22 Biggest Moments from the 2022 USATF Outdoor Championships

This past weekend in Eugene was one to remember. I want to start off by thanking the CITIUS MAG team for grinding with me for five days to bring you the best coverage of the U.S. Outdoor Track and Field Championships. Each day, our goal was to bring you insightful, entertaining and sometimes funny content from Hayward Field.

Our photo team of Justin Britton and Johnny Zhang hustled around the track to get incredible shots. Dana Giordano and David Melly helped run our social media feeds throughout the competition. Mac Fleet produced our YouTube show and all video content. Kyle Merber and I split duties in the mixed zone to get interviews with as many athletes as possible but the biggest breakout stars on our team were Katelyn Hutchison and Jasmine Todd (who also competed on the first day). If you haven’t had the chance to scroll through Katelyn’s Twitter to see some of her interviews, she brought the energy – and it was her first time ever at a pro track meet. Jasmine fused her experience as an athlete and creative brain to bring you some funny moments yet also amplified some bigger stories. When I first made the leap of faith to do CITIUS MAG full-time, I knew it could never be a solo thing and I’m tremendously proud of the team we had at USAs but even more excited for our plans for the World Championships.

If you’re still riding the post-USAs high and want more track and field action, don’t worry – the 2022 World Athletics Championships are only 18 days away! We’ll head back to Hayward Field in a few weeks to finally see matchups like Abby Steiner vs. Jamaica, Marcell Jacobs vs. Fred Kerley, Rai Benjamin vs. Karsten Warholm, and much, much more. Follow along with us on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube to keep the hype rolling and get excited for the World Athletics Championships Oregon22.

We couldn’t possibly fit full detailed recaps of all 34 events contested this weekend, but you can find full results here. You can also find all our post-race interviews and CHAMPS CHATS video podcasts on the CITIUS MAG YouTube channel – make sure to subscribe so you don’t miss any new videos as we lead up to the World Championships! Thanks to David Melly for putting this together!

Fred Kerley’s Three Perfect 100ms

Breaking 10 seconds in the 100-meter dash is rare – only 148 men in history have done it. Breaking 10 seconds three times in two days is damn near unheard of. But Fred Kerley is no stranger to doing things few have ever done before. The Olympic silver medalist and one of only 3 men ever to go sub-10/sub-20/sub-44 dominated the 100m every step of the competition, notching the fastest times in every round: 9.83, 9.76, and 9.77, the final of which was a decisive win over Marvin Bracy-Williams and Trayvon Bromell, who will join Kerley and reigning world champion Christian Coleman in representing Team USA in Eugene. Kerley’s semifinal mark of 9.76 ties him with Bromell for No. 6 on the all-time list.

Sydney McLaughlin Breaks WR For The Third Time

Sydney McLaughlin? Another world record? No surprise! It’s a testament to how quickly the 22-year-old has become the GOAT of the 400-meter hurdles that we pretty much assume that McLaughlin will break her own WR in any championship race she starts. Even without 2019 world champion Dalilah Muhammad, who advances to Worlds with a waiver, to challenge her in the race, McLaughlin looked smooth and controlled every step of the way to her second U.S. title and third world record, this time winning in 51.41. And she didn’t even look particularly pressed by the effort, so the new record very well might not survive the next month.

Evan Jager Is BACK!

The front of the men’s steeplechase went according to form, as Olympic Trials champion Hillary Bor defended his title and re-asserted his status as the U.S.’s top dog in the event with an 8:15.76 win. The big surprise was who finished behind him, as a visibly emotional Evan Jager, the 33-year-old who missed last year’s Olympic Trials with a soleus injury, kicked his way to a World standard and another spot on Team USA after a rocky spring season. Jager did not have the standard going into the weekend, and although he snagged a season’s best of 8:23.57 in the semi-final, he still needed to knock another few seconds off his time to solidify his place on the team. The seasoned veteran did just that, pushing the pace over much of the second half of the race to finish 2nd in 8:17.29 – his fastest time since August 2018.

Jasmine Moore Keeps On Flying

It was a surprise to see Jasmine Moore’s name absent from the list of Bowerman Award finalists released yesterday after the Florida Gator won the indoor and outdoor long jump and triple jump NCAA titles, a feat that has only been accomplished once before. But the 2021 Olympian may well get the last laugh, as she extended her long season another few weeks by finishing second in the long jump with a leap of 6.80m and 3rd in the triple jump in 14.15m to make the Worlds team in both events. It’s a particularly impressive resume considering she’s now made a Worlds and Olympic team along with her 4 NCAA titles and she’s only 21 years old.

