EUGENE -- An American record in the field and a full slate of exciting finals that culminated with the crowning of America’s fastest man kept the excitement level at a fever pitch at Hayward Field on day three of the U.S. Olympic Team Trials - Track & Field. Full event replays can be found on PeacockTV / NBCSN streaming services. Click here for more information. Competition results can be found at results.usatf.org. Kicking off day 3, the greatest competition in U.S. hammer throwing history saw Rudy Winkler (Ithaca, New York / USATF New York) finally take the American record away from Lance Deal after 25 years, as the defending Trials champion landed the 16-pound orb out at 82.71m/271-4 on his second attempt to add seven inches to Deal’s record. Winkler opened the competition by breaking the Trials record set in 1992 by Jud Logan with an 80.75m/264-11 and then followed up with his monster throw. In round four he hit 82.10m/269-4 and he ended up with five of his six throws beyond 80m/262-5. His record throw moved him to No. 20 on the all-time world performer list. Winkler wasn’t the only one hitting peak form at just the right time, either, as Daniel Haugh (Marietta, Georgia / USATF Georgia) and Alex Young (LaVergne, Tennessee / USATF Pacific) both notched lifetime bests in the final round to claim their first Olympic berths. Haugh improved to 79.39m/260-5, and Young’s final toss landed at 78.32m/256-11. The trio will give Team USATF its greatest ever squad in the men’s hammer, led by gold medal contender Winkler. Hal Connolly in 1956 was the last American to win Olympic gold in the event, and Deal, who was the 1996 silver medalist in Atlanta, is the last U.S. medalist. Setting a meet record on her final attempt, American record holder Keturah Orji (Atlanta, Georgia / USATF Georgia) put together a stellar series in the triple jump to win her fifth straight U.S. title and defend the Trials crown she won in 2016. Orji’s initial attempt went 14.40m/47-3, a distance that would have also won the competition. She extended that to 14.52/47-7.75 on her final jump, besting the 14.45/47-5 meet record set by Tiombe Hurd in 2004. Former American record holder Tori Franklin (East Lansing, Michigan / USATF New York) had a season best 14.36m/47-1.5 in the sixth round to finish as the runner-up, and Georgia freshman Jasmine Moore (Athens, Georgia / USATF Georgia) bounded 14.15m/46-5.25 to earn a trip to the Games. Undefeated and the fastest man in the world in 2021, Trayvon Bromell (Jacksonville, Florida / USATF Florida) kept his unblemished streak alive with a 9.80 to win the men’s 100m and complete a lengthy comeback from injuries that plagued him at Rio and in the years that followed. Behind Bromell, Ronnie Baker (Fort Worth, Texas / USATF Southwestern) set a personal best of 9.85 for second, but the biggest revelation was third place finisher Fred Kerley, (Taylor, Texas / USATF Gulf) the 2019 World Championships 400m bronze medalist who has dropped down to the shortest sprint distance and captured the attention of the track world. Kerley closed quickly to clock 9.86, a lifetime best that puts him in the U.S. all-time top 10. Personal bests were also recorded by Kenny Bednarek (Minneola, Florida / USATF Wisconsin) (9.89) and Oregon’s Micah Williams (Portland, Oregon / USATF Oregon) (9.91) as part of the fastest first-five finishing group in Trials history. Quanera Hayes (Hope Mills, North Carolina / USATF North Carolina) and Kendall Ellis (North Hollywood, California / USATF Southern California) were out very quickly and led into the final bend of the women’s 400m final, with Wadeline Jonathas (West Columbia, South Carolina / USATF South Carolina) and Allyson Felix (Los Angeles, California / USATF Southern California) just behind them. Jonathas made a strong move off the turn to briefly take the lead, but Hayes dug deep and pushed past Jonathas to win in 49.78. Felix, showing the experience that has made her the most decorated woman in American track and field history, moved past Jonathas into second as the line drew near, clinching her fifth Olympic berth in 50.02. Johnathas ended up third in 50.03, while Ellis placed fourth in 50.10. Kaylin Whitney (Clermont, Florida / USATF Florida) set another lifetime best of 50.29 in fifth as all eight finalists broke 51 seconds. Sprinting out of the blocks and making up the stagger on NCAA champion Randolph Ross (Burlington, North Carolina / USATF North Carolina) to his outside by the 150m mark, Michael Norman (Sherman Oaks, California / USATF Southern California) established a lead in the men’s 400m with Michael Cherry (Inglewood, California / USATF Southern California) hanging with him to his inside. Norman and Cherry continued to push the pace through the last turn, with Cherry briefly gaining a lead, but Norman surged back to the front in the final 50m and won in a season best 44.07, while Cherry took second in a lifetime best 44.35. Ross made up a big deficit to place third in 44.74, just ahead of his North Carolina A&T teammate Trevor Stewart (Spotsylvania, Virginia / USATF Virginia), who was fourth in 44.90. Seven of the eight men in the final dipped under 45 seconds. It has been a long five years for 100m hurdles world record holder Keni Harrison (Pflugerville, Texas / USATF Texas Southern), but the wait was over 12.47 seconds after the gun fired as she qualified for her first Olympic Games after missing out in 2016. Harrison had to make up a small deficit after the start but moved ahead and hurdled efficiently through the remaining barriers to win over reigning Olympic champion Brianna McNeal (Fort Worth, Texas / USATF Southern California), who was second in 12.51. Third place came down to an infinitesimal margin of .006 seconds, with Christina Clemons (Lawrence, Kansas / USATF Missouri Valley) getting the nod over Gabbi Cunningham (Holly Springs, North Carolina / USATF North Carolina), both women finishing in 12.53. Over a two-day period that at times seemed like the track and field version of Oprah Winfrey -- “You get a PR! You get a PR! Everyone gets a PR!” -- Garrett Scantling (Athens, Georgia / USATF Georgia) amassed a huge lifetime best of 8,647 points to win his first U.S. title and gain redemption after just missing out on Rio with a fourth place finish in 2016. Scantling, who stepped away from the sport for four years after his Trials disappointment, came back a new athlete and he set lifetime bests in the 110m hurdles, discus and pole vault to distance himself from a field that was filled with great stories. Steven Bastien (Ann Arbor, Michigan / USATF Michigan), whose dad Gary was a national class decathlete in the 1980s, ran a gutsy 4:22.21 1,500m to close out a massive personal-best 8,485 score that earned him second and a trip to Tokyo, where third place finisher Zach Ziemek (Sun Prairie, Wisconsin / USATF Wisconsin) will join him and Scantling after also tallying a PR with 8,471 points. Ziemek was seventh at Rio. Heavily favored coming into the meet as the world outdoor leader, Vashti Cunningham (Las Vegas, Nevada / USATF Nevada) won her fourth straight U.S. high jump title and qualified for her second Olympic team with four first-attempt clearances, the best of which was at 1.96m/6-5. Inika McPherson (Atlanta, Georgia / USATF Gulf), Nicole Greene (Atlanta, Georgia / USATF Georgia) and Rachel McCoy (Austin, Texas / USATF Texas Southern) all cleared 1.93m/6-4, McPherson placing second on fewer misses with Greene third and McCoy fourth.
