ALBUQUERQUE — With a stellar cast featuring five world record-holders, 17 American record-holders and 18 defending champions, the USATF Indoor Championships at the Albuquerque Convention Center on Friday and Saturday promises to be a carnival of delights for track and field fans across the spectrum. This year marks the 11th time New Mexico's largest city has hosted the U.S. indoor championship meet, dating back to 1966. A lightning-fast new track surface, coupled with many of the world's top competitors in their events, sets the stage for some epic battles as athletes vie for not only national titles and prize money, but also coveted berths on Team USATF for the World Athletics Indoor Championships that will be hosted in Glasgow, Scotland, March 1-3.
60: Defending champion Aleia Hobbs dominated the dash last year here and set an American record of 6.94 that made her the second-fastest woman ever. Her former LSU teammate Mikiah Brisco was the 2022 champion and earned silver that year at the World Indoor Championships. Brisco also won the national crown in 2020. Those two rank first and third on the current U.S. list, but Celera Barnes and Kiara Parker are not far behind and will challenge for a podium spot. 400: Former American record holder Talitha Diggs was eighth at the World Championships in Budapest last summer and has a PB of 50.15. In her first year as a pro, she will face off against former Southeastern Conference rival Alexis Holmes, who took gold in the mixed 4x400 at Budapest and helped the U.S. quartet set a world record. Holmes has clocked 50.80 this year, the fastest time by an American in 2024. Quanera Hayes, who was the 2016 winner and placed seventh at the Tokyo Olympics, is running her first 400 of the year, while Bianca Stubler finished fourth last year. 800: World Championships sixth-place finisher Nia Akins had a superb 2023 and looks even better this year. The reigning indoor and outdoor national champion moved into the world all-time top 10 in the 600 with a 1:24.32 at Clemson last week and demonstrated her versatility with a 4:32.08 mile in January. 2023 runner-up Allie Wilson won the Millrose Games 800 last week, just ahead of Olivia Baker, and they will be joined by resurgent Sammy Watson, who won at the New Balance GP on Feb. 4 at Boston. Attempting a difficult double, Addison Wiley comes in with a 2:00.84 best but having to double back in the 1500 less than an hour later may make for tough decisions. 1500: The indoor and outdoor American record holders line up for the metric mile, with Elle St. Pierre taking on defending champ Nikki Hiltz. St. Pierre has shown no loss of form after giving birth to a son last March, rolling to a 4:16.41 at Millrose to better her own AR by almost a half-second. She was the 3000m silver medalist at the 2022 World Indoor Championships. Hiltz, who set the outdoor AR last year with a 4:16.35 at Monaco, also claimed the inaugural world record in the road mile and was a World Championships semifinalist at Budapest in the 1500. Wiley was fourth last year and dropped a 3:59.17 at the Brussels Diamond League meet in September, while Emily Mackay was seventh in 2023 and earned bronze at the Pan American Games. 3000: St. Pierre starts her quest for double gold on Friday, and if her 8:25.25 to win at the New Balance GP is anything to go by, she will be tough to beat. She is the second-fastest American woman ever indoors with the 8:25.25 PB she set in Boston and is No. 8 on the all-time world performer list. Josette Andrews was fifth in the 1500 at the 2022 World Indoor Championships and narrowly missed a Budapest trip last year in the 5000, placing fourth at the Toyota USATF Outdoor Championships. She has a best of 8:37.91, but her recent 14:46.51 PB in the 5000 is a harbinger of what's to come. Others to watch include 2023 fourth-place finisher Elly Henes, the 2021 NCAA 5000 champ. 