EUGENE, Oregon — Capping off the greatest World Athletics Championships team performance ever with a pair of golds in the 4x400m relay and gold in the women's 800m, Team USATF finished the 18th edition of the meet with 33 total medals, 13 of them gold, and scored 328 points. Both totals are the highest ever by a single nation. The previous highs for the U.S. were 30 medals at London 2017 and 307.5 points at Doha 2019. The U.S. also won the inaugural team trophy, the first time a team champion has officially been recognized by World Athletics.
Three 2022 NCAA individual champions and the world's fastest-ever woman in the 400m hurdles put together a remarkably dominant performance to clock 3:17.79 for gold and the eighth-fastest time in history. Florida's Talitha Diggs (Saucon Valley, Pennsylvania/USATF Mid-Atlantic) established a small lead with her 50.50 leadoff carry, handing off to Kentucky's Abby Steiner (Dublin, Ohio/USATF Kentucky) with a step advantage over Great Britain. Steiner, who yesterday won gold on the 4x100m relay, clocked 49.99 to add another step to the lead over Jamaica and Britain before Britton Wilson (Henrico, Virginia/USATF Virginia) of Arkansas went 49.39 and was safely in the lead at the final exchange with 400m hurdles gold medalist and world record holder Sydney McLaughlin (Playa Vista, California/USATF Southern California). A majestic 47.91 solo run by McLaughlin sealed the victory and put the winning margin at 2.95 seconds over Jamaica, who took silver in 3:20.74. Britain earned bronze in 3:22.64. It was the fastest ever World Championships 4x400m relay split by an American woman and the eighth-fastest in world history.
A storming leadoff leg put Team USATF into a big lead and the ensuing laps didn't slow down at all as the American quartet demolished the field to win in 2:56.17, the No. 10 time in history. Elija Godwin (Athens, Georgia/USATF Georgia) was focused and fast, running one of the great opening legs in U.S. annals to split 44.28 and hand off to 400m champion Michael Norman (Sherman Oaks, California/USATF Southern California) with a lead of 1.16 seconds. Norman had nothing to chase but the clock, and he turned in the fastest lap of the night overall at 43.64 to extend the lead to 1.84 seconds. A gold medalist in the 4x400m at Tokyo last year, Bryce Deadmon (Arlington, Texas/USATF Gulf) hammered a 43.82 and gifted Champion Allison (Houston, Texas/USATF Florida) with a 2.86 second margin heading into the final circuit. Allison, who anchored Florida to NCAA gold on this same oval in June, brought the baton home in 44.43. Jamaica took silver in 2:58.58 and Belgium bronze in 2:58.72 as four nations broke 3:00.
Olympic champion and American record holder Athing Mu (Trenton, New Jersey/USATF New Jersey) became the first American woman ever to win World Championships gold in the 800m, and she had to work hard every centimeter of the way for the win. Ethiopia's Diribe Welteji went to the front down the first backstretch, passing 200m in 27.56 and she pulled the field past 400m in a quick 57.09 with Mu running just behind her. Britain's Keely Hodgkinson had moved up into third, with Kenya's Mary Moraa also slotting into contention. Down the final backstretch Mu pushed the pace and went to the lead, going through 600m in 1:26.79 ahead of Hodgkinson and Moraa. Around the final turn she drifted out to the edge of lane one and it looked like she had left a gap for the British runner to pass her on the inside, but digging deep Mu held off Hodgkinson's spirited challenge and leaned at the line to win in a world-leading 1:56.30. Hodgkinson had a season best 1:56.38 for silver and Moraa claimed bronze in 1:56.71. Raevyn Rogers (Houston, Texas/USATF Gulf) was sixth in 1:58.26, with Ajee' Wilson (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania/USATF Mid-Atlantic) eighth in 2:00.19.
Going up against world record holder and Olympic champion Armand Duplantis of Sweden, Chris Nilsen (Vermillion, South Dakota/USATF Dakotas) pushed him to the limit before settling for silver with a best of 5.94m/19-5.75. Nilsen had first attempt clearances at 5.55m/18-2.5, 5.70m/18-8.25 and 5.80m/19-0.25 before needing two tries at 5.87m/19-3. Tied at that point with Duplantis, both men then sailed over 5.94m/19-5.75 first time. Nilsen missed his initial try at 6.00m/19-8.25 before Duplantis went over, and Nilsen then missed his two remaining attempts. Duplantis broke his own world record with a second-attempt clearance at 6.21m/20-4.5 in the last act of a special Championships.
