WORLDS DAILY: The Final Lap

The first American World Athletic Championships is in the books, and what a run it had.

The host nation won more medals (33) than any one country had in the history of the championships. Three world records were broken. Team USA swept three events. And the greatest runners, jumpers, and throwers in the world showcased their talents in front of an adoring crowd and an engaged television audience. You couldn’t have scripted it better.

I’m struggling to articulate just how special an experience this was. When track and field is in the Olympics, it’s certainly one of the marquee events, but it also has to compete with 32 other sports for airtime and attention. Ten days of the best track and field you’ve ever seen and the undivided attention of fans around the world helped package the sport as the entertaining, dramatic, and breathtaking spectacle we all love so much.

The final day of competition ensured that we didn’t send everybody home without a few more fireworks. We got a U.S. men’s and women’s sweep of the 4x400m relays, a redemption arc in the men’s 5000m, a historic battle in the women’s 800m, and not one, but TWO world records.

The session kicked off with a bang in the semifinal of the women’s 100m hurdles, where Nigeria’s Tobi Amusan knocked 0.28 seconds - a huge chunk in such a short event - off her personal best to set a world record of 12.20 while beating current (now previous) world record holder Keni Harrison in the process. She proved it wasn’t a fluke in the final with a slightly wind-aided 12.06 victory, which is still the fastest all-conditions mark ever run.

Not to be outdone, pole vault world record holder Mondo Duplantis improved his outdoor world best and broke his indoor world record to set a new outright world record of 6.21 meters en route to winning his second global title. Much like Sydney McLaughlin, he’s already the greatest of all time in his event but he’s only 22 years old, so we’re going to have to get used to a lot more of this in years to come.

The final event of the evening, the women’s 4x400m, kept the crowd on their feet for the final moments of the 2022 championships. Not one, not two, but THREE women broke 50 seconds in the 400m as Team USA ran 3:17.79, the 7th-fastest time ever run (fourth-fastest by an American team). Not only did anchor leg Sydney McLaughlin break 50 seconds, she also broke 49 and 48 seconds with her 47.91 split, a truly absurd time that suggests that the flat 400m record of 47.60 may be under threat in the next few years.

It’s hard to compress 10 days of action into a few words, but the emotion of following along with the highs and lows of this meet is a feeling I’ll remember for the rest of my life. I hope you all take a moment in your day today to appreciate the greatness we’ve witnessed over the last few days.

We’re not living in easy times - there’s a lot to be sad, anxious, and frustrated about right now. But there’s something beautiful and pure about the sport of track and field that gives us hope for the future and keeps us chasing our own dreams. Knowing that hard work, passion, and perseverance can push athletes to places they’ve never been before reminds me - and I hope you - that there’s so much good in the world when you give the human spirit a platform to shine.

Thank you.

From the bottom of our hearts, every single member of the CITIUS MAG team wants to express our deep gratitude for the love we’ve received during every step of this crazy journey. Providing 5-6 hours daily of YouTube content, photos and video, live social media updates, mixed zone interviews, podcasts, and newsletter is not easy, and we do it because we love this sport, we love its fans, and we know that anything we contribute to the track and field world is amplified 10x over by this incredible community. A huge shoutout as well to our absolutely phenomenal interns, Josiah and Logan, who showed up early and left late every day to make this whole thing possible.

Thank you for every like, every view, every funny comment in the YouTube chat, every meme on Twitter, every podcast rating and review, and every dollar you’ve contributed to this extraordinary journey. As exhausted as we all are right now, we’re energized by the idea that we’re just scratching the surface of what CITIUS MAG can contribute to the sport in years to come.

Thanks for loving track and field with us.

With love,

Chris Chavez, John Anderson, Justin Britton, Mac Fleet, Dana Giordano, Katelyn Hutchinson, David Melly, Kyle Merber, Jasmine Todd, and Johnny Zhang

Our final CITIUS MAG Live and CHAMPS CHATS are online on Youtube and in podcast form. Enjoy!

We closed out our CITIUS MAG live on a high note with an absolutely fantastic interview with the great Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce. She was hilarious, insightful, and forthcoming with us and every second of her time on the air was priceless. While she’s a hard act to follow, Elise Cranny, Emily Infeld, and newly-crowned World champion TeeTee Terry were fantastic as well, making us all laugh and sharing inside scoops on the Team USA experience. You can watch the full final show here:

CHAMPS CHATS wrapped up with a fun and hilarious conversation with the whole CITIUS Mag team, as well as a special appearance by 4-time World medalist and Associate Director of Athlete Services at USATF Wallace Spearmon. We unpacked the races, gave our closing thoughts on Oregon ‘22, and unpacked all the relay drama for the fans and listeners. See it all here:

MAGIC MOMENTS OF THE MEET (Presented by Hayward Magic)

From start to finish, the 2022 World Athletics Championships were so full of magical moments but it was hard to pick just two. But these events took the world by surprise and showed us the true beauty of the World championship: When you run the race, anything can happen.

