the North American record in three of those meets.
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“I was just really happy to get a personal best today,” Hoey told Lewis Johnson on NBC Sports after he had bettered the North American record of 1:43.90 that he had set in the Millrose Games in New York City on Feb. 8. “A little bit of pressure coming in. A lot of people were probably expecting me to take it early, but I was kind of able to drown that out… and just kind of ran with confidence.”
According to splits posted on the meet website, the 25-year-old Hoey trailed Isaiah Harris for the first 100 meters of the race at the Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex, but he was in first place when he completed the first lap of the 200-meter track in 24.73 seconds and he never trailed again.
Brandon Miller, who had edged Hoey for third place in last year’s U.S. Olympic Team Trials, was about a tenth of a second out of first when Hoey came through 400 meters in 50.36 and he was still very close to him after Hoey passed the 600-meter mark in 1:16.70.
However, the gap between them had grown a little larger at 700 meters and Hoey covered the final 100 meters of the race in 13.43 seconds, compared to Miller’s split of 14.11.
While Hoey’s time moved him to eighth on the all-time U.S. performer list when combining indoor and outdoor performances, Miller finished second in 1:44.26 to climb to ninth on the all-time indoor performer list and Wes Ferguson finished third in 1:44.92 to jump to sixth on the all-time U.S. indoor list.
Harris tied his personal best of 1:45.64 while finishing fourth.
“Just understanding the different phases of the race, that’s something I’ve been kind of building on for years now,” Hoey said when Johnson asked him about the keys to his record performance. “So just to come out and run a personal best on such a big stage like this is fun. It’s such a blessing, and I’m really thankful for my family, my mom and dad have sacrificed so much. My two brothers who train with me, my coach, Justin Rinaldi, and all the other people. I could just keep going.”
Hoey, who trains with his older brother, Jaxson, and his young brother, Jonah, was the top-ranked boys’ 800-meter runner in the U.S. for 2018 when he set a then-national prep best of 1:47.67 indoors and clocked 1:48.07 outdoors while he was a senior at Bishop Shanahan High School in Downingtown, Pennsylvania.
He signed a national letter of intent with the University of Oregon, but he later decided to eschew running at the collegiate level in favor of competing in the professional ranks. However, his performances in the 800 stagnated during the next five years as he had season bests of 1:49.45, 1:47.26, 1:47.56, 1:47.36, and 1:48.50 from 2019-23.
After working with an estimated six or seven coaches during that stretch, Hoey said in a trackandfieldnews.com post on Jan. 23 that he was contemplating training himself as he headed into the fall of 2023. But that was when he met Rinaldi and decided to give it a go with the coach who was also working with 1:44.00 performer Peter Bol of Australia and reigning NCAA champion Will Sumner of the U.S.
Hoey registered his first personal best since 2020 when he ran 1:47.04 to place third in the USATF Indoor Championships in Albuquerque, New Mexico, last February and then he ran 1:45.54 to win the Florida Relays in late March in his first outdoor meet of year.
He had mixed results during April and May, but a 1:45.35 clocking for third place in the USATF New York City Grand Prix on June 9 had him feeling good as entered the Olympic Trials on June 27 and he proceeded to break 1:45 for the first time in the final when he finished fourth in 1:44.12.
Although that effort left him a place shy of making the U.S. team that competed in the Olympic Games in Paris, he lowered his personal best to 1:43.80 in a meet in Kortrijk, Belgium in mid-July, and broke 1:45 two more times before surprising many by running a hand-held time of 3:48.9 to finish second to Olympic 1,500 silver medalist Josh Kerr of Great Britain in the Fifth Avenue Mile in New York City in September.
He opened his indoor campaign three months later when he won the mile in a personal best of 3:52.61 in the Boston University Sharon Colyear-Danville Season Opener on Dec. 7 before setting a North American record of 2:14:48 while winning the 1,000 meters in the Quaker Invitational in Philadelphia on Jan. 18.