Michael Norman Has Been In The Gym

The question buzzing around the mixed zone and in our CHAMPS CHATS this weekend: Has Michael Norman been hitting the gym? He says “not recently,” but whatever he’s doing, it’s working: The former USC Trojan defended his title in the 100m and lowered his own Hayward Field facility record to 43.59. So far, an individual gold medal on the global stage has eluded Norman, but it’s looking more and more likely that this could be the year.

Chase Ealey Throws One Deep

The weekend of #BigThrows ended with a symbolic passing of the torch in the women’s shot put, as American record holder and Rio gold medalist Michelle Carter competed in the final USAs of her long and illustrious career, making the final and finishing 8th in her only competition of 2022. A few throws after Carter made the final, her heir apparent may have emerged, as Chase Ealey launched a monster 20.51m mark in her second round. She said she knew it was a big one from the moment it left her hands. Ealey’s throw is the world-leading mark this year and No. 2 all-time by an American behind Carter. Ealy has got a good chance at winning gold in Eugene as she owns four of the top six throws this season.

Shelby Snags The Standard

Clutch performances from seasoned vets were something of a theme this weekend. Over in the high jump, Tracksmith’s Shelby McEwen, who made the World team in 2019 and the Olympic team in 2021 but has never won a U.S. championship, came up big with a 2.33m jump on his second attempt at the height that Trials champ JuVaughn Harrison could not match. The jump snagged McEwen a World standard and equaled his lifetime personal best, well above his 2.22m season’s best entering the weekend.

Emily Infeld Makes The Team

It’s been a long few years since Emily Infeld made her last Worlds team in 2017, which included a series of injuries, a team and coaching change, and a harrowing experience with a dangerous stalker. Infeld came back into the 2022 season under new coach Jon Green healthy, invigorated, and in fine form, only to come up devastatingly short in the USATF 10,000m championship, missing out on a spot on the team to Natosha Rogers by a mere 0.24 seconds. This time in the 5,000m, however, it was Infeld who got the better of the battle for third, outlasting 14:57 runner Weini Kelati and even threatening the top 2, her former teammates Elise Cranny and Karissa Schweizer, in the final 100 meters to finally make the team in 15:49.32. Infeld, who has never officially broken 4:30 in the mile, closed her last 1600 meters in 4:25. Watch her interview with CITIUS MAG here.

Drama And Confusion In The Men’s 1500m

One of the major shocks of Day 1 of the competition was reigning U.S. champ Cole Hocker failing to advance out of the 1500m prelims. He didn’t speak to the media after his race and scratched from the 5000m later in the weekend, with some speculation swirling that he’d been battling injuries in training. The Oregon Ducks fans still had plenty to cheer for, however, as Hocker’s training partner and fellow Duck alum Cooper Teare emerged from a messy, crowded 1500m final victorious thanks to a 51.90 final 400m. Behind him, there was a lot of complex math around world rankings as collegian Jonathan Davis and BTC’s Josh Thompson, neither of whom had the standard, finished 2nd and 3rd. It looks like Thompson’s ranking will land him on Team USA and Johnny Gregorek, who finished 6th but has a 3:34.49 mark within the window, will round out the team.

Kara Winger Ends Her Last USAs Strong

Four-time Olympian Kara Winger, who is now 36 years young and has said this will be her final year as a pro, won her 9th U.S. title in style, moving into 1st place with her 5th round throw and then hitting the World standard in her final throw of the competition, a 64.26m beaut that solidified her spot on Team USA for an astonishing 14th time. Winger, who is well-known to be one of the nicest people in the sport, was also the flag bearer for Team USA for the closing ceremony in Tokyo and is ending her time as an elite thrower with a beautiful farewell tour.

Donald Scott Wins It In One

Donald Scott pulled a Babe Ruth and called his shot on an episode of Out of the Blocks with Jasmine Todd and Katelyn Hutchinson, telling the hosts that he intended to win the men’s triple jump competition on his first jump. And he did just that, hop-skip-jumping a 17.07m in the first round of the competition to take the victory over Will Claye and Chris Benard. Scott had the only two jumps over 17 meters in the whole competition, as his fourth-round leap cleared the barrier as well.

Sinclaire Johnson Puts On a Show

After switching from Bowerman Track Club to Union Athletic Club in fall 2021, Sinclaire Johnson, the 2019 NCAA 1500m champion, has looked like a different runner. The Portland-based pro first made a statement this season by finishing as the top American at the Prefontaine Classic in 3:58.85, her first-ever sub-4 and the No. 7 U.S. mark of all time. This weekend, she proved that was no fluke as she took down a deep field that included all three Tokyo Olympians along with U.S. 10,000m champ Karissa Schweizer to win decisively in 4:03.29, closing with a blazing 59.28 final lap. What a difference a year makes, as Johnson finished only 12th in this event in 2021.

