EUGENE, Oregon — Bringing an appreciative and noisy Hayward Field crowd to their feet with a superb gold in the women's 4x100m relay, Team USATF added a silver in the men's 4x100 and moved to 28 medals overall to tie the third-highest total in U.S. history at the World Athletics Championships. And there's still one more day to go. The American team also improved to 274 points to lead by 174 over the next highest nation, Ethiopia.
Many experts had already handed Team USATF the silver before the gun was fired, given the all-star quartet from Jamaica they faced. Experts were wrong. The youthful Americans executed almost flawless handoffs and ran away with gold in a world-leading 41.14, the fifth fastest time in history and .04 in front of the vaunted Jamaican squad that featured the gold, silver, and bronze medalists from the 100m. USATF 100m champion Melissa Jefferson (Georgetown, South Carolina/USATF South Carolina) made up the stagger on Spain to her outside before passing to Abby Steiner (Dublin, Ohio/USATF Kentucky). Steiner had by far the fastest split down the backstretch and then Jenna Prandini (Pflugerville, Texas/USATF Central California) rocketed around the final bend. Handing off with a lead to TeeTee Terry (Miami, Florida/USATF Florida), the U.S. was in good hands as Terry held off Jamaica's 200m champion, Shericka Jackson, to seal the eighth World Championships 4x100m relay title for Team USATF.
A superb opening leg was overshadowed by a shaky first exchange between Christian Coleman (Lexington, Kentucky/USATF Kentucky) and Noah Lyles (Clermont, Florida/USATF Potomac Valley), putting the U.S. in danger, but the second handoff between Lyles and Elijah Hall-Thompson (Houston, Texas/USATF Gulf) was picture perfect and that kept the American quartet in contention. Hall-Thompson and Marvin Bracy-Williams (Jacksonville, Florida/USATF Florida) had trouble with the final baton pass, giving Canada's Andre De Grasse all the room he needed to ease in front and hold off Bracy-Williams through the line. Canada won in a world-leading 37.48, with the U.S. taking silver in 37.55, a season best. Great Britain finished in the bronze medal position in 37.83.
No one was in much of a hurry over the first couple laps, with the pack looking more like it was on a recovery run than a championship race. Three Ethiopians soon went to the front, and Gudaf Tsegay led through 1km in 3:14.21. Olympic champion Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands was content in the back of the pack. Letesenbet Gidey of Ethiopia, the 10,000m champion, picked up the tempo as she assumed the lead, but she soon yielded to Tsegay and Caroline Kirui of Kazakhstan. Tsegay led at 2km in 6:07.56, with Karissa Schweizer (Urbandale, Iowa/USATF Oregon) and Elise Cranny (Beaverton, Oregon/USATF Oregon) in seventh and eighth, just over a second behind her, and Emily Infeld (University Heights, Ohio/USATF Oregon) another step back. With five laps remaining there were still 11 women in contention, covered by a couple seconds, with Tsegay passing 3km in 9:02.79. Infeld had dropped back into the chase pack, but Schweizer and Cranny were still hanging with the lead group, going through in 9:04. Gidey led at 4km in 12:00.69, a second ahead of Schweizer in seventh, and Cranny was battling to remain in touch. At the bell Hassan and Tsegay started to put the pedal down and had four other women for company. Off the final turn Tsegay started to pull away and came away with gold in 14:46.29. Beatrice Chebet of Kenya came through for silver in 14:46.75, with Dawit Seyaum of Ethiopia taking bronze in 14:47.36. Cranny had the best finish of the American trio, placing ninth in 14:59.99. Infeld was 14th in 15:29.03, but Schweizer was unable to finish after suffering a calf strain.
First jump, best jump was the order of the day for USATF champion Donald Scott (Ypsilanti, Michigan/USATF Michigan), who bounded out to 17.14m/56-2.75 in round one to finish sixth. Scott added a 17.04m/55-11 in the fifth round. Two-time World Championships silver medalist and two-time bronze medalist Will Claye (Buckeye, Arizona/USATF New York) was competing in his sixth straight World Championships and jumped his best of 16.54m/54-3.25 in round three, finishing 11th.