That was followed by a personal best of 3:33.66 in winning the 1,500 in the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix in Brighton, Massachusetts, on Feb. 2, before he set his first North American record in the 800 six days later with a 1:43.90 clocking in the Millrose Games that saw him defeat defending World indoor champion Bryce Hoppel of the U.S.
And with his performance on Sunday, he could very well be the 800-meter favorite when the World Athletics Indoor Championships are held in Nanjing, China, from March 21-23.
“I was feeling good today and that kinda just put me in the front,” he said in a Track & Field News post. “I was like I might as well take it. I prefer not to run at the front, but I also take a lot of inspiration from guys like Jakob [Ingebrigtsen], where if you wanna run fast you gotta do it by yourself. I think that come outdoors I’m hoping to get into meets where I won’t be the favorite, I’ll really have to demonstrate some discipline.”
The woman can close: Masai Russell is starting to gain a well-deserved reputation as a straightaway hurdler who is quicker than any of her peers when it comes to her ability to get to the finish line after clearing the final barrier in a race.
That’s how she won her first title in the women’s 60-meter hurdles on the first day of the USATF Indoor Championships on Saturday.
The 24-year-old Russell, who had come from behind to win the 100 hurdles in the Olympic Games in Paris last summer, was clearly behind Grace Stark for the first three hurdles of the USATF final, but she had begun to make up ground on her Olympic teammate by the fourth barrier and had basically drawn even with her as she touched down off the fifth. However, she edged away from Stark during the final nine-plus meters of the race to record a 7.74 to 7.76 victory.
Christina Clemons finished third in 7.81.
Russell’s time was the fastest in the world this year, trimmed a hundredth of a second off her previous best of 7.75 that she had set during her senior season at the University of Kentucky in 2023 and moved her into a tie for sixth on the all-time U.S. performer list.
“I’m so happy. I’m so blessed,” she said after her victory. “I wanted to run a little faster. But anytime that you’re getting better, you’re running faster, I [ran] a PB. I can only be grateful.”
Although her top-two finish qualified her for the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Nanjing, China, from March 21-23, a post on her Instagram account indicated that her indoor season was over.
The post read as follows: Look good, run better🤭! Ended my indoor season as US Champ, along with a personal best✨ outdoor I’m coming for you!
The streak continues: Grant Holloway has not run as fast as he expected he would at this point in the season, but the two-time defending World indoor champion in the men’s 60-meter high hurdles nonetheless won that event in 7.36 seconds in the USATF Indoor Championships on Saturday.
The time by the 27-year-old Holloway was tied for the fastest in the world this year, as he had previously run 7.36 in a meet in Lieven, France, nine days earlier, and it left him five hundredths of a second in front of Cameron Murray at 7.41.
Like Murray, USC senior Johnny Brackins also ran a personal best, as his third-place time of 7.43 moved him to fourth on the all-time collegiate performer list and left him five hundredths of a second in front of fourth-place Cordell Tinch, who clocked 7.48.
While Holloway’s winning time has only been bettered by two other men a total of three times in history, the Olympic champion in the 110 high hurdles has clocked 7.35 or faster 13 times during his career, topped by the world record of 7.27 that he posted in a qualifying heat of last year’s USATF meet in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Ms. Consistency: Katie Moon remained unbeaten in the women’s pole vault when she cleared 4.80 meters (15 feet 9 inches) in the USATF Indoor Championships on Saturday.
The 33-year-old Moon was not particularly sharp during the competition as she needed two attempts to clear 4.50 (14-9), 4.70 (15-5), and 4.80 (15-9) before missing three times at 4.90 (16-0¾).
She was the only woman to clear 4.70 or higher as Gabriela Leon and Emily Grove each made 4.65 (15-3) on their first attempts, with Leon awarded second place because she had fewer total misses than Grove.
Moon, the 2021 Olympic champion and the silver medalist in the Games last summer, has posted winning marks of 4.80 (15-9), 4.82 (15-9¾), 4.83 (15-10), and 4.80 in four meets this season.
