Victories from Team USATF athletes in five events added luster to the Botswana Golden Grand Prix meet in Gaborone, the second stop on the World Athletics Continental Tour-Gold. Last year's World Championships men's 400m hurdles bronze medalist Trevor Bassitt won his specialty in 48.43 seconds, and Marquis Dendy flew out to a U.S. outdoor-leading 8.34m/27-4.5 to take top honors in the long jump. TeeTee Terry and Kayla White led a U.S. sweep of the women's dashes, with Terry clocking 11.05 in the 100m and White going 22.38 in the 200m. NCAA indoor women's shot put champion Adelaide Aquilla won by more than four feet with a best of 18.53m/60-9.5.
Many-time U.S. champion Nick Christie picked up a win in the men's 5,000m race walk at the Penn Relays with a 19:49.67 effort that put him almost two minutes ahead of the runner-up. Miranda Melville was the top American woman with a 22:57.47 that placed her third. The events were part of the World Athletics Race Walking Tour – Bronze.
World champions Ryan Crouser and Chase Ealey saw double at the Drake Relays, coming away with indoor and outdoor wins in the shot put. In the team-oriented indoor competition on April 26, Crouser blasted a 22.42m/73-6.75 on his first attempt to put the win out of reach, while Ealey had a much more challenging path to victory, trailing until a 19.54m/64-1.25 in round four put her atop the standings. She matched that distance in the final round to eke out a 2cm win over Jamaica's Danniel Thomas-Dodd. Crouser added two more 22m+ throws, and Tripp Piperi had a nice 21.45m/70-4.5 to place second. In conditions more suited to swimming or water polo on Saturday, Crouser carefully navigated a flooded ring to go 22.38m/73-5.25 in the second round and topped 22m again in the fourth before bowing out. Piperi had another fine effort, throwing 21.49m/70-6.25 for second. Ealey exchanged the lead with Maggie Ewen before a third round 19.12m/62-8.75 gave her a comfortable margin of victory. Last week's USATF Athlete of the Week, Brooke Andersen, continued her string of big throws in the hammer, winning with a 78.69m/258-2, while men's American record holder Rudy Winkler took the top spot with a 76.70m/251-8. In other women's invitational events, Nikki Hiltz added a 1,500m gold to the USATF Road Mile title they won earlier in the week, clocking 4:09.02, and Madie Boreman notched a U.S. leading time of 9:36.86 in the 3,000m steeplechase. Tia Jones zipped to a very impressive 12.44 in the 100m hurdles, and Anna Cockrell was the winner of the 400m hurdles in 55.52. Men's invitational wins went to local favorite Jamal Britt in the 110m hurdles (13.29) and CJ Allen in the 400m hurdles (48.78). Olympian Isaiah Jewett took the 800 by more than two seconds in 1:47.05, and Paul Ryan was victorious over a solid 1,500m field in 3:40.23. USATF indoor champion Will Williams was the long jump winner.
Ajee' Wilson closed very quickly to overtake Jamaican rival Natoya Goule and win the women's 600m at the Penn Relays, crossing the line in 1:24.45, the ninth-best time ever by an American. Philly fans also got to see a victory by Eagles wide receiver Devon Allen in the men's 110m hurdles, but not by much as he outleaned Rafael Pereira of Brazil to win in 13.46, .002 ahead of the Brazilian. In other women's track action, North Carolina high school star Shawnti Jackson was the women's 200m winner in 23.11, and Taylor Manson clocked 51.71 for the 400m win. Allie Wilson was an easy winner in the 800m at 2:01.13, with Josette Andrews topping the podium in the 1,500m after a runaway 4:04.88. Men's winners included Kameron Jones, who ran 1:16.04 in the 600m, and Quincy Hall in the 400m. U.S. leader Isaac Updike won the 3,000m steeplechase in 8:39.21.
Diamond League champion Joe Kovacs unleashed a big 22.69m/74-5.5 to win the men's shot put at the Music City Challenge in Nashville, taking over the world outdoor lead for 2023.
Weather also affected performances at the LSU Invitational in Baton Rouge, with gusty winds giving aid to Tara Davis-Woodhall in the women's long jump, where she spanned 7.05m/23-1.75 with a +5.9 breeze. She had a wind-legal 6.86m/22-6.25, and Quanesha Burks went out to an outdoor world-leading 6.95m/22-9.75 to place second. Heptathlon World Championships bronze medalist Anna Hall scored lifetime bests in the 100m hurdles (13.09) and shot put (13.94m/45-9) and had a season best 23.60 in the 200m.
Tokyo Olympics 200m bronze medalist Gabby Thomas sped to a 22.21 win Friday at the Texas Invitational in Austin and followed up on Saturday with a scintillating 49.68 lifetime best in the 400m. That one-lap mark moved her to 12th on the women's all-time combined sprinter list of 100/200/400 athletes. American record holder and Olympic champion Valarie Allman won the women's discus at 68.20m/223-9, a distance only she and Gia Lewis-Smallwood have ever bettered on the U.S. list.