Two First-Timers On Men’s 800m Team

Bryce Hoppel continued his winning ways in the men’s 800m, picking up his third national 800m title (though his first outdoors) in 1:44.60. The bigger surprises in the race unfolded behind him as Jonah Koech, formerly of UTEP and now a member of the Army’s WCAP program, knocked almost a full second off his 800m best to take second and hit the World standard in 1:44.74. Collegian Brandon Miller, who only finished 3rd at NCAAs, finished 3rd against the pros as well, diving at the line to edge out two-time Olympian Clayton Murphy and make his first global team.

“Ta-Lethal” Diggs Takes Down The Field

All eyes in the 400-meter final were on Allyson Felix’s continuing swan song, as the most-decorated U.S. track Olympian of all time keeps finding ways to run fast and make teams. She finished 6th in the final in 51.24 to qualify the 4x400m relay pool, extending a legendary career that never quite seems to fully wrap up. The big story up front, however, was NCAA champion Talitha Diggs, who hasn’t let the long collegiate season slow her down and won her first U.S. title in 50.22. Diggs sits at No. 4 in the world right now, but she’s dominated the U.S. scene in the event all year and now has 3 of the 4 fastest marks by an American in 2022.

Ryan Crouser Does Ryan Crouser Things

Much like Sydney McLaughlin, sometimes when someone is so consistently great it takes a little more effort to stay excited. When Ryan Crouser won his 8th U.S. title (5th outdoors) with a throw of 23.12m, it felt like a little bit of a snooze. Then I realized what a testament it is to Crouser’s greatness that a throw over 23 meters, which only 3 men in history have ever done, feels routine. There have only been 9 throws in history over 23 meters – Crouser himself is responsible for 6 of them. And the last time someone not named Ryan Crouser threw 23 meters was in 1990, two years before Crouser himself was born. A small reminder not to take the golden age of track and field we’re living in for granted.

Title #10 For Emma Coburn

Not many people who were winning national titles 11 years ago are still at it in 2022, but one of those special few is Emma Coburn, who picked up her 10th U.S. title in the women’s steeplechase with a 9:10.63 season’s best. NCAA record holder and newly-minted On pro Courtney Wayment Smith pushed the pace early and was rewarded with a new PB of 9:12.10 and a second-place finish to make her first global team after finishing 4th at the 2021 Trials, while Olympic silver medalist Courtney Frerichs held on for third with a torn-up spike after a challenging season of navigating her recent Celiac’s disease diagnosis. Coburn gave one of the best post-race interviews of the whole meet to Kyle Merber, where she spoke emotionally about what title #10 meant to her after a heartbreaking performance in Tokyo.

Rai Benjamin Is Hurdling Again

The mystery behind Rai Benjamin’s conspicuous withdrawal from the Pre Classic was revealed, as the Olympic silver medalist had been battling a particularly rough case of COVID-19 and only got healthy recently. He hadn’t hurdled since the Doha Diamond League meet back in April until the first round of USAs, and yet he still was able to win another U.S. title in a world-leading 47.04. With Warholm battling health issues of his own (he DNFed in Oslo, citing his hamstring), a few more weeks of solid training could allow Benjamin to turn the tables on his rival in Hayward in a few weeks.

Upset In The Women’s 100m

Coming into the weekend, it looked like we’d see a repeat of the matchup at the USATF Grand Prix a few weeks earlier between Aleia Hobbs, the 2018 U.S. champion, and Sha’Carri Richardson, who bounced back from a rocky start to the season to run 10.85. Hobbs looked phenomenal through the first two rounds of the competition, running an outright PB of 10.81 in the semifinal, but Richardson was never in contention in her prelim and wound up failing to advance in both the 100m and the 200m. By the time the final rolled around, however, it was Coastal Carolina University’s Melissa Jefferson who turned the tables on Hobbs, winning the race in a wind-aided 10.69 (+2.9m/s) after only finishing 8th at NCAAs. Hobbs and Twanisha Terry both got under 10.80 as well, albeit with a friendly tailwind, so Team USA will be well-represented in the short sprints in Eugene.