Sophomore Amanda Moll of the University of Washington posted a yearly world-leading mark of 4.88 (16-0) when she raised the collegiate record three times in the Don Kirby Elite Invitational in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on Feb. 15. However, no one else besides Moon has jumped above 4.75 (15-7).
Different tactics, same result: Hobbs Kessler nearly went wire to wire in winning the men’s 1,500 meters in the USATF Indoor Championships on Sunday after coming from behind to narrowly take the 3,000 title on Saturday.
The victories gave the 21-year-old Kessler his first two national titles and made him eligible for spots on the U.S. team that will compete in the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Nanjing, China, from March 21-23, but he plans to bypass that meet in order to focus his attention on training for the outdoor season.
Kessler was content to run in third place for much of the 3,000 as Matthew Wilkinson led the field through the first kilometer in 2:35.56 and two kilometers in 5:10.72.
Wilkinson was still in the lead when he came through 2,400 meters in 6:12.30, but Dylan Jacobs had moved to the front with two laps to go, followed by Wilkinson and Kessler.
Although Wilkinson fell back during the second-to-last lap, Kessler was right behind Jacobs when they hit the bell lap.
Kessler, who made the Olympic team in both the 800 and 1,500, stayed close to Jacobs down the final backstretch and then launched his kick coming off the last turn to narrowly defeat him, 7:38.00 to 7:38.02.
Sam Gilman finished third in 7:38.64, followed by Wilkinson at 7:40.26.
In the 1,500, Kessler was in the lead when he came through 300 meters in 44.04 seconds and he never trailed again.
He clocked 59.11 at 400 meters, 2:01.34 at 800, and 2:58.72 at 1,200 before running his final 300 in 40.10 while recording a winning time of 3:38.82.
Sam Prakel, who had pulled off the 1,500-3,000 double in the 2023 USATF meet, placed second in 3:39.14, followed by Luke Houser in 3:39.27.
“We’re the best middle-distance country in the world. I’m so proud to win against these guys,” Kessler said to Lewis Johnson of NBC Sports after the 1,500. “I’m over the moon. It’s been a really big weekend for my career.”
Win streak continues: With victories in the women ‘s 1,500 and 3,000 meters in the USATF Indoor Championships last weekend, Nikki Hiltz has now won six national titles since February of 2023.
Furthermore, they have not been beaten in a USATF final on the track since the 2022 outdoor championships when Hiltz finished 10th in the 1,500.
The 30-year-old Hiltz used a powerful kick in winning their first USATF title in the 3,000 on Saturday and their fifth championship in the 1,500 on Sunday.
The 3,000 was one of the more highly-anticipated clashes of the meet as it pitted Hiltz against Shelby Houlihan, who had recently returned to competition after serving a four-year ban for testing positive for a banned substance.
The race also included Whittni Morgan, who had lowered her personal bests to 8:28.03 in the 3,000 and 14:48.41 in the 5,000 during the previous three weeks.
Houlihan led the field through the first kilometer in a pedestrian 3:07.45 before clocking 6:07.15 at 2,000 meters after running the second kilometer in 2:59.70.
The fourth-place finisher in the 1,500 in the 2019 World Athletics Championship still led at 2,400 meters in 7:15.41, but Morgan was in the lead with two laps left in the race before Houlihan was back in first place by the end of the backstretch with 300 meters to go.
Hiltz was in second place at that point, but they had taken the lead with a lap to go and could not be caught as their 8:48.28 clocking turned back a tightly-bunched group of Houlihan at 8:48.43, Morgan at 8:48.56, and Emily Mackay at 8:48.68.
The early pace in the 1,500 was fairly tame as Gracie Morris led the field through 400 meters in 66.70 and Hiltz was in front when they went through the 800 in 2:16.32.
Heather MacLean had the lead when she came through 1,100 meters in 3:07.14, but Hiltz was in front with a lap to go and their 28.23-second split for the final 200 meters kept the remainder of the field at bay as their time of 4:05.76 left them comfortably ahead of Sinclaire Johnson, who finished second in 4:06.05.
