EUGENE, Oregon — The renaissance in American women's throwing fortunes at the World Athletics Championships continued Sunday in the morning session at Hayward Field as Team USATF's hammer athletes picked up two medals for the first time in meet history.
Never before at the World Championships had Team USATF's women won two medals in a throwing event. That changed Sunday afternoon in the hammer throw when Brooke Andersen (Phoenix, Arizona/USATF Inland Northwest) put together a marvelous series capped by a monster 78.96m/259-1 on her final attempt to take gold and Janee' Kassanavoid (Manhattan, Kansas/USATF Missouri Valley) earned bronze with her 74.86m/245-7 in round two. Andersen, the USATF outdoor champion and world leader coming into the Championships, had a foul called on her fourth attempt, but she successfully protested that call and retook the lead from Canada's Camryn Rogers with a 77.42m/254-0. On her next throw she launched the four-kilogram ball 77.56m/254-5 to extend her lead before polishing off a historic competition with her farthest effort in round six. Rogers, the NCAA champion for the University of California took the silver with a 75.52m/247-9. The only other time in Olympic or World competition that two U.S. women medaled in a throw was the 1932 Olympic discus, when Lillian Copeland and Ruth Osburn went 1-2 at Los Angeles. Annette Echikunwoke (Cincinnati, Ohio/USATF Ohio) had a 68.12m/223-6 on her first throw to finish 12th.
Pounding out laps from 66-68 seconds through the first half of the race, all three U.S. men were in the midst of a big pack. World record holder and Olympic silver medalist Joshua Cheptegei of Uganda decided the time was up for slowish running and picked up the tempo. The man who beat him at Tokyo, Selemon Barega of Ethiopia, and bronze medalist Jacob Kiplimo were also at the front of the lead group, along with three Kenyans and Grant Fisher (Portland, Oregon/USATF Oregon). As the pace let off for a bit with six laps remaining, USATF champion Joe Klecker (Boulder, Colorado/USATF Colorado) and Sean McGorty (Beaverton, Oregon/USATF Oregon) moved back into contact with the now large lead group that had 15 men in it. Fisher started to cover moves with just over three to go and eight men were in best position on the antepenultimate lap. Coming through the bell those eight men were all out and seven were still in it with 200 left as Fisher put everything he had into it to finish fourth in 27:28.14, matching the best finish ever by an American at the World Championships and missing a medal by only .17 seconds. Cheptegei won in 27:27.43, with Kenya's Stanley Mburu taking silver in 27:27.90 and Kiplimo bronze in 27:27.97. Klecker ran a season best 27:38.73 in ninth and McGorty was 12th at 27:46.30.
Unprecedented quality and depth combined with ideal weather and a beautiful flat and fast course to make the men's marathon the greatest in World Championships history as the three medalists broke the previous meet record and 19 men broke 2:10. The majority of the starting group settled into a pace that wouldn't be quick enough to drop anyone, going through 7km in 21:48. More than 50 men were still in contact, and Elkanah Kibet (Colorado Springs, Colorado/USATF Colorado) was near the front in 10th. Defending champion Lelisa Desisa of Ethiopia sidled to the fore as the runners came through Springfield, accompanied by teammates Seifu Tura and Tamirat Tola. Wearing a distinctive white cap, Galen Rupp (Portland, Oregon/USATF Oregon) covered the moves of the leaders well in the middle of the still-large lead group. Coming through 10km in 30:53, the pace had quickened after the first 5km and the major contenders were comfortably in place. Colin Mickow (Oswego, Illinois/USATF Illinois) went down hard at a drinks station and lost some ground, but quickly regained it. A gradual quickening of tempo still didn't drop many men from contention, but about 45 runners had moved away from the rest by the time they went through 15km in 45:53, a 15:00 third 5km segment. Mickow was near the back of the lead swarm in 34th and appeared to be feeling the effects of his earlier fall. Into Baker Park again, Brazil's Daniel Do Nascimento was leading and the 2:04:51 man was gesturing at the runners on his heels to help with the pace. The tall figure of Rupp loomed just behind as the pace ebbed and surged, with Kibet right beside him. Uganda's Fred Musobo and Jackson Kiprop were also in the top five with Bolivia's Hector Garibay Flores the putative leader at 18km. Shumi Dechasa of Bahrain made a notable move going past a drinks station and established a lead of more than 10 meters, picking up the tempo to 2:52 for the 19th kilometer, the fastest kilo of the race to that point. The pack started to stretch out with 25 runners gapping the rest and Dechasa came back to the rest. Kibet and Rupp looked very comfortable