Bowerman Goes 1-2 In Men’s 5000m

It’s hard to believe that Grant Fisher, the two-time American record holder and Tokyo 5th-placer in the 10,000m, had never won a U.S. title before Sunday. But as Fisher comes into his prime, so do many of his teammates and rivals on the men’s distance scene. After getting outkicked by Joe Klecker in the final strides of the 10,000m champs, Fisher employed a different strategy this time, seizing control of the race from over 1200 meters out and tearing apart anyone who dared chase him. This opened the door for his BTC teammate Woody Kincaid to pick off Emmanuel Bor and Abdihamid Nur (the latter of whom was able to hold on for third place and his first U.S. team) with a blazing 54-second final lap. Fisher ended up clocking a 13:03.86 victory as the top 3 men broke 13:10 with the aid of some early pacing help from BTC’s Evan Jager.

Abby Steiner Can’t Be Stopped

The Abby Steiner 200m is a perfect metaphor for her 2022 season: She gets out impossibly hard, flying off the turn, but somehow manages to hold onto top speed even as others charge at her from behind. The indoor and outdoor NCAA champ, who’s been racing since December, just keeps raising the bar as the competition quality also raises around her. This time, she knocked a few ticks off her PB to win the championship in a world-leading 21.77 (NOTE: It was only the world lead for a few hours as Jamaica’s Shericka Jackson dropped a 21.55 later that evening – can’t wait to see these two match up!). Unfortunately, Tokyo bronze medalist Gabby Thomas has been nursing a hamstring injury in training over the last few weeks and, while making the final, could only manage an 8th-place finish.

Ajee’ Takes Athing To The Line

If you’d asked me what one of the most thrilling races of USAs would be, I would not have guessed the women’s 800m. (Or, if I had, I would’ve expected it to be due to Athing Mu leaving the competition in her dust.) Instead, we were treated to an even rarer phenomenon: Mu facing serious pressure in the final 100 meters of a race. Usually, the 20-year-old phenom has the win locked up by the home stretch and can open up her beautiful stride and relax, but this time, World Indoor champ Ajee’ Wilson wasn’t going to cede the win too quickly and came back at her hard, forcing Mu to charge to the line to hang on to her second U.S. title. With Raevyn Rogers closing hard, as usual, to take third and all three women breaking 1:58, a U.S. sweep of the medals at Worlds doesn’t seem out of the question.

Noah Lyles Vs. Erriyon Knighton

One of the last events of the weekend was the most thrilling, as Noah Lyles and Erriyon Knighton did their best to pack as much drama as possible into a 19-second race. Both men cruised through the early rounds and Knighton, the world leader who turned heads with his 19.49 U20 world record earlier this spring, seemed to be the favorite over the defending world champ. But Lyles wasn’t about to go quietly. In a stacked final that also included Fred Kerley, Kenny Bednarek, and Matthew Boling, Knighton ran the first 100 meters better than anyone in the world can run a turn and came into the straightaway with a decisive lead.

As Lyles hit his top-end speed, he started to eat up the ground between him and Knighton, but it seemed he was destined to run out of real estate – until the final strides, when Lyles pulled just barely ahead with enough space to give a point and a cheeky grin to the cameras. He ended up with the win by 0.02 seconds, 19.67 to 19.69 (into a headwind, no less!) and the top 5 men all broke 20 seconds.

In the post-race interview, Lyles made a comment about having the best top-end speed in the field, which seemed to rankle Knighton, who gave sideline reporter Lewis Johnson his now-trademark “job’s not finished” catchphrase and walked out of the stadium. A little spice is definitely #goodforthesport and the level that both men are performing at means the head-to-head matchup in Eugene is going to be something truly special. Here’s Noah explaining his finish and the meaning behind it.

BONUS: Juliette Whittaker Breaks High School 800m Record

As all the drama unfolded at the senior U.S. championships, it was easy to forget that the U20 Outdoor Championships were also happening at Hayward Field the same weekend. But Juliette Whittaker, the high school senior from Maryland who’s headed for Stanford in the fall, wasn’t about to let us. Once again, she and future Stanford teammate Roisin Willis put on the sort of fantastic duel the friends and rivals have become known for over the last few years, and Whittaker broke 2 minutes for the second time this year, this time bettering Mary Cain’s U.S. high school record of 1:59.51 with a shiny new PB of 1:59.04. It’s hard to imagine a high schooler running much faster, but given that Whittaker nearly even-split her race (59.04-60.00), it wouldn’t be a surprise. Watch her interview with CITIUS Mag here.

🙏 Thanks again for reading and sharing. Follow along on Twitter: @chrischavez and Instagram: @chris_j_chavez. Tell your friends to sign up for the newsletter to stay in the know on what and how to watch the best track and field action.