MacLean placed third in 4:06.69 and Houlihan was fourth in 4:06.82.
Although Hiltz was the silver medalist in the women’s 1,500 in last year’s World Athletics Indoor Championships, they will not compete in this year’s meet in Nanjing, China, from March 21-23, because they will be preparing for the inaugural season of Grand Slam Track, a professional league whose first meet will be held in Kingston, Jamaica, from April 4-6.
Nine and counting: Vashti Cunningham won her ninth consecutive title in the women’s high jump in the USATF Indoor Championships on Sunday when she cleared 1.94 (6-4¼) on her first attempt.
Charity Hufnagel tied her personal best when she cleared that same height, but she finished second because she did it on her second try.
Senior Jenna Rogers of the University of Nebraska finished third at 1.91 (6-3¼).
The 27-year-old Cunningham, who finished fifth in the Olympic Games in Paris, won her first national indoor title in 2017, about nine months after she had graduated from Bishop Gorman High School in Las Vegas.
A trio of titles: Chase Jackson won her third consecutive title in the women’s shot put in the USATF Indoor Championships on Saturday while posting her third victory in the five meets this season.
The winner of the World Athletics Championships in 2022 and ’23, Jackson had the four best puts in the final, topped by her third-round effort of 19.65 (64-5¾).
She also had fair puts of 19.42 (63-8¾), 19.30 (63-4), and 19.02 (62-5) in a competition in which Maggie Ewen placed second at 18.86 (61-10½) and Jessica Ramsey finished third at 18.51 (60-8¾).
In her previous meet five days earlier, the 30-year-old Jackson had set a U.S. indoor record of 20.24 (66-5) in winning the Copernicus Cup in Torun, Poland.
Upset victory: Celera Barnes posted one of the more surprising victories of the USATF Indoor Championships when she won the women’s 60-meter dash in 7.11 seconds on Sunday while finishing three thousandths of a second ahead of favored Jacious Sears.
It was the first national title for the 26-year-old Barnes, who had finished a distant second to Sears in the Millrose Games in New York City on Feb. 8 when the former ran a yearly world-leading time of 7.02 and Barnes clocked 7.15.
Barnes had placed third in the USATF Indoor Championships last year before being eliminated in the semifinals of the World indoor meet. She also was eliminated in the semifinals of the 100 in the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in June of last year.
Sears, who had run 10.77 in the 100 in April of last year before having her senior season at the University of Tennessee ended by an injury, was also credited with a 7.11 clocking on Sunday. Mikiah Brisco finished third in 7.18.
World leader prevails: Christopher Bailey won his first national title in the USATF Indoor Championships on Sunday when he came from behind to win the men’s 400 meters in 45.21 seconds.
Bailey, who had run a yearly world-leading time of 44.70 in his season-opening race in the Tyson Invitational in Fayetteville, Arkansas, on Feb. 14, was in third place in the six-runner field after the first lap on Sunday. But he moved up two spots going down the final backstretch before finishing comfortably ahead of second-place Jacory Patterson, who placed second in 45.60.
Elija Godwin, who led the field through the first lap in 21.45 and was in second place after 300 meters, finished third in 46.09.
Quincy Wilson, a junior at the Bullis School in Potomac, Maryland, placed fifth in 46.13 after having run a U.S. prep record of 45.66 in winning the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix in Brighton, Massachusetts, on Feb. 2.
The 24-year-old Bailey did not have a spectacular collegiate career as he never advanced to the final of the 400 in the NCAA outdoor championships and his highest finish indoors was a fifth place in the 2023 championships. But he lowered his personal best to 44.31 during his first season as a professional last year and finished sixth in the Olympic Games before running the first leg on a U.S. squad that won the Olympic title in the 4 x 400 relay with a time of 2:54.43, the second fastest in history.