LSU’s Tonea Marshall (Baton Rouge, Louisiana / USATF Southern) was out even with Christina Clemons (Lawrence, Kansas / USATF Missouri Valley) to her immediate right and that duo hurdled in tandem through the final barrier. Marshall finished slightly quicker to win in 12.50, .01 ahead of Clemons, who set a lifetime best. Reigning Olympic champion Brianna McNeal (Fort Worth, Texas / USATF Southern California) took third in 12.56, and Gabbi Cunningham (Holly Springs, North Carolina / USATF North Carolina) set a personal best of 12.61 in fourth. Marshall’s collegiate teammate, Alia Armstrong (New Orleans, Louisiana / USATF Southern) was another one who chalked up a lifetime best, going 12.65 in fifth to advance as a time qualifier. Taking one step closer to her first Olympic berth, world record holder Keni Harrison (Pflugerville, Texas / USATF Texas Southern) had a superb start and pulled away from the field early, skimming the barriers to win easily in 12.50. NCAA champion Anna Cockrell (Waxhaw, North Carolina / USATF North Carolina) of USC, the NCAA champion, placed second in 12.59, with Payton Chadwick’s (Fayetteville, Arkansas / USATF Arkansas) lifetime best 12.64 good for third and a spot in the final. North Carolina A&T’s TeJyrica Robinson (Burlington, North Carolina / USATF North Carolina) was rewarded for her personal best 12.65 with the final time qualifier slot.
World’s fastest man in 2021, Trayvon Bromell (Jacksonville, Florida / USATF Florida) put on another display of super speed in the first semi to win in 9.90 without trouble. Kenny Bednarek (Minneola, Florida / USATF Florida) romped to a lifetime best 9.96 for second, with 2004 Olympic champion Justin Gatlin (Clermont, Florida / USATF Florida) getting the third automatic berth in the final at 10.00. Oregon’s Micah Williams (Portland, Oregon / USATF Oregon) (10.00) and former Duck Cravon Gillespie (Panorama City, California / USATF Southern California) (10.03) were time qualifiers for the final. Winner of the U.S. 400m title in 2019, Fred Kerley (Taylor, Texas / USATF Gulf) overtook Ronnie Baker (Fort Worth, Texas / USATF Southwestern) in the final 10m to win the second semi in 9.92, .02 ahead of Baker. Noah Lyles (Alexandria, Virginia / USATF Potomac Valley), the 2019 world champion at 200m, snagged third in 9.97. Marvin Bracy-Williams (Minneola, Florida / USATF Florida), the second-fastest American this season, pulled up early in the race.
American record holder Courtney Frerichs (Beaverton, Oregon / USATF Oregon) took a tumble early in heat one but recovered well to get back in contention and then take over the lead. Frerichs pulled the pack through five laps in 5:46.31 and maintained her lead as the top five women put a five second gap on the trailing group. Grayson Murphy (Bozeman, Montana / USATF Montana), the reigning World Mountain Running champion, moved past Frerichs on the final lap and shattered her personal best to win in 9:25.37, bettering the Olympic standard for the first time. BYU’s Courtney Wayment (Layton, Utah / USATF Utah) eased past a slowing Frerichs to take second in a personal best 9:27.17, and Frerichs was third. The other two automatic spots in the final went to Val Constien (Boulder, Colorado / USATF Colorado) and Marisa Howard (Boise, Idaho / USATF Snake River). 2017 World Championships gold medalist and former American record holder Emma Coburn (Boulder, Colorado / USATF Colorado) went to the front right from the start, controlling the pace in the second section. Leah Falland (Croswell, Michigan / USATF Colorado) and Mel Lawrence (Bend, Oregon / USATF Oregon) tucked in behind Coburn and the trio were six seconds up on NCAA champion Mahala Norris (Roseburg, Oregon / USATF Oregon) and two other collegians at the halfway point. Coburn and Falland moved away from Lawrence heading into the bell lap, and Coburn put a three-second gap on Falland in the final straight to win in 9:21.32. Falland chopped her season best to 9:23.36 in second, while Lawrence was third in 9:29.30. Katie Rainsberger (Colorado Springs, Colorado / USATF Colorado) of Washington and Norris were the final two auto advancers. Fans can follow #TrackFieldTrials21 and #JourneyToGold on social media via USATF’s accounts on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok and Facebook.
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