Men’s 1500m

The most shocking win of the week was Olympic champ Jakob Ingebrigtsen getting dethroned in the final lap of the men’s 1500m by Jake Wightman. To see the Norwegian get beat, not by Timothy Cheruiyot, Abel Kipsang, or Josh Kerr, but by a relatively-unheralded middle-distance runner who’s been grinding away for years but had never finished higher than fifth at a global championship, was truly unexpected. And add the cherry on top, his dad, Geoff Wightman, is the in-stadium announcer for Hayward Field and got to call his son’s victory. Talk about a dream come true.

Women’s 4x100m relay

Everybody loves an underdog, and compared with the Jamaican all-star squad featuring the world’s top 3 sprinters, the U.S. team of Melissa Jefferson, Abby Steiner, Jenna Prandini, and Twanisha Terry was nobody’s pick to win the women’s 4x100m. But strong performances from start to finish carried the stick around to put U.S. across the line first by 0.04 seconds and the crowd went wild. It was particularly wonderful to see Prandini, an Oregon alum and favorite of the Hayward faithful, win her first gold 7 years after making her first U.S. team in front of her home crowd.

THE CITIUS Awards

The medal ceremonies are all over and the athletes are headed home with plenty of new hardware, but we at CITIUS Mag wanted to hand out a few unofficial superlatives for the performances, storylines, and best moments of the meet to truly recognize the historic championships we just witnessed in full.

Best Swan Song: Allyson Felix

What can you say about Allyson Felix that hasn’t already been said? The 36-year-old picked up her 19th World medal in the mixed 4x400m, went home to Los Angeles after, then came back for Team USA when called to send the women to the 4x400m final with the fastest prelim split, where they ultimately took gold in the final. We’re going to miss her dearly.

Best National Pride: Men’s and Women’s 100m sweeps

Team Jamaica went absolutely bananas when, for the second year in a row, their three big sprint stars swept the medals in the women’s 100m. Team USA had plenty to celebrate a few moments later when, for the first time in nearly 30 years, their sprinters got a sweep of their own in the men’s 100m.

Best Heartfelt Tribute: Trevor Bassitt wins a medal for his coach

Seven months after Ashland University’s beloved coach Jud Logan passed away from cancer, his star pupil made good on his promise to make the World final and even brought home a bronze medal.

Best Teamwork: Team USA in the women’s marathon

Throughout much of the women’s marathon race, Sara Hall, Emma Bates, and Keira D’Amato were running stride for stride, picking off stragglers in the later miles and moving up the field. Ultimately, their teamwork paid off as they put three runners in the top 8.

Best Battle For Gold: Ryan Crouser and Joe Kovacs

Twice in the men’s shot put final Kovacs threw a huge effort to take the lead, only for Crouser to match it on the next throw. Ultimately, the world record holder came out on top but Kovacs made him earn it.

Best Delayed Gratification: Kara Winger’s medal

After 10 global championship appearances over an 18-year career, Kara Winger finally got a World medal on the final throw in her final championships. What a way to say goodbye.

TWEET OF THE DAY: A family affair

Nick Zaccardi of NBC Sports puts Allyson Felix’s long career in perspective via the Clark-Diggs family.

PHOTO OF THE DAY

Post-decathlon cuddles with Kyle Garland and Johannes Erm.

Photo captured by: Johnny Zhang

Tracksmith is a presenting sponsor of CITIUS MAG’s coverage of the World Championships. Visit Tracksmith.com to check out their latest collections and pick up the best running gear you’ll ever own. New customers who spend $150 or more can receive a free Van Cortlandt Singlet in Navy. Go to Tracksmith.com/vcpromo to add your singlet to your cart. When your total cart from other items has reached or exceeded $150, the price will reduce to $0 in cart.

In addition to our content, Tracksmith partnered with Puma to produce a six-episode podcast series with Pushkin Industries as best-selling author and Revisionist History podcast host Malcolm Gladwell explores the story of the 1960s San Jose State Track and Field team that excelled on the track but also led the protest at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City. “Legacy of Speed” features conversations with athletes, journalists, coaches, and documentarians who made it happen. Listen to Legacy of Speed on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your shows.

Hayward Magic has made the first U.S.-based World Championships truly special. The love for track and field in Eugene has been spread around the country and around the world thanks to their work to promote this event and the whole sport broadly. Follow them on Instagram @HaywardMagic to relive the excitement and keep receiving behind-the-scenes footage, exclusive content, and more.

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Thanks for reading! If you liked WORLDS DAILY, don’t forget to tell a friend or two to subscribe. While we don’t publish daily newsletters year-round, we do make sure to give you regular access to meet previews, recaps, special interviews, and more via the CITIUS MAG email feed.

You can follow David Melly on Twitter and Instagram, and be sure to follow CITIUS MAG on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok to make sure you don’t miss one minute of the action!