Another quick 5,000: Cole Hocker of the U.S. led four more men under 13 minutes for 5,000 meters indoors when he ran 12:57.82 in winning the Boston University Terrier DMR Challenge last Friday.
Hocker passed training partner Cooper Teare in the last 20 meters of the race as his former teammate at the University of Oregon placed second in 12:57.97. He was followed by the national-record efforts of Jack Rayner of Australia, who ran 12:59.43, Gulveer Singh of India, who timed 12:59.77, and Narve Gilje Nordas of Norway, who clocked 13:04.85.
The first four finishers surpassed the 13:01.00 qualifying standard for the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo from Sept. 13-21, with Olympic 1,500 champion Hocker and Teare moving to fifth and sixth on the all-time U.S. performer list. In addition to their national records, Rayner and Singh also set Oceania and Asian records, respectively.
After Aidan Tooker led the field through the first kilometer in 2:35.23 and 1,600 meters in 4:10.31, Mick Stanovsek paced the race through two kilometers in 5:13.47 and 2,600 meters in 6:48.05 before dropping out of the contest.
The projected winning time was 13:04.71 at that point, and it had not changed much when Teare was in first place at 3,000 meters in 7:50.97 and Hocker was in the lead at 4,000 in 10:27.23.
But the pace started to pick up after that as Hocker ran the next 400 in 62.61 seconds before Teare took the lead at 4,500 meters and ran the 23rd lap of the race in 29.88.
Teare still led at the start of the bell lap and he kept Hocker at bay down the backstretch and around the final bend. But Hocker launched his final sprint coming off the curve and then, with Hocker appearing to hold the slightest of leads, Teare broke his stride at a line on the track that was perhaps 10 meters from the finish line.
Hocker ran his last lap in 27.26, his final 400 in 57.11, and his last 600 in 1:27.45 as 18 of the 25 sub-13 clockings in indoor history have now been run on the 200-meter oval at the Boston University Track & Tennis Center.
Prep milers stand out: Sam Tanner of New Zealand topped the list of 20 runners who broke four minutes in the men’s mile in the Terrier DMR Challenge on Friday when he ran 3:51.85 while winning the first of two heats. However, a trio of high schoolers might have garnered the most attention with their performances.
Senior Owen Powell of Mercer Island High in Washington set a national prep indoor record of 3:56.66 when he placed seventh in the first heat while cutting a second off the previous mark of 3:57.66 set by Hobbs Kessler when he was a senior running for Skyline High in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 2021.
Then in the second heat, Josiah Tostensen of Crater High in Central Point, Oregon, placed fourth in 3:57.47 and senior teammate Tayvon Kitchen finished 11th in 3:59.61 to mark the first time that a high school in the U.S. has had a pair of sub-4:00 milers.
Overall, Powell’s time is the fourth fastest ever by a U.S. high school performer behind a trio of outdoor marks, topped by the 3:53.43 clocking by Alan Webb of South Lakes High in Reston, Virginia, in 2001.
That time bettered the previous prep record of 3:55.3 that had been set by Jim Ryun of East High in Wichita, Kansas, in 1965 when he lowered the then-U.S. record while defeating Peter Snell of New Zealand for the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) title in San Diego.
Snell was the two-time defending Olympic champion in the 800 at that time and he also won the 1,500 in the 1964 Games in Tokyo.
Colin Sahlman, who is now at junior at Northern Arizona University, ranks third on the all-time prep list with his 3:56.24 clocking from 2022 when he was a senior at Newbury Park High in California.
Living up to its name: The Terrier DMR Challenge staged a pair of superb distance medley relay races last Friday that were won by the University of Oregon women and the Wake Forest University men.
Oregon set a short track collegiate record of 10:42.05 after Silan Ayyildiz brought the Ducks from third place to first when she ran 4:26:46 on her 1,600-meter anchor leg.
North Carolina finished second in 10:44.71, followed by Georgetown in 10:47.20, Harvard in 10:47.92, and North Carolina State in 10:48.51.
