Sha'Carri Richardson, Noah Lyles and other things we learned from the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Eugene
Watch out, world.
If the U.S. Olympic Team Trials - track & field are any indication, Team USA is set for an historic showing at the coming Olympic Games Paris 2024 in athletics.
Sha'Carri Richardson, Noah Lyles and Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone all delivered under gargantuan pressure, with Lyles doing the sprint double - winning both the 100m and 200m finals to keep alive his promise of four golds at the Games.
It was a memorable 10 days at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, affably known as "Tracktown, USA" in U.S. track circles.
Fasttown, is more like it.
McLaughlin set the lone world record of the event, her 50.65 in the women's 400m hurdles putting an exclamation mark on the event... in actually the very last race of the final day. But plenty of world leads (best of the season) were set, too, including Richardson in the 100m, Lyles in the 200m and both Grant Holloway and Masai Russell in the 110 and 100m hurdles, respectively.
There were upsets, too, most notably reigning Olympic champion Athing Mu going down - literally - in the 800m final: Mu fell early in the race and was never able to recover.
What did 10 days in Eugene teach us for Paris? We discuss just that below.
*As National Olympic Committees have the exclusive authority for the representation of their respective countries at the Olympic Games, athletes' participation at the Paris Games depends on their NOC selecting them to represent their delegation at Paris 2024.
U.S. sprint teams shine, led by Lyles and Richardson
While it's Noah and Sha'Carri who are transitioning to first-name status with the American public, the sprint fields in Eugene were as deep as you can find anywhere in the world.
Richardson looked on track - literally - to make both the 100 and 200-metre teams, like Lyles, but appeared to run out of gas in the final of the women's 200, perhaps the toll of a two-discipline, 10-day event. Instead, Olympic bronze medallist Gabby Thomas clocked a world lead herself (in the semis; a 21.78) and will be joined by 29-year-old Brittany Brown and NCAA champion McKenzie Long, who recently lost her mother to a heart attack.
It was Kenny Bednarek who did go two-from-two in the sprints, however, finishing runner-up to Lyles in both events. Olympics medallists Fred Kerley (100m) and Erriyon Knighton (200m) will join those two in respective events.
Crouser shakes off injuries, leads field excellence
It felt unfathomable to think two-time and reigning Olympic champion, the world record holder in shot put, Ryan Crouser might miss out on Paris 2024 in front of his home fans, having grown up in nearby Boring, Oregon (The real name of his hometown).
Crouser had nerve damage in his elbow date back to last season that kept him out of competition for much of the spring, then a torn pectoral muscle left him cautious coming into his season opener - Trials.
But Crouser's efforts were the opposite of his Oregon origins: He needed just one throw to qualify for the final, where, he said, he re-calibrated his throwing approach and held off two-time world champion and Olympic silver medallist Joe Kovacs for the win.
Reigning world indoor long jump champion Tara Davis-Woodhall shook off two fouls on her opening two jumps to secure a spot in the final (she says she wasn't nervous) before she won the event on her fifth attempt.
Pole vault had its surprises, too: Fourth at Tokyo 2020 in 2021, KC Lightfoot failed to qualify for the men's final. Sam Kendricks would go on to win. In the women's event, reigning Olympic and world champion Katie Moon qualified, but was bested by Bridget Williams.
Fisher, St. Pierre, Kessler shine in thrilling distance events
While the sprint events often draw the headlines, there was no shortage of thrills - or thrilling finishes - in the distance events, including a just 0.02 seconds separating Elle St. Pierre and Elise Cranny in the women's 5000m on Day 4.
St. Pierre would return in the 1500m a few days later, where another tight finish - the top three were all within 0.66 seconds - saw the new mum third as Nikki Hiltz and Emily Mackay went one-two.
St. Pierre isn't the only distance runner to double at the Trials, as Grant Fisher not only qualified for Paris but won in both the 5000 and 10,000m.Cole Hocker tried to double in the 1500 (where he won on Day 4, too) and the 5000m, but fell short in the latter, finishing seventh.
Bryce Hoppel led a lightning-fast men's 800m, where training mate Hobbs Kessler - who had been third in the 1500 - was a surprise runner-up.
Athing Mu's fall a heartbreaking reality
Speaking of the 800m, reigning Olympic champion Athing Mu was making her season debut in the event after struggling with a hamstring injury for much of the season. Mu looked strong if not impressive through two rounds to get into the final, but it was there that she stumbled amid the pack at the 200-metre mark, effectively ending her bid to repeat in the event at Paris.
Her appeal was rejected. A reminder for how the sport can be both beautiful and brutal.
Rai Benjamin: 'She came out here and ripped the world record'
The race prior to McLaughlin-Levrone, reigning Olympic silver medallist Rai Benjamin set a world lead time in the men's 400m hurdles, clocking a 46.46 to secure his spot headed to Paris.
He was asked after his race if McLaughlin is 'the Simone Biles' of athletics.
"Sydney McLaughlin is Sydney McLaughlin. Sydney McLaughlin isn't Simone Biles," Benjamin retorted. "She's Sydney McLaughlin. And I think she carries her own weight and carries it well.
"I think people don't understand the enormous sacrifice and the enormous pressure that those women are under to perform well every single time she gets on the track... people are expecting her to break her world record, which is insane," he added.
Benjamin addressed McLaughlin-Levrone being criticised for not racing more, but reminded fans that every athlete has feelings... and that Sydney is no different. Regardless of her schedule.
"Look what happened: She didn't really race much this season, and she came out here and ripped the world record," he said. "Let her and [coach] Bobby Kersee do what they do... Let's see what they can do."
Muhammad, Morris, Taylor & the athlete journey
Twenty years after her debut at the U.S. Trials, three-time Olympian Lolo Jones reminded everyone that age is just a number, the 41-year-old saying she competed to show younger athletes it was possible.
Rio 2016 champion Dalilah Muhammad (400m hurdles) and Christian Taylor (triple jump) were open about this Trials being their last, even if they didn't make the team. Sandy Morris, the silver medallist in pole vault at Rio 2016, was a tough-to-take fourth place, missing the Paris squad. "You're at a high for so long and you're just looking for, like, 'What's that next thing that pushes you forward?'" Muhammad said of the next generationg coming up, having won gold in Rio and silver (behind McLaughlin) in Tokyo.
"It's been a really good career longevity wise," the 34-year-old said. "It's had its ups and downs, but I think, looking back over it... as a whole [it] has been nothing but positive."
When Muhammad won gold in Rio, McLaughlin-Levrone was just 16 years old - making her Olympic debut. Would she have guessed that Sydney would go on to such greatness?
Yes, actually, she said.
"She's been amazing the whole way through," Muhammad told a small group of reporters. "I still think she can go 49 [seconds]. I've said that before. She just ran a world record... and it's like we're not even shocked at this point. She's just an amazing talent; a generational talent, for sure."
McLaughlin-Levrone's 50.65 was the only world record of the 2024 U.S. Trials - in the very last race of it.
"It's ridiculous. I mean, the 400 hurdles... this event has gotten so crazy over the years. I'm so happy to see that," added Muhammad.