while Desisa, the defending champion, struggled and dropped slightly off the pace. At the half marathon mark there was still no one willing to break away, and the 20+ lead group went by in 64:08 with Musobo and Dechasa a step ahead of the rest. Barnabas Kiptum of Kenya and Gabriel Geay of Tanzania also looked good near the lead as Rupp eased to the front after 66:00. Slowing a bit through downtown Springfield again, Canada's Cam Levins and Abdi Nageeye of the Netherlands found themselves leading, and Kenya's Geoffrey Kamworor also lurked in their wake. At 24km there were still 33 runners within two seconds of the leaders. The fifth 5km segment was covered in 15:16, a marginal slowing of the pace, with a constant change of faces at the front of the pack. Entering the final loop in front of a large and noisy crowd, Dechasa was back to the lead and he went through 30km in 1:31:09, a 15:00 5km split. Rupp was still in the lead group, but Kibet was a few seconds behind the larger bunch and Mickow had fallen more than a minute off the rest. Through Baker Park for the final time, Rupp lost tempo and started to fall back with just over 30 minutes remaining. Sub-3:00 kilometers were taking their toll on much of the field and American medal hopes dimmed significantly. Kamworor led through 33km in 1:39:33 before Tola took over, and Rupp was more than 10 seconds adrift of them. Tola cranked up the pace and put a big gap between him and the chase group by 34km in 1:42:34, a 2:43 kilometer split. Kamworor, Belgium's Bashir Abdi and Ethiopia's Mosinet Geremew gamely tried to chase Tola and cut into his seven second lead, but to no avail, and Rupp was 18th, two spots ahead of Kibet. The lead for Tola grew to 17 seconds by 36km with four men remaining in contention for the lesser medals. Abdi and Geremew had the advantage over Kamworor and Levins by a few seconds, but Tola continued to pull away and increased his margin to more than 20 seconds over the next kilometer. Kamworor went back to the lead of the chase group that was 39 seconds behind Tola, and Levins joined him. That pair's superior track speed boded ill for Geremew and Abdi, but there was little chance they could catch up the three-block lead held by Tola. As they neared the final 3km of the race, a dramatic sprint for the podium was in the cards. Passing 39km in 1:56:37, Tola's lead had grown even more to 46 seconds. Rupp was holding onto a top-20 spot, a few places in front of Kibet, but Mickow was far behind. Abdi and Geremew demonstrated great strength to again overtake Kamworor and Levins, reducing the chances of losing a final sprint for silver and bronze to almost zero. Barring disaster, Abdi would win Belgium's first medal along with the two Ethiopians. Chasing a World Championships record of 2:06:54 that was set by Abel Kirui of Kenya at Berlin in 2009, Tola was well inside that pace approaching the final kilometer and he never let up on the gas, crossing the line in 2:05:36 to shatter the record. Geremew outkicked Abdi for silver in 2:06:44, with Abdi earning bronze in 2:06:48, as the first three men broke the previous Championships record. Rupp kept fighting and broke 2:10 with his 2:09:36 in 19th, the fastest ever by an American at the World Championships. Kibet ran a season best of 2:11:20 for 24th and Mickow clocked 2:16:37 for 46th.
Three heats, three wins, three advancers to the semifinal for Team USATF in the men's 400m. The world's fastest man in 2022, Michael Norman (Sherman Oaks, California/USATF Southern California) made up the stagger on Jamaica's Chris Taylor to his outside by the 200m mark, going through that in 22.05, and he maintained his lead through the finish to win heat two easily in 45.37. Long-striding Michael Cherry (Inglewood, California/USATF Southern California), the 2021 Diamond League champion, did just enough to win the third heat in 45.81, easing off after zipping through the first 200 in 21.84 and 300 in 33.16. Closing late as is his modus operandi, Champion Allison (Houston, Texas/USATF Florida) went past Isaac Makwala of Botswana down the final straight and won heat four in 45.56.
USATF champion Talitha Diggs (Saucon Valley, Pennsylvania/USATF Mid-Atlantic) led the fifth heat through 200m in 24.65 and ran controlled through the final half-lap to finish second in 51.54 and safely make the semifinal. Lynna Irby (Indianapolis, Indiana/USATF Indiana) was fourth at 200m in heat four in 24.82 before moving up a place and finishing third in 51.78 to automatically advance to the semifinal. Kendall Ellis (North Hollywood, California/USATF Southern California) was sixth in the first heat in 52.55 and did not advance. Click here to find out how to watch. A full list of results and schedule of events can be found here. Join the conversation with USATF on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook using the hashtag #JourneyToGold.