Belgrade, Serbia — Team USATF conquered the medal table at the 18th World Athletics Indoor Championships in Stark Arena, winning 19 medals, its second best total just behind the 23-medal haul in 2016 at Portland. The U.S. also dominated the team scoring, tallying 177 points for a 101-point margin over the next best nation.
A silver medalist at the last two World Indoor Championships, American indoor record holder Ajee’ Wilson (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania/USATF Mid-Atlantic) bided her time in the middle of the pack, following the quick early pace through 400m in 59.52. Coming toward the bell, Wilson hit the gas and sprinted to the front at 600m in 1:29.50, stretching her lead over the final circuit to come away with gold in a season best 1:59.09. That tied the No. 8 performance in U.S. indoor history and gave her a 1.45 second margin of victory.
World record holder Grant Holloway (Gainesville, Florida/USATF Florida) crowded the third hurdle in the final but was untouchable as he extended his unbeaten indoor streak with a 7.39 that gave him gold by .11. In his semi, he was a full stride ahead of the field from the first barrier and tied his own WR with a majestic 7.29. Jarret Eaton (Baltimore, Maryland/USATF Potomac Valley) added a bronze to the silver he took in 2018, clocking 7.53. He won his semi in 7.52. Aaron Mallett (Coralville, Missouri/USATF Iowa) was sixth in the final semi in 7.67 and did not advance.
Olympic silver medalist Chris Nilsen (Vermillion, South Dakota/USATF Dakotas) went over on his first attempts at the first four heights before he needed a second try to scale 5.90m/19-4.25. He was unsuccessful at 5.95m/19-6.25 and settled for bronze. KC Lightfoot (Lees Summit, Missouri/USATF Missouri Valley) cleared the first two heights on his first attempts but was unable to navigate 5.75m/18-10.25 and finished tied for tenth.
After an opening effort of 6.70m/21-11.75, Tiffany Flynn (Ellenwood, Georgia/USATF Georgia) improved to 6.78m/22-3 on her second attempt and that held up to place her fourth. Quanesha Burks (Baton Rouge, Louisiana/USATF Southern) had a 6.77m/22-2.5 first jump to take the early lead and came within one centimeter of that in the third round, but ended up fifth.
Jessica Beard (Ocoee, Florida/ USATF Florida) handled the lead-off duties in the qualifying round and turned in a 51.89 split to pass to Brittany Aveni (Durham, North Carolina/USATF North Carolina) .26 behind the Netherlands. Aveni’s 51.94 carry narrowed that gap to .09 before Natashia Jackson (Natchitoches, Louisiana/USATF Southern) put the quartet into the lead with a 53.10 split on the third leg. Lynna Irby (Indianapolis, Indiana/USATF Indiana) brought it home with a 51.89 anchor leg to stop the clock at 3:28.82 and win the first heat with the fastest time overall. Lead-off runner Na’Asha Robinson had the fourth-fastest split with a 53.12 and Jessica Beard’s 52.09 on second leg kept the team in that position. Brittany Aveni had to swing wide most of the third leg, running in lane two almost all the way, and handed off in second with a 52.46 split. Lynna Irby turned in a 50.96 anchor but couldn’t make a dent in the medalists and Team USATF placed fourth.
Sam Prakel (Seattle, Washington/USATF Pacific Northwest) ran a season best 3:38.40 to place ninth, while Joshua Thompson (Hillsboro, Oregon/USATF Oregon) was 12th in 3:44.48. In the morning session…
Keturah Orji (Atlanta, Georgia/USATF Georgia) put together one of the better series in American indoor history, surpassing 14m on all six of her attempts and finishing seventh with a season best 14.42m/47-3.75. That is the No. 9 all-time indoor performance by a U.S. jumper and would have beaten the AR just three years ago. Tori Franklin (New York, New York/USATF New York) was 13th with a best of 13.89m/45-7.
Dillon Maggard (Logan, Utah/USATF Pacific Northwest) ran a personal best 7:46.18 in the men’s 3,000m to finish ninth.
Darryl Sullivan (Farmington, Arkansas/USATF Tennessee) cleared 2.24m/7-4.25 on his third attempt and finished tenth.
Team USATF’s men’s 4x400 relay had Noah Williams (Hilton, New York/USATF New York) on the opening leg and he handed off in second after a 46.90 split. Donavan Brazier(Portland, Oregon/USATF Oregon), the American indoor record holder at 800m, split 46.95 on the second leg to pass to Amere Lattin (Houston, Texas/USATF Gulf) in the lead, and Lattin clocked 47.17 on his carry, giving the stick to Isaiah Harris (Lewiston, Maine/USATF Pacific Northwest) in second, just behind Belgium. Harris appeared to tweak a hamstring halfway through the first lap of his anchor leg but ran a gritty last 200m to finish the race in 3:09.11 with a 48.09 split. Despite finishing second in their heat, Team USATF didn’t advance.
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