Oregon’s mark bettered the previous short track collegiate record of 10:43.39 set by a University of Washington squad last year, while North Carolina moved to fifth on the all-time list. Georgetown became the seventh-fastest school in collegiate history in the event, followed by Harvard at ninth and North Carolina State at 10th.
Oregon was in second place behind North Carolina after senior Julia Nielsen ran 3:18.06 on her opening 1,200-meter leg, but the Ducks had taken the lead after senior Moriah Oliveira clocked 52.46 on her 400-meter leg.
Oregon found itself trailing Harvard and North Carolina after Duck senior Mia Barnett ran 2:05:07 on her 800-meter carry, but Ayyildiz had moved into second place behind North Carolina after the first 600 meters of her anchor leg and she took over the lead with 300 meters left in the race.
North Carolina’s team was comprised of Makayla Paige, who ran 3:17.15 on her 1,200-meter leg, Delea Martins, who timed 54.09 on her 400 carry, Taryn Parks, who clocked 2:03.12 on her 800 leg, and Ella Auderset, who anchored in 4:30.35.
Wake Forest won a hotly contested men’s distance medley relay when sophomore Rocky Hansen kicked past senior Ethan Strand of North Carolina in the final 10 meters of the race after Strand had moved past Princeton senior Harrison Witt shortly before that.
Strand, who had previously set collegiate records of 7:30.15 in the 3,000 and 3:48.32 in the mile while running on the same Boston University Track & Tennis Center oval earlier this season, was in fifth place when he received the baton for his anchor leg. But he had moved into second behind Georgetown’s Tinoda Matsatsa after running the first 400 meters of his 1,600 anchor leg in 55.39 seconds.
He was in third place behind Princeton’s Witt and Matsatsa with a lap left in the race and he had moved into second behind Witt heading into the final turn.
He then passed Witt with about 30 meters left in the race, but he might have been unaware of the hard-charging Hansen, who went around him just before the finish line while on his way to running the final lap in 27.40, his last 400 in 55.17, and his anchor leg in 3:50.22.
Wake Forest’s winning time of 9:17.17 made the team the fourth fastest in collegiate history, with North Carolina’s 9:17.19 effort moving it to fifth and Princeton’s 9:17.30 putting it in sixth.
Georgetown finished fourth in 9:19.24 to move to seventh on the all-time list and Virginia Tech placed fifth in 9:19.88 to move to ninth.
In addition to Hansen, Wake Forest received a 2:51.13 carry from junior Paul Specht on his 1,200-meter leg, followed by a 47.96 split from freshman Foster Shelbert on his 400 leg and a 1:47.86 carry by senior Rynard Swanepoel on his 800 leg.
Strand ran a sparkling 3:49.22 on his anchor carry for North Carolina, but his 55.39 split for his first 400 might have been a little overzealous and left him vulnerable to Hansen’s final kick.
Another collegiate record: When it came to collegiate records in the short track distance medley relay, a Virginia quartet lowered the men’s record in the Arkansas Qualifier meet in Fayetteville last Friday afternoon about five hours before Oregon took down the women’s best in the Boston University Terrier DMR Challenge that night.
The Virginia squad of graduate student Wes Porter, senior Alex Sherman, graduate student Connor Murphy, and junior Gary Martin ran 9:14.19 in a race in which runner-up Oklahoma State clocked 9:16.24 to also better the previous college best of 9:16.40 set by an OSU foursome in 2023.
Oregon placed third in 9:21.13, followed by Arkansas in 9:21.26, and Iowa State in 9:21.45.
Virginia’s time is the second fastest ever run behind a University of Washington squad than ran 9:14.10 on its own 307-meter indoor track in the Husky Classic on Feb. 15. But neither time can be included on the all-time list because both squads had one non-U.S. runner on their rosters and rules stipulate that a relay team’s members must all be from the same nation in order for its time to be eligible for record purposes and inclusion on all-time world lists.