60 hurdles: Always a highlight event, the sprint hurdles have defending champion Alaysha Johnson, two-time champion Sharika Nelvis, and the fastest American of 2024, Tia Jones. Johnson, who has a 7.82 PB, was the Pan American Games bronze medalist in the 100H and was a semifinalist in the 60H at the 2022 World Indoor Championships. Tied for the fastest time ever by an American at 7.70, but not the AR holder by a quirk of rules that have since been changed, Nelvis won in 2018 and 2019. A world U20 champion in the 100H in 2018, Jones is fulfilling the potential she showed as a young high schooler when she set a prep national record of 12.84 in the 100H. She moved to equal fifth on the world all-time performer list with a 7.72 win at the New Balance GP and is tied for third on the all-time U.S. performer list. Additional heat comes from 2023 NCAA runner-up Masai Russell, a 7.75 performer, and 2018 World Indoor Championships silver medalist Christina Clemons, who has run 7.73 to rank fifth on the all-time U.S. list. 3000 Race Walk: Defending champion Miranda Melville and Robyn Stevens have won three of the past four U.S. indoor golds between them. Melville has been on five World Championships teams and was an Olympian at Rio 2016, boasting a 12:47.39 PB for 3000. Stevens is the American record holder in the 35-kilometer walk and was an Olympian at 20K in Tokyo. 2023 bronze medalist Janelle Branch and fourth-place finisher Stephanie Casey are also extremely capable of mounting the podium, as the 40-year-old Casey has two straight World Championships 35K berths to her credit. High Jump: Who else but perennial gold medalist Vashti Cunningham? One of the all-time American greats in the event, Cunningham has won seven straight indoor titles and has amassed 13 total U.S. crowns. She set her indoor PB of 2.00/6-6.75 here last year and has cleared 2.02/6-7.5 outdoors. The 2016 World Indoor champion as a teen, Cunningham has a silver from the 2018 World Indoors and a bronze from the 2019 World Outdoors to her credit, along with making two Olympic teams and four World Outdoor Championships squads. Before Cunningham started her streak, Inika McPherson captured the 2013 and 2014 U.S. titles, and she still has some get-up-and-go at age 37 with a PB of 1.96/6-5. Washington high school star JaiCieonna Gero-Holt is a multi-talented athlete who has scaled 1.87 at age 16. She and five other women who finished behind Cunningham last year, including 2023 bronze medalist Mercedeez Francis, will contend for medals. Pole Vault: Worth the price of admission by itself, this field is a veritable who's who of American pole vault royalty. Reigning Olympic and world champion Katie Moon and Sandi Morris have split up the past seven titles and are experienced at major global championships. Moon won in 2018 and 2019 in addition to last year's victory, while Morris has 2016, 2017, 2020 and 2022 trophies. They are both 16-footers, and Morris has the indoor PB edge with a 4.95/16-2.75 to Moon's 4.94/16-2.5. Moon was a silver medalist at the 2022 World Indoor meet where Morris won her second gold to go with the one she brought home in 2018. Morris also has an Olympic silver from 2016 and three World Outdoor Championships silvers. Bridget Williams was third indoors and fourth outdoors in 2023 and has upped her PB to 4.81/15-9.25, and Gabriela Leon was a World Championships 12th-place finisher in 2022. One more to watch for is Brynn King of Roberts Wesleyan, who has improved to 4.61 this season under the tutelage of seven-time champion and American indoor record holder Jenn Suhr. Long Jump: Current and former collegiate record holders Jasmine Moore and Tara Davis-Woodhall are two of the brightest young stars on the scene and already rank among the best Americans ever to grace the runway. Moore won double NCAA jumps titles for Florida in this facility last year, soaring to 7.03/23-0.75 in the long jump to become only the fourth U.S. woman in the 23-foot club indoors. She snagged the CR from Davis-Woodhall, an energetic entertainer who set the previous mark of 6.93/22-9 in 2021. The rarified air of Albuquerque is always helpful