USATF runner-up Curtis Thompson (Florence, New Jersey/USATF New England) finished 11th with a 78.39m/257-2 on his only legal throw.
Putting the race away almost from the start, Elija Godwin (Athens, Georgia/USATF Georgia) gave the American foursome a big lead with a 44.46 lead leg, handing off to Vernon Norwood (Baton Rouge, Louisiana/USATF Southern) with a lead of almost a second. Norwood, an experienced championship relay runner, confidently split 44.73 to extend the lead and passed to Tokyo 4x400m relay gold medalist Bryce Deadmon (Arlington, Texas/USATF Gulf). Deadmon ran a 44.48 to give the U.S. a formidable lead before the final exchange with 400m hurdles bronze medalist Trevor Bassitt (Bluffton, Ohio/USATF Ohio). Bassitt, who in March was the World Indoors 400m silver medalist, finished off the 2:58.96 win with a 45.29 carry. It was the fastest time overall by more than two seconds.
Ensuring the baton made it safely around the track four times in heat one, the U.S. quartet won in 3:23.38, the fastest time overall. USATF 400m champion Talitha Diggs (Saucon Valley, Pennsylvania/USATF Mid-Atlantic) ran the opening leg in 51.01 and handed off to Allyson Felix (Los Angeles, California/USATF Southern California), who was recalled for relay duty after last weekend's mixed 4x400. Felix, using the experience she gained over 20+ years of international competition, split 50.61 and made the second exchange with her team in a solid lead. Maintaining that margin over the third circuit, Kaylin Whitney (Clermont, Florida/USATF Florida) clocked 51.01 on her carry and Jaide Stepter (Bellflower, California/USATF Southern California) brought it home for victory with a 50.75.
A superb first day that included a personal best in the shot put and several other near-lifetime best performances gave Zach Ziemek (Sun Prairie, Wisconsin/USATF Wisconsin) 4,469 points and put him in third place. Ziemek ran 10.57 in the 100m and then long jumped 7.70m/25-3.25. On his third attempt in the shot put, he launched his PB of 15.37m/50-5.25 on his final throw. After a 2.08m/6-9.75 clearance in the high jump, he polished off the day with a 49.56 season best in the 400m. Kyle Garland (Athens, Georgia/USATF Georgia) was 56 behind Ziemek after five events, sitting in fourth with 4,413. He clocked 10.69 in the 100m but dropped a chunk of points with his 7.41m/24-3.75 long jump and 15.24m/50-0 shot put, both well below his season bests. Clearing 2.14m/7-0.25 in the high jump revived Garland's medal hopes, but he then had a 49.64 400m, more than a half-second off the time he recorded at the USATF Championships. Turning in a set of solid efforts that included a 47.95 in the 400m, Steven Bastien (Ann Arbor, Michigan/USATF Michigan) was 13th with 4,212 points.
Half the U.S. contingent came to grief early in the heats, but the final two easily advanced with confident wins. World record holder Keni Harrison (Pflugerville, Texas/USATF Texas Southern) ran a very safe race in the final heat, edging ahead midway down the straight to win in 12.60 and move on to the semifinal. NCAA champion Alia Armstrong (New Orleans, Louisiana/USATF Southern) got to the first hurdle very quickly in heat five and was never challenged on her way to a 12.48 that was only .01 off her lifetime best. Running in the first heat, 2019 world champion Nia Ali (Jacksonville, Florida/USATF Florida) was leading through the eighth hurdle before clipping the next barrier with her trail leg and falling to the track after trying unsuccessfully to clear the final hurdle. Alaysha Johnson (Houston, Texas/USATF Florida) had difficulty getting to the first hurdle comfortably and then couldn't regain her rhythm, stopping before the second barrier and then finishing in 39.06.
USATF Indoors champion Quanesha Burks (Baton Rouge, Louisiana/USATF Southern) had the best jump overall, meeting the automatic advancement standard with a season best 6.86m/22-6.25 on her third and final attempt. Tiffany Flynn (Ellenwood, Georgia/USATF Georgia) went 6.73m/22-1 on her first jump and also qualified for the final. NCAA champion Jasmine Moore (Grand Prairie, Texas/USATF Southwestern) recorded her farthest leap of 6.60m/21-8 in round one but missed out on the final. 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.