Virginia was in second place behind Iowa State after Porter ran 2:50.51 on the opening 1,200-meter leg and the Cavaliers were in first after Sherman was credited with a 46.26 split on his 400 carry. But Virginia had dropped to third place behind Iowa State and Oklahoma State after Irishman Murphy ran 1:47.33 on his 800-meter leg while Darius Kipyego clocked 1:46.16 for ISU and Mehdi Yanouri timed 1:46.04 for OSU.
Although the Cavaliers were about a second out of the lead at that point, their anchor runner was Martin, who had clocked a sensational 3:48.82 in the mile while finishing fifth in the Millrose Games on Feb. 8.
He proceeded to run 3:50.09 on his 1,600-meter leg, which was two-plus seconds faster than Ryan Schoppe’s 3:52.43 split for Oklahoma State and eight-plus seconds quicker than Devan Kipyego’s 3:58.33 carry for Iowa State.
Elliott Cook ran a 3:55.88 anchor leg for third-place Oregon and Reuben Reina Jr. clocked 3:55.74 for fourth-place Arkansas.
Ukrainians stand tall: Yaroslava Mahuchikh and Oleh Doroshchuk of Ukraine each cleared yearly world-leading heights in the women’s and men’s high jump, respectively, in a pair of meets last week.
Mahuchikh, the Olympic champion and the world record-holder at 2.10 (6-10¾), cleared 2.01 (6-7) in a meet in Banska Bystrica, Slovakia, on Feb. 18 while defeating a field that included second-place Eleanor Patterson of Australia, who made 1.99 (6-6 ¼), and third-place Angelina Topic of Serbia, who jumped 1.96 (6-5).
The 23-year-old Mahuchikh cleared her opening height of 1.90 (6-2¾) on her first attempt before needing two tries to make 1.93 (6-4). She then cleared 1.96, 1.99, and 2.01 on her first attempt before missing three times at 2.04 (6-8¼).
It was the second victory of the indoor season for Mahuckikh and extended her unbeaten streak to nine meets dating back to last year.
The 23-year-old Doroshchuk raised his personal best to 2.32 (7-7¼) in winning his second consecutive title in the Ukrainian indoor championships in Kyiv last Saturday.
Dmytro Nikitin placed second at 2.27 (7-5¼) and Vadym Kravchuk finished third at 2.21 (7-3).
Doroshchuk, who placed sixth in the Olympic Games, cleared 2.10 (6-10¾), 2.15 (7-0½), 2.21 (7-3), 2.24 (7-4¼), and 2.27 (7-5¼) on his first attempt before needing three tries to make 2.30 (7-6½). He then cleared 2.32 (7-7¼) on his initial try before missing three times at 2.34 (7-8).
World record in walk event: Francesco Fortunato of Italy set a World Record of 17:55.65 in the men’s 5,000-meter walk in the Italian indoor championships in Ancona on Saturday.
According to a World Athletics post, Fortunato’s mark crushed the previous record of 18:07.08 set by Mikhail Shchennikov of Russia in 1995. However, the organization has three other performers other than Fortunato listed ahead of Shchennikov on its all-time performer list.
According to a World Athletics post, the 30-year-old Fortunato clocked 3:39.6 for the first kilometer of the race before coming through two kilometers in 7:16.9, and three kilometers in 10:54. He covered the final kilometer in 3:29 as his time bettered the national record of 18:08.86 set by Bruno Brugnetti in Ancona in 2007.
“It was a dream to improve the Italian record, so it’s crazy that the world record fell too,” said Fortunato, who placed 11th in the 20k walk in the 2022 World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon. “Today I killed two birds with one stone. I’m very happy, it’s a great achievement.”