Moving to No. 10 on the all-time U.S. performer list with a stellar all-around effort over two days, Zach Ziemek (Sun Prairie, Wisconsin/USATF Wisconsin) earned bronze with a lifetime best 8,676 points. His medal took the U.S. total to 30, equaling the team's best total ever at the World Championships. Ziemek picked up right where he left off after a stellar first day that saw him in third, speeding to a 14.47 season best in the 110m hurdles and then throwing a solid 48.40m/158-9 in the discus to maintain his hold on the bronze medal position. A very talented pole vaulter, Ziemek cleared a season best 5.40m/17-8.5 on his final attempt to move into second in the point standings. A lifetime best 62.18m/204-0 in the javelin put Ziemek's score at 8,027 with only the 1,500m to go. In the final event, Ziemek pushed the pace as hard as he could and finished in 4:44.97, missing the silver by only 25 points. France's world record holder, Kevin Mayer, won with 8,816 points and Canada's Pierce LePage earned silver with 8,701. Kyle Garland (Athens, Georgia/USATF Georgia) scored 8,133 for 11th, and Steven Bastien (Ann Arbor, Michigan/USATF Michigan) tallied 7.939 for 16th, acquitting himself admirably after being called up at the last minute.
An illegal wind of +2.5 meters per second negated a brilliant 12.06w by Nigeria's Tobi Amusan, who had shattered the world record in the semis with a legal 12.12. Amusan again ran a flawless race over the 10 30" barriers and won by .17 seconds over Britany Anderson of Jamaica and Olympic champion Jasmine Camacho-Quinn of Puerto Rico, who were both given 12.23w. Anderson claimed the silver by .005 seconds, giving Camacho-Quinn bronze. Alia Armstrong (New Orleans, Louisiana/USATF Southern) was just out of the medals in fourth at 12.31w. USATF champion and Olympic silver medalist Keni Harrison (Pflugerville, Texas/USATF Texas Southern) clipped the eighth hurdle and did not finish. She was subsequently disqualified. Harrison ran a flawless race in the first semifinal and clocked a season best 12.27 that would have been a world leader by a big margin, except for one thing – Nigeria's Tobi Amusan of Nigeria smashed the world record with a stunning 12.12. Armstrong crushed her previous lifetime best with a 12.43 to win the second semi.
USATF champion Quanesha Burks (Baton Rouge, Louisiana/USATF Southern) had one very good jump, going 6.88m/22-7 in round two, but missed bronze by one centimeter and ended up fourth to improve one place on her finish at the World Indoor Championships in March. Tiffany Flynn (Ellenwood, Georgia/USATF Georgia) spanned 6.48m/21-3.25 on her only legal attempt and finished 12th.
USATF champion Grant Fisher (Portland, Oregon/USATF Oregon) looked comfortable in fourth through 1km in 2:36.85, tagged onto the back of world record holder Joshua Cheptegei of Uganda and Jacob Krop of Kenya. As the pace slowed over the next kilometer, Fisher was back in sixth, a second behind the leaders, and collegiate record holder Abdihamid Nur (Phoenix, Arizona/USATF Arizona) was in 10th, less than a second behind Fisher. The pack was close enough together that heels were getting clipped, and Nicholas Kipkorir of Kenya led them through 3km in 8:04.50 with less than two seconds separating first and last. With three laps to go the field started to string out a bit at the back, but the lead group was still tightly bunched. Going past 4km in 10:46.05, Krop led over Kipkorir, with Norway's Jakob Ingebrigtsen lurking right on their shoulder and Fisher also in position to make the sprint for the podium. Disaster struck for Fisher in sight of the finish line as he was tripped with just over 100m to go and completely lost his stride. Ingebrigtsen ran away from the field over the final stretch and won in 13:09.24, with Krop taking silver in 13:09.98 and Oscar Chelimo of Uganda the bronze in 13:10.20. Fisher regrouped and ended up sixth in 13:11.65, while Nur was 11th in 13:18.05.
Olympic 20km race walk champion Massimo Stano of Italy used a very fast final kilometer to hold off Japan's Masatora Kawano for gold in 2:23:14, a stride ahead of Kawano, who claimed silver in 2:23:15. Sweden's Perseus Karlström grabbed the bronze, just as he had in the 20km last week, crossing the line in 2:23:44. Nick Christie (Vacaville, California/USATF Southern California) closed well to finish 36th in 2:41:08. A full list of results can be found here. Join the conversation with USATF on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook using the hashtag #JourneyToGold.