in the jumps, so look out for last year's silver medalist, Tiffany Flynn, and fourth-place finisher Sha'Keela Saunders, as well as Monae' Nichols, who has spanned 6.97/22-10.5 in her career. Triple Jump: Moore and three-time champion Keturah Orji are clearly ahead of the rest of the field on paper. In completing the NCAA double here last year, Moore set an American indoor (and absolute) record of 15.12/49-7.25 and had the five best indoor jumps ever by an American in her series. She was a World Championships finalist in both events at Budapest. Orji has seemingly been around forever despite being only 27. She made her first international appearance in 2013, earning medals in both horizontal jumps at the World Youth (U18) Championships, and since then has been a finalist in two Olympics and three World Outdoor Championships. She has also repped the red, white, and blue at three World Indoor meets. Her indoor PB of 14.60/47-10.75 came in 2020, and she holds the outdoor AR at 14.91/48-11. Shot Put: The biggest cheering section this weekend will likely be for Chase Jackson (former Chase Ealey), the newlywed who has been the world's best in this event of late. Jackson is a two-time reigning world champion and American record holder who comes in as the defending champ. She is a local favorite, graduating from high school in Los Alamos where she won New Mexico state titles in the shot put... and 100 meters as a senior in 2012. Jackson matched the indoor AR of 20.21/66-3.75 to earn silver at the 2022 World Indoor Championships, and she added the outdoor AR last year, winning the Diamond League crown in Eugene with a huge 20.76/68-1.5. Her main rival is Maggie Ewen, the 2022 champ and runner-up last year who has been on Team USATF for the last three world outdoor meets. Ewen powered a big PB of 20.45/67-1.25 to win the USATF LA GP last May and move to No. 3 on the all-time U.S. performer list. Adelaide Aquilla, a four-time NCAA indoor and outdoor champion for Ohio State, was an Olympian at Tokyo and earned bronze at last year's Pan American Games. Jessica Ramsey was the 2021 Olympic Trials winner at 20.12/66-0.25 after a bronze at the 2019 Pan American Games, and Jessica Woodard was eighth at the 2022 World Championships. 20-pound Weight: They're not many, but they're mighty. A six-woman field that includes four of the top 10 Americans ever is led by 2022 hammer world champion Brooke Andersen, the runner-up in this event last year who has a 25.07/82-3 PB. Janeah Stewart, who formerly shared the AR at 25.60/84-0, won in 2019 and 2020, while Erin Reese tops the 2024 world list at 25.26/82-10, the No. 6 all-time U.S. performer. Last year's bronze medalist, Rachel Tanczos, was the NCAA silver medalist in 2021 and has a best of 25.18/82-7.75 to rank seventh on the all-time U.S. performer list.
60: A full dance card is on offer with the four men who have won the past six U.S. titles between them, plus the reigning world champion in the 100. This has the makings of a classic speed showdown, featuring world record holder and three-time winner Christian Coleman, who zipped to a stunning 6.34 here in 2018 before winning the World Indoor title. He has the four fastest times in history, but will have his hands full with Noah Lyles, winner of three golds at last summer's World Championships in Budapest and the American record holder at 200. Lyles has run 6.44 this season, the fastest time in the world, and his closing speed is unmatched. Few may remember that he won the U.S. indoor gold in the 300 in 2017. Ronnie Baker is the third-fastest American ever with a 6.40 PB, and J.T. Smith was a surprise champion last year, ending his season by anchoring Team USATF to victory in the heats of the 4x100 at Budapest. 2018 champion Demek Kemp is also in the field, while Emmanuel Wells has improved to 6.48 in 2024. 