EUGENE, Oregon — Marquee performances by Team USATF's galaxy of stars brought the 2023 Toyota USATF Outdoor Championships to a glorious finish Sunday at Hayward Field as seven Olympic or World Championships medalists came away with wins on the final day of competition. Gracefully gliding around the track and flawlessly navigating 10 barriers, Rai Benjamin ran the second fastest time in U.S. history to win the men's 400m hurdles in 46.62. Only the American record of 46.17 he ran for silver at Tokyo in 2021 is better, and his performance today set up a Budapest clash with Olympic gold medalist Karsten Warholm of Norway, the only faster man in history at 45.94. Benjamin and CJ Allen were hurdling in sync through the first six barriers before the lanky Benjamin started to pull away. Allen managed to hold onto second in 48.18 ahead of fast-finishing Trevor Bassitt, the Oregon22 bronze medalist who took third in 48.26. Breaking her own meet record in the women's 200m with a lifetime best of 21.60, Tokyo Olympic bronze medalist Gabby Thomas took over the world lead with a late-race surge that gave her a .34 margin over silver medalist Sha'Carri Richardson, the 100m winner who also set a PB with her 21.94. 2019 NCAA indoor champion Kayla White upended 2022 USATF champion Abby Steiner, taking the bronze in a PB 22.01 in front of Steiner's season best 22.07. Only three women have ever run faster with a legal wind than Thomas, and only world record holder Florence Griffith-Joyner is above her on the U.S. list. Seven men broke 70-feet in the shot put, but King of the Ring Ryan Crouser kept his crown with a massive 22.86m/75-0 on his final attempt to win his fourth straight national outdoor gold and sixth overall. Crouser put the competition pretty much out of reach on his first throw with a 22.82m/74-10.5. Oregon22 bronze medalist Josh Awotunde exploded to a season best 22.10m/72-6.25 in round four for silver, and Payton Otterdahl used a lifetime best 22.09m/72-5.75 on his second attempt for bronze. Two-time world champion Joe Kovacs earned his fifth straight World Championships berth with a fourth-place finish at 21.90m/71-10.25. World Championships bronze medalist Erriyon Knighton became the youngest winner of a U.S. national or Olympic Trials sprint title since Stanley Floyd won the Trials in 1980, zipping to the 200m gold in a season best 19.72. Christian Coleman led through 100m but Knighton moved ahead in the straight and wasn't to be denied, with Oregon22 silver medalist Kenny Bednarek earning silver in a season best 19.82 and Texas Tech's NCAA silver medalist Courtney Lindsey snagging bronze in a PB 19.85. Reigning world 100m champion Fred Kerley, who has a bye to Budapest in that event, was running blind in lane nine and had too much ground to make up off the curve, falling an agonizing .01 short with a 19.86 in fourth. The top six finishers dipped under 20 seconds. Two-time champion Shamier Little and former world record holder Dalilah Muhammad rocketed through the first five barriers in the women's 400m hurdles, with Little holding a slight edge. The dynamic duo came off the final turn almost side-by-side and Little staved off Muhammad's final push to win her first U.S. gold since 2018 in a season best 53.34. Muhammad, running her best race of the season also notched a 2023 best of 53.53. Anna Cockrell earned bronze, but more importantly achieved the World Championships qualifying standard with a 54.24 season best. Reigning world champion and 2023 world leader Brooke Andersen overtook American record holder and 2019 world champion DeAnna Price in round four of the women's hammer to win a spirited head-to-head tussle with a best of 78.65m/258-0. Price had retaken the lead from Andersen with a season best 78.18m/256-6 right before Andersen's winning toss and ended up with silver. Last year's world bronze medalist Janee' Kassanavoid needed a sixth-round 76.44m/250-9 to move past Jillian Shippee into third, but Shippee's consolation was a Budapest berth and a big PB of 74.93m/245-10 for fourth place and the No. 9 all-time U.S. performer spot. With Andersen having a bye as the 2022 world champion, Shippee made her first senior international team. She was sixth at the 2018 World U20 Championships. Defending the title he won last year, Daniel Roberts outleaned newcomer Cordell Tinch to win his third national gold in the 110m hurdles in 13.05. Roberts, who also won in 2019, had a very slight early lead but there was really nothing between him and NCAA Division II star Tinch coming off the final