Two liners: Ronnie Baker improved his season record to 4-0 when he won the men’s 60-meter dash in 6.52 seconds in the USA Track & Field Indoor Championships in Staten Island, New York, on Sunday. Baker, the bronze medalist in the 60 in the 2018 World Athletics Indoor Championships in Birmingham, England, is one of two men to have run a yearly world-leading time of 6.50 indoors this season. . . . . . . Olympic champion Yemisi Ogunleye set a personal best of 20.27 meters (66 feet 6 inches) in winning the women’s shot put in the German indoor championships in Dortmund last Friday. Ogunleye’s effort moved her to second on the yearly performer list, gave her five wins in six meets this season, and topped her previous best of 20.19 (66-3) that she had registered while winning the silver medal in last year’s World Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow, England. . . . . . . Mujinga Kambundji ran the second-fastest time in the world this year in the women’s 60-meter dash when she clocked 7.03 in winning the Swiss indoor championships in St. Gallen on Saturday. It was the first victory of the season in four meets for Kambundji, who ran her personal best of 6.96 in winning the 2022 World indoor championships in Belgrade, Serbia. . . . . Emmanouil Karalis set a Greek indoor record of 6.01 (19-8½) in that country’s national championships on Saturday. The bronze medalist in the Olympic Games and World indoor championships last year, Karalis cleared the national-record height on his first attempt before missing once at 6.08 (19-11¼) and then retiring from the competition.
Say hello to the wall: Selemon Barega of Ethiopia, the 2021 Olympic champion in the men’s 10,000 meters, made a victorious debut in the marathon on Sunday when he ran 2:05:15 in Seville, Spain, but he slowed quite a bit over the last seven kilometers of the race.
Compatriot Tafere Addisu finished second in 2:06:27 and Mohamed Reda El Aaraby of Morocco also recorded a personal best when he placed third in 2:06:45.
Matthias Kyburz of Switzerland ran another personal best when he clocked 2:06:48 while finishing fourth and Shumi Dechasa of Bahrain placed fifth in 2:06:56.
A trio of pacesetters clocked 28:43 for the first 10 kilometers, but they ran the next 10,000 meters 29:47 while coming through 20 kilometers in 58:30.
They then timed 1:01:45 at the halfway mark when the lead group of racers was down to Ethiopians Barega, Challa Gossa, and Abebaw Desalew, and Kenyan Matthew Samperu.
After all of the pacesetters had dropped put of the race by 24 kilometers, Barega was clear of everyone when he went through 25 kilometers in 1:13:07, 30 kilometers in 1:27:25, and 35 kilometers in 1:42:01. However, the pace began to take a toll on him after that as he ran the next 5,000 meters in 15:41 after clocking 14:36 over the prior 5k segment of the race.
He then covered the final 2,195 meters of the race in 7:31, which would be 17:07 pace for 5,000 meters.
“I knew there were great expectations on my debut but I’m happy with my performance,” the 25-year-old Barega said in a World Athletics post. “Seville is a great city to run fast but today I have known ‘the wall’ of the marathon at the 35km point and I suffered a lot. Anyway, I’ll be back with more experience.”
The women’s race was won by another Ethiopian making their marathon debut as Anchinalu Dessie ran 2:22:17, followed by France’s Manon Trapp in a national record of 2:23:28 and Kenya’s Cynthia Kosgei in a personal best of 2:23:43.
With Spaniard Jose Ignacio Gimenez setting the pace, a four-runner lead pack of Ethiopian marathon debutants Dessie and Tigist Gezahagn, Bahrain’s Dalila Abdulkadir and Morocco’s Kaoutar Boulaid passed the halfway mark in 1:10:56, with Trapp and Kosgei at 1:12:00.
The front four timed 1:41:06 at 30 kilometers, with Kosgei 52 seconds behind and Trapp another three seconds behind her.
Abdulkadir was the first runner to fall out of the front group and Boulaid had dropped off by the time Dessie and Gezahagn went through 34 kilometers.
The 22-year-old Dessie took control of the race three kilometers later and she had a lead of a minute and 12 seconds over second-place Gezahagn when she came through 40 kilometers, but her compatriot was stuggling and was soon overtaken by Trapp, Kosgei, and Boulaid in the last two-plus kilometers of the race.
Boulaid ran a personal best of 2:24:05 to finish fourth and Gezahagn clocked 2:24:25 in fifth.