400: Better known as a 400 hurdler, with a World Championships bronze on his resume, Trevor Bassitt is the only entrant to have won this event previously. He has a PB of 45.05, set in taking silver at the 2022 World Indoor Championships. Reigning U.S. outdoor champion Bryce Deadmon ran 44.22 last year in Eugene and has an indoor PB of 45.22. Other sub-45 men include Elija Godwin, the 2023 NCAA indoor champion for Georgia with a 44.75 PB on the boards, and Ryan Willie, the runner-up to Godwin at that meet who has a lifetime best of 44.93. World 4x400 mixed relay gold medalist Matthew Boling, who helped Team USATF to a world record, is fresh off an indoor PB of 45.47 last week at Clemson. 800: Going for his fourth straight U.S. indoor title, Bryce Hoppel is the second fastest American ever at 1:44.37. Former American record holder in the 1000, Hoppel earned bronze at the 2022 World Indoor Championships and was seventh at Budapest last summer. He won the Millrose Games last weekend in 1:45.51 and was the New Balance GP runner-up in the 1000. Isaiah Harris and Vincent Crisp were on the podium with Hoppel last year, but Brandon Miller staked his claim with a 1:14.03 600 on this track last week, making him the second fastest man ever at that distance. Miller has an indoor 800 PB of 1:45.24, the No. 4 all-time U.S. performer, and was the 2022 NCAA indoor champ. 1500: Reigning champion Sam Prakel pulled a distance double in 2023, taking gold in the 1500 and 3000, but is focusing only on the shorter event here. World road mile champion Hobbs Kessler became the second fastest American ever in the mile last weekend at the Millrose Games, finishing second in 3:48.66, and he went by 1500 in 3:33.66 to take over the No. 3 spot on the all-time U.S. performer list. 2022 champ Cole Hocker was sixth at the Tokyo Games and seventh at Budapest in 2023, while 2020 winner Josh Thompson was a world indoor and outdoor finalist in 2022. In the last year the mile was run at these Championships, Craig Engels topped the field in 2019, and he was seventh at the 2018 World Indoors. Cooper Teare is another strong contender with an indoor mile best of 3:50.17, No. 5 on the all-time U.S. performer list. 3000: The breakout middle distance star of 2023, Yared Nuguse, hasn't slowed his roll a bit into the new year. Nuguse set American records in the indoor 1500, mile, and 3000 last year before closing out with an AR in the mile outdoors at the Diamond League final, shattering the old mark with a remarkable 3:43.97. His 3000 AR of 7:28.23 knocked almost two seconds off the previous AR. Last week at Millrose, Nuguse won the mile in 3:47.83, second to only his own AR on the all-time U.S. list. Morgan Beadlescomb and Abdihamid Nur have fast 5000 PBs, with Nur winning the U.S. outdoor title last summer, and returning bronze medalist Olin Hacker is also a podium threat. 60 hurdles: 10 years. 10 long years. Barack Obama was president when Grant Holloway last lost a 60H race, and with the way he opened this season, we might see another couple presidents come and go before he gets beat. Holloway set the world record of 7.29 at Madrid in 2021 and tied it the next year. He won his only U.S. indoor crown in 2022, going on to take World Indoor gold, and he has three straight outdoor world titles to go with a silver in the 110H at Tokyo in 2021. Holloway zipped to a world-leading 7.32 to win at Liévin, France, last week. The next fastest man in the field is Trey Cunningham, a 7.38 performer who is tied for eighth on the all-time U.S. performer list. Cunningham was a World Championships silver medalist in 2022 and won the NCAA indoor and outdoor sprint hurdles crowns that season. Reigning champion Freddie Crittenden returns, as does U.S. outdoor champ Daniel Roberts, who has a PB of 7.39. Dylan Beard won the Millrose title with a PB 7.44 and is an emerging threat. 