barrier and only a better lean gave Roberts the edge as Tinch secured his first World Championships berth in 13.08. USATF indoor 60H champion and last year's NACAC gold medalist Freddie Crittenden also made his first worlds team with a 13.23 for third. Reigning world champion Grant Holloway chose not to run in the final as he has a bye to Budapest. Olympic champion and American record holder Valarie Allman has a bye into Budapest by virtue of winning the 2022 Diamond League women's discus title, and she demonstrated once again why she is the world's top-ranked thrower with a 67.66m/222-0 in round two to win her fifth straight U.S. title. Allman opened with a 66.12m/216-11 that also would have been enough to win. On the penultimate throw of the competition, Lagi Tausaga-Collins launched a big lifetime best of 65.46m/214-9 to earn silver and move to No. 9 on the all-time U.S. performer list. Bronze went to Elena Bruckner with a best of 58.33m/191-4. Olympic and world champion Katie Moon was using borrowed poles after hers failed to reappear after returning from Europe, but that didn't stop her dominating the women's pole vault with a world-leading 4.90m/16-0.75. Moon had one miss at 4.61m/15-1.5, going over on her second attempt before passing to 4.71m/15-5.5 and making that first time to ensure gold. She had the bar moved up to 4.83m/15-10, clearing it first time, and then her ultimate winning height. Moon made three attempts at an American outdoor record of 5.01m/16-5.25. Sandi Morris, the silver medalist at the Rio 2016 Olympics and Oregon22, took silver at 4.61m/15-1.5, and Washington high schooler Hana Moll was third at the same height. With Moon holding the Budapest bye as champion, Bridget Williams will also go after placing fourth, also at 4.61m/15-1.5. Tara Davis-Woodhall won her first USATF outdoor long jump title, leaping 6.87m/22-6.5 on her second attempt to defeat 2022 champion Quanesha Burks, who had a best of 6.82m/22-4.5 on her final attempt. Jasmine Moore, who qualified for Budapest in the triple jump earlier in the week, placed third at 6.74m/22-1.5, three centimeters ahead of U20 champion Alyssa Jones of Stanford. Seeking her first U.S. outdoor title and first international championship berth, USATF indoor champion Nia Akins put the pedal down over the final 100m to win the women's 800m in 1:59.50. Akins outsprinted Raevyn Rogers to secure the victory, with Rogers earning silver in a season best 1:59.83. NCAA champion Michaela Rose of LSU led through the bell in 58.50 before Rogers moved ahead at 600m. Kaela Edwards closed very quickly for bronze in 2:00.52. A full contact men's 800m had more than a few pushes and elbows over the first 700m, but 2022 champion Bryce Hoppel managed to regroup and surge to the front, running on to win in 1:46.20. Passing the 400m mark in a slowish 51.83 with Tokyo Olympian Isaiah Jewett leading by a singlet-thickness over CJ Jones, the closely packed field continued to engage in jostling as Jewett hit 600m in 1:18.65. Hoppel, Isaiah Harris and 2016 Olympic bronze medalist Clayton Murphy finished in that order, with Jewett running 1:46.68 and Murphy 1:46.82. Last year's USATF bronze medalist in the men's 5,000m, Abdihamid Nur, bided his time in a medium-paced race and took over the lead with 1km to go, holding off a mad dash to the line by two-time Olympic medalist Paul Chelimo to win in 13:24.37. Chelimo qualified for his third World Championships 5,000m with a silver medal finish in 13:24.90 and Sean McGorty was third in 13:25.98. McGorty was also third in the 10,000m on Thursday. Three women broke away and jockeyed for final placings in the final few laps of the women's 5,000m, and Elise Cranny sprinted to the fore with a lap to go to build a big lead on the way to a 14:52.66 win, her third straight USATF title at the distance. Completing the distance double after winning the 10,000m on Thursday, Cranny was followed across the line by Alicia Monson in 14:55.10 and Natosha Rogers in a PB 14:55.39 to replicate the order of finish in the 10K. It took only three attempts for 2021 Olympic Trials winner JuVaughn Harrison to wrap up his spot on the high jump team as he cleared 2.26m/7-5 without trouble and retired from the competition with victory in hand. Harrison, who was third in the long jump yesterday, went over the opening height of 2.16m/7-1 first time and then sailed over 2.21m/7-3. His Tokyo teammate, 2022 USATF champion Shelby McEwen, required two attempts to get over 2.26m and ended up second, with Vernon Turner earning bronze at 2.21m.