USA Track and Field Championships 2023: Erriyon Knighton, Fred Kerley, Christian Coleman win their heats, advance to 200m semi-finals
Robert Gregory surprised the field and was the fastest across the four heats with a 20.00
Athletics
2019 100m world champion Christian Coleman clocked a 20.06, reigning 100m world champion Fred Kerley put up a 20.23 and Erriyon Knighton, the 2022 World 200m bronze medallist, ran a 20.33 Saturday (8 July) to win their respective men's 200m first round heats at the 2023 U.S. Track and Field Championships in Eugene, Oregon.
But it was Robert Gregory, racing in the final heat, who had the day's top time, a 20.00. Gregory has been peaking as of late, having set a career-best 19.89 last month.
Coleman, whose time was second overall, also finished second in Friday's (7 July) 100m final.
"Just execute, that's all it is, just try to execute the best race possible," said Coleman afterward. "The goal coming here was make the team in the 100, so we got that out of the way. Checked that off, now it's just have fun, relax and run."
The 200m semi-finals and finals are set for Sunday (9 July), the final day of competition in Oregon.
Kerley will compete for Team USA in the 100m but did not race it in Eugene, having secured automatic entry to the World Athletics Championships courtesy of his victory in last year’s global final.
Reigning 200m world champion Noah Lyles, like Kerley, is automatically qualified in the event for the Worlds. Last night, he also punched his ticket in the 100m after a third-place finish that comes amid a recovery from a COVID infection late last month.
How to watch the USA Track and Field Championships
The whole event will be streamed live on pay services USATF.TV and Peacock TV with the latter available in a number of European countries.
The main action at the USATF Championships will be screened live on CNBC for viewers in the U.S., with two-hour nightly broadcasts from Friday 7 July.