Tom Jones Memorial 2024: Noah Lyles wins on outdoor season debut, Jacious Sears just outside Sha'Carri Richardson's NCAA 100m record
Noah Lyles made a winning start to his outdoor season, but only just, at the Tom Jones Memorial Invitational in Gainesville, Florida on Saturday (13 April).
The meet featured the cream of college athletics talent plus more established names taking part in Olympic Development (OD) races.
Running in the city of his birth, the 26-year-old - who completed a sprint treble at last year's World Championships in Budapest - edged out Olympic 200m silver medallist Kenny Bednarek to win the 100m in 10.01.
Both men were awarded the same time, but Lyles crossed the line five-thousandths of a second in front. Kyree King ran 10.02 in third with Japan's Abdul Hakim Sani Brown fourth in 10.04.
Jacious Sears showed she is a young sprinter to watch as she flew home in the collegiate 100m in a world lead 10.77, slicing nearly two-tenths off her previous personal best.
The 22-year-old senior at the University of Tennessee went second on the all-time NCAA list, just outside Sha'Carri Richardson's record of 10.75 from 2019.
Sears was also far quicker than anyone in the OD race which was won by World Championship relay gold medallist Tamari Davis in 10.94.
Sprint hurdles world record holder Tobi Amusan ran 11.26 to place 13th overall.
In Amusan's usual event, Nia Ali scorched to victory in a world lead time of 12.44. The 2019 world champion was one-hundredth of a second ahead of Tonea Marshall with Christina Clemons (12.51) in third. Ali later ran the flat 100m, clocking 11.21 to take ninth behind Davis.
Jamaica's reigning world champion Danielle Williams was fifth in 12.57. Veteran sprint hurdler and bobsledder Lolo Jones was fourth in the 'B' final in 13.11, the 41-year-old's best time since 2015.
Three-time world 110m hurdles champion Grant Holloway won his OD final with ease in 13.21 having clocked 13.10 in the heats.
Bryce Deadmon won the 400m in 45.20, beating Brazil's world champion hurdler Alison dos Santos in the first of five OD final heats.
Dos Santos clocked 45.25 but Britain’s reigning European champion Matthew Hudson-Smith, so often dogged by injury in the past, failed to finish the race. Erriyon Knighton did not start.
In the second heat, Matthew Boling - who was part of the USA's world record-breaking mixed relay quartet at last year's Budapest World Championships - ran 45.23 to take second place overall.
On Friday, Courtney Lindsey ran the fastest 200m in the world this year as he took victory in 19.88 ahead of Liberia's Joseph Fahnbulleh (20.06).
The women's OD race was won by Nigeria's Favour Ofili in 22.33, well inside the Olympic qualifying standard, in the 21-year-old former Louisiana State University athlete's first full season since turning professional.
Chris Robinson of the University of Alabama also set a world lead in the 400m hurdles. The 23-year-old, who won last year's NCAA title, broke 48 seconds for the first time as he won in 47.95.
