INDIANAPOLIS -- Winning the men's 100 and 200 at the USATF U20 Championships, Tate Taylor (San Antonio, TX/USATF Texas Southern) earned recognition as the 23rd USATF Athlete of the Week award winner for 2026.
Two weeks after breaking the national high school record in the 200 with his 19.97 at the USATF Lone Star Grand Prix in College Station, Taylor dashed to a 10.15 with a healthy headwind to win the 100 at the U20 Championships in Eugene, and he added the 200 title the next day with a stunning 19.94 that bettered his 13-day-old prep record and moved him to No. 4 on the all-time world U20 performer list and No. 2 on the U.S. list.
Taylor, 18, ran the No. 2 all-time world U20 100 last year, a 9.92 clocking that was also better than the ratified American U20 record. His 2026 season best of 10.04 in the 100 came at the Seiko Golden Grand Prix in Tokyo in mid-May, where he finished as runner-up to Noah Lyles.
Other top performances from last week:
Noah Lyles set a world best for the 150 meters run on the curve, clocking 14.67 at the Ostrava Continental Tour Gold meet in Czechia to trim .25 off the previous WB.
Sha'Carri Richardson ran a U.S.-leading 10.77 in the women's 100 to win at the Star Athletics Sprint Series in Florida.
Zacchaeus Brocks of Detroit's Central Catholic High School broke the national high school record in the 110 hurdles, winning the USATF U20 gold in 12.98.
Le'Ezra Brown of Georgia bettered the American U20 record in the men's 110 hurdles in the second heat at the USATF U20 Championships with a 12.95 that took .09 off the record that was broken in the first heat by Ja'Shaun Lloyd of Texas State.
Mia Maxwell swept the women's 100 and 200 at the USATF U20 Championships in 11.08/22.49. Her 100 time set a meet record.
Jaslene Massey won the women's shot put and discus at the USATF U20 Championships, taking the discus gold at 60.27/197-9 to move to No. 2 on the all-time high school performer list. Jackson Ferguson won the U18 International Mountain Running World Cup boys’ race by eight seconds in Italy, clocking 20:14. Now in its 25th year, USATF’s Athlete of the Week program is designed to recognize outstanding performers at all levels of the sport. USATF names a new honoree each week when there are high-level competitions and features the athlete on USATF.org. Selections are based on top performances and results from the previous week.
2026 Winners: January 15, Jonathan Simms; January 22, Michelle Rohl; January 29, Josh Hoey; February 5, Roisin Willis; February 12, Jordan Geist; February 19, Cole Hocker; February 26, Cynthia McNamee; March 5, Chase Jackson; March 12, Lauren Harris; March 19, Garrett Kaalund; March 26, Cooper Lutkenhaus; April 2, Rudy Winkler; April 9, Max Thomas; April 16, Sam Mattis; April 23, Tahmar Upshaw; April 30, Kaitlin Bounds; May 7, Karissa Schweizer; May 14, Anna Cockrell; May 21, Tatyana McFadden; May 28, Masai Russell; June 4, Joe Kovacs; June 11, Gabby Thomas; June 25, Tate Taylor.
We welcome your nominations!
To nominate an athlete for USATF Athlete of the Week, please send a detailed email about their performance to communications@usatf.org.
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