3000 Race Walk: Six-time champion Nick Christie has won five in a row and is again the man to beat. He has 16 total national titles and won by more than 20 seconds over Dan Nehnevaj in 2023. Christie has a best of 11:35.34 but likely won't need all of that to pick up his seventh victory. Nehnevaj and Emmanuel Corvera are his main challengers again after going 2-3 last year. High Jump: Returning champ Shelby McEwen is back and better than ever coming off a 2.33/7-7.75 world-leading win at Hustopece. McEwen was fifth and seventh at the last two outdoor World Championships and won his first outdoor U.S. crown in 2022. Vernon Turner is the only other man in the field with a PB to match McEwen, and he was the 2022 NCAA indoor winner for Oklahoma. Pole Vault: Boasting three men who have cleared 6.00/19-8.25 or better indoors, the U.S. has an embarrassment of riches in this event. Sam Kendricks is the defending champion and has won four U.S. indoor golds, while Chris Nilsen is the American indoor record holder at 6.05/19-10.25 and won in 2022. Rounding out the elite trio is KC Lightfoot, the 2021 NCAA champion for Baylor and newly minted outdoor American record holder. Those three men have seven of the top 10 indoor performances in U.S. history. Kendricks won world outdoor golds in 2017 and 2019 and was the Rio 2016 bronze medalist. Nilsen has Olympic and world silver from 2021 and 2022 and was the bronze medalist at the 2022 World Indoor meet and 2023 World Outdoor Championships. If any of the trio falter, Zach Bradford and Austin Miller have gone over 5.90/19-4.25 or better and could sneak onto the podium. Long Jump: In an event that has been relatively stagnant on the world scene lately, there are still a handful of American men capable of popping big jumps. Cameron Crump has the best entry mark at 8.39/27-6.5, a mark that earned him silver at the 2023 NCAA Indoor Championships here. Reigning champ Will Williams was eighth at last year's World Championships in Budapest, while 2022 winner Jarrion Lawson placed fourth at the World indoor Championships that year. Multi-talented JuVaughn Harrison has a PB of 8.45/27-8.75 and was an Olympic finalist in the high jump and long jump at Tokyo, adding World Championships silver in the high jump last summer. World Championships hurdler Cordell Tinch also has solid creds in this event, sporting an 8.16/26-9.25 outdoor PB. Triple Jump: Winner of the 2014 and 2016 U.S. titles, Chris Carter is back to seek his third national crown. Carter set his indoor PB of 17.20 here in 2018, the year he placed fifth at the World Indoor Championships. Two-time Olympian and twice a World Championships finalist, Chris Benard has the best PB in the field at 17.48/57-4.25 but has never won a U.S. gold, indoors or outdoors. Shot Put: It's safe to call Ryan Crouser the greatest men's shot putter ever. But you know what he doesn't have in his trophy case? A World Indoor gold. Crouser has two Olympic titles and won the last two World Championships. He holds world indoor and outdoor records, capped by a monster 23.56/77-3.75 at the USATF LA GP last May, and he has an incredible 243 throws of 22.00/72-2.25 or better. Chunk in three U.S. indoor golds from 2019-22 and you have the makings of a human dynasty. Jordan Geist and Tripp Piperi went 2-3 last year and again will contend for medals, along with Roger Steen, the fourth-place finisher in 2023 who leads the U.S. list in 2024 with a PB 21.38/70-1.75. 35-pound Weight: Fourth on the world all-time performer list with the 25.44/83-5.75 that captured the U.S. title last year, Daniel Haugh has won twice at this meet. He was sixth in the hammer at the 2023 World Championships and eighth in 2022, making the final at Tokyo in 2021. No one else in the field is within two feet of him, so the fight for silver and bronze may be between Israel Oloyede and Isaiah Rogers, who have both been out past 24.00/78-9.
Coleman Holloway Crouser Kessler (road mile) Holmes (out mixed 4x400)
Coleman Lyles Nuguse (1500/3000) Nilsen Holloway Jackson Hobbs Moore Crouser St. Pierre (mile) Kessler (road mile) Hiltz (outdoor mile) Streich (1000) Christie (35W) Lightfoot (out PV) Stevens (35W) Orji (out TJ)
Smith Hoppel Prakel Crittenden McEwen Kendricks Williams Haugh Christie Hobbs Akins Hiltz Johnson Cunningham Moon Orji Jackson (Ealey) Melville