DOHA, Qatar — Team USATF athletes swept the women’s shot put and mounted the victory stand in three other events Friday at the first stop on the 2022 Diamond League circuit. Windy conditions hampered some events but pushed sprinters in straightaway races to swift early-season marks. World Indoor Championships silver medalist Chase Ealey (Holman, New Mexico/USATF New Mexico) led a 1-2-3 sweep of the podium spots for the U.S. in the women’s shot put, hitting her best of 19.51m/64-0.25 in round three. Maggie Ewen (Dilworth, Minnesota/USATF Minnesota) was the runner-up at 19.32m/63-4.75, and Jessica Ramsey (Memphis, Tennessee/USATF Tennessee) placed third at 18.99m/62-3.75. Olympic silver medalist Raven Saunders (Tuscaloosa, Alabama/USATF South Carolina) had one legal throw, an 18.71m/61-4.75 that placed her sixth. Trailing by a step in the curve, Olympic bronze medalist Gabby Thomas (Austin, Texas/USATF Texas Southern) powered off the turn and moved past Jamaica’s Shericka Jackson down the stretch to equal the meet record and win the women’s 200m in 21.98. Lowering her own U.S.-leading time for 2022, Thomas won by .09 over Jackson and 2019 world champion Dina Asher-Smith of Britain was third in 22.37. Tamara Clark (Georgetown, Texas/USATF Texas Southern) clocked 22.72 in fourth, and Dezerea Bryant (Clermont, Florida/USATF Florida) and Shannon Ray (Orlando, Florida/USATF Florida) were seventh and eighth, respectively. Shoulder-to-shoulder almost all the way to the finish line in the men’s 200m, Olympic bronze medalist Noah Lyles (Clermont, Florida/USATF Potomac Valley) held off Olympic 100m silver medalist Fred Kerley (Miami, Florida/USATF Gulf) to win in a just-windy 19.72 (w +2.1), with Kerley at 19.75. Lyles got a very good start from lane seven, but Kerley, one lane to his inside, didn’t yield much ground coming into the straightaway and the duo waged a compelling battle over the final 50m as Canada’s Olympic champion, Andre De Grasse, was relegated to fourth in 20.15. Despite hitting the first and last barriers, world record holder Keni Harrison (Pflugerville, Texas/USATF Texas Southern) won the women’s 100m hurdles by the slimmest of margins in 12.43, with Nigeria’s Tobi Amusan and Jamaica’s Britany Anderson tied at 12.44. Pushed by a 3.8 m/s tailwind, Harrison came up on the first hurdle very quickly and hit it hard, but didn’t lose much momentum. She clipped hurdle 10 just as hard and held on in the run-in for victory. A matchup of the second- and third-fastest men in history didn’t disappoint in the men’s 400m hurdles. Tokyo silver medalist and American record-holder Rai Benjamin (Mount Vernon, New York/USATF New York) had a slight edge over Brazil’s Alison dos Santos through the first five hurdles before the Brazilian moved up on Benjamin’s shoulder. Over the final two barriers dos Santos edged ahead and came away with the win in a world-leading 47.24 to Benjamin’s 47.49 U.S. leader in second. Taking over the pace briefly when it slowed with just over a lap to go in the men’s 3,000m steeplechase, Hillary Bor (Colorado Springs, Colorado/USATF Colorado) ended up fourth in 8:17.82, the fastest time by an American this year. Bor, the Olympic Trials champion and a finalist at the 2016 Olympics and the 2019 World Championships, was in the middle of the lead pack throughout the race before pushing to the front with 500m left. An unusually slow early pace left the field in the men’s 800m bunched up with 200m to go, and Donavan Brazier (Grand Rapids, Michigan/USATF Oregon) was boxed in around the final bend, having to go wide down the home stretch. The reigning world champion and American record holder ended up sixth in 1:50.58. In other action, JuVaughn Harrison (Baton Rouge, Louisiana/USATF Southern) and Shelby McEwen (Abbeville, Mississippi/USATF Southern) tied for fifth in the men’s high jump, while Kendall Ellis (North Hollywood, California/USATF Southern California) and Lynna Irby (Indianapolis, Indiana/USATF Indiana) finished 7-8 in the women’s 400m. The extremely windy conditions led to the cancellation of the men’s pole vault, which will be held indoors at the Aspire Academy facility on Saturday.
A world-leading men’s shot put by Ryan Crouser (Redmond, Oregon/USATF Oregon) and an upset win by Alaysha Johnson (Fort Lauderdale, Florida/USATF Florida) in the women’s 100m hurdles topped the bill Thursday at the ATL Puerto Rico Classic in Ponce. Crouser, the two-time Olympic champion and holder of the world indoor and outdoor records, hit 22.75m/74-7.75 on his first attempt and added two more 22m+ efforts in his series to turn back Olympic teammate Payton Otterdahl (Lincoln, Nebraska/USATF Dakotas). Johnson ran the best race of her life, getting out of the blocks well and skimming over the barriers on the way to a lifetime best 12.50 to edge local favorite and Olympic champion Jasmine Camacho-Quinn, who closed quickly after a poor start to finish in 12.52. Sandi Morris (Mableton, Georgia/USATF Arkansas) cleared an outdoor world-leading 4.72m/15-5.75 in a jump-off to win the women’s pole vault over Rio 2016 and 2017 World Championships gold medalist Ekaterini Stefanidi of Greece. Morris and Stefanidi both cleared 4.62m/15-1.75 and had clean cards through that height before missing three times at 4.72. Olympic 800m champion Athing Mu (Trenton, New Jersey/USATF New Jersey) won the women’s 400m in 50.42, the fastest by an American this year, and Trayvon Bromell (Jacksonville, Florida/USATF Florida) tied the U.S. lead in the men’s 100m with a 9.92 win. Rio bronze medalist Clayton Murphy (Macedonia, Ohio, USATF Lake Erie) kicked past the field over the final 100m to win the men’s 800m in a season best 1:45.54. Donald Scott (Ypsilanti, Michigan/USATF Michigan) also notched an outdoor season best to win the men’s triple jump with a 16.88m/55-4.75 in the fifth round. The competition also saw the return of two-time Olympic gold medalist and four-time world champion Christian Taylor (Jacksonville, Florida/USATF Florida), who was making his first triple jump appearance after an Achilles tendon injury last year. In the men’s 300m, Vernon Norwood (Baton Rouge, Louisiana/USATF Southern) moved to equal No. 9 on the all-time U.S. performer list with his 31.81 in second. Join the conversation with USATF on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook using the hashtag #USATF.