EUGENE, Oregon — Noah Lyles (Clermont, Florida/USATF Potomac Valley) gave the Hayward Field crowd its biggest thrill of the 18th World Athletics Championships thus far Thursday night with a scintillating 200m gold in American record* time, leading the third medal sweep of the Championships for Team USATF. The three medals brought the U.S. total to 22, seven of them gold, and increased the squad's point total to 213, higher than the next three nations combined.
It's been more than 25 years since Michael Johnson lit up the track and field world with his Olympic 200m victory at Atlanta in a world and American record of 19.32. With a sensational performance of 19.31 against a superb field, Lyles established himself as third-fastest man in history. Lyles, the reigning champion and a man who has already put together one of the best seasons in history with nine races under 20 seconds, hit the halfway point in 10.15, already .11 up on U.S. teammates Kenny Bednarek (Minneola, Florida/USATF Wisconsin) and Erriyon Knighton (Riverview, Florida/USATF Florida), and his lead only grew with every stride down the stretch. Bednarek took silver in a season best 19.77, matching his medal from Tokyo last summer, and 18-year-old Knighton became the youngest medalist ever in the event at the World Championships, claiming bronze in 19.80. It is the second sprint sweep of the meet for the Americans, who earlier in the week filled the podium in the 100m. It was the first 200m sweep since Justin Gatlin, Wallace Spearmon and John Capel turned the trick in 2005 at Helsinki.
Shericka Jackson of Jamaica stormed off the bend and was never in any danger of losing as she blazed to gold in 21.45, the second fastest time ever run. Jackson, the 100m silver medalist earlier in the week, was only .01 behind dash champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce at the 100m mark in 11.04, and she had superb power and speed in the final stretch to win by .36 seconds over Fraser-Pryce, with 2019 world champion Dina Asher-Smith of Britain earning bronze in 22.02. Running in lane eight with no one to her outside, USATF champion Abby Steiner (Dublin, Ohio/USATF Kentucky) finished fifth in 22.26, one place ahead of Tamara Clark (High Point, North Carolina/USATF Texas Southern), who was sixth in 22.32.
All three American women safely earned berths in the semi-final, avoiding the drama that almost always accompanies first round races in the event. Olympic champion and American record holder Athing Mu (Trenton, New Jersey/USATF New Jersey) lined up against reigning world champion Halimah Nakaayi of Uganda in the third heat. Mu led through 400m in 60.38, slower than the first heat, and continued to control the pace through 600m in 1:31.41. With Nakaayi sticking to her heels down the stretch, Mu won by .11 in 2:01.30. World Indoor champion Ajee' Wilson (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania/USATF Mid-Atlantic) earned bronze at the last two World Championships. Traditionally a frontrunner, Wilson went right to the lead in heat four and passed by the bell in 58.94. She fell back to third around the final bend and that's where she finished in 2:01.02, earning automatic advancement to the semifinal. An Olympic bronze medalist at Tokyo last summer and the 2019 World Championships silver medalist at Doha, Raevyn Rogers (Houston, Texas/USATF Gulf) was in the back half of the pack for the first half of the race. She had her stride interrupted on the last backstretch and came off the turn in fifth, evincing a high-energy finishing kick that gave her the win by .01 seconds in 2:01.36.
World record holder Joshua Cheptegei of Uganda, who won the 10,000m four days ago, and Olympic champion Selemon Barega of Ethiopia were joined by USATF champion Grant Fisher (Portland, Oregon/USATF Oregon) and collegiate record holder Abdihamid Nur (Phoenix, Arizona/USATF Arizona) in the first heat. The field dawdled through the early stages, going through 800m in 2:17.40 with Fisher near the front. A 4:25.71 split at 1,600m showed the pace had picked up a bit, but was not yet speedy. Ethiopia's Telahun Bekele was the first past 2km in 5:31.95 and Fisher held on to the third-place position. Nur was 15th, but less than three second behind the leader in a pack that stayed bunched up. Fisher took over lead duties through 3km in 8:18.47 and held his place through the next two laps and Nur had moved into the top 10. Going into the penultimate circuit Fisher was being pushed by Bekele and Barega, who moved past him with 500m to go. Eight men were in contention heading into the final bend, including both Americans, and Fisher sprinted to a runner-up finish in 13:24.44. Nur grabbed the fifth auto qualifying spot in 13:24.48 in a blanket finish. Woody Kincaid (Portland, Oregon/USATF Oregon) led through the first kilometer in the second heat, going by in 2:43.65 a half step ahead of Canada's Moh Ahmed. Looking over his left shoulder to encourage someone else to take the lead, Kincaid yielded to Ahmed and tucked into fifth. Not long after, Kenya's Jacob Krop went to the front, but the pack stayed bunched up within two seconds of each other. Tired of the somewhat pedestrian pace, Luis Grijalva of Guatemala zipped to a five meter lead while Kincaid had dropped way back after a fall and into the second chase pack. Grijalva hit 3km in 8:05.12 as Kenya's Daniel Ebenyo gave chase and then passed him in the next 200m. Ebenyo held a one stride lead going into the next-to-last lap after hitting 4km in 10:41.06. Kincaid was 12th and out of contention for a place in the final. Krop soon picked up his tempo to assume the lead and won in 13:13.30 over 1,500m silver medalist Jakob Ingebrigtsen of Norway. Kincaid was 11th in 13:25.02 and did not advance.
Coming off a spectacular performance that produced a massive lifetime best the week before the World Championships started, Curtis Thompson (Florence, New Jersey/USATF New England) threw a quality 81.73m/268-1 on his first attempt that put him fifth in Group A and ultimately eighth overall, earning him a place in the final. USATF champion Ethan Dabbs (Charlottesville, Virginia/USATF Virginia) had a top throw of 72.81m/238-10, finishing just behind Tim Glover (McLean, Virginia/USATF Potomac Valley) in Group B. Glover's best effort was a 75.68m/248-3 in the second round.
USATF champion Donald Scott (Ypsilanti, Michigan/USATF Michigan) was eighth overall with a best of 16.84m/55-3 and made the final along with Will Claye (Buckeye, Arizona/USATF New York), who jumped 16.70 on his final attempt to place 10th overall. Chris Benard (Chula Vista, California/USATF San Diego-Imperial) was not able to advance after a 16.53m/54-2.75 on his only legal jump in round three, and four-time world champion and two-time Olympic gold medalist Christian Taylor (Jacksonville, Florida/USATF Florida) continued his comeback from a devastating Achilles tendon injury last year, bounding out to 16.48m/54-1, but was also unable to secure a berth in the final. Click here to find out how to watch. A full list of results and schedule of events can be found here. Join the conversation with USATF on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook using the hashtag #JourneyToGold.
*Pending verification by the USATF Records Committee.