The nice thing about the first two meets being in the same country for two consecutive weeks is we get to see a lot of the same athletes face off again. I like that because repeat competitors build context. Imagine watching a tv show and it's a brand new cast of characters every week. That's not uncommon with track, but that makes it tough to follow along!
Let's get into some events and see what happened this week.
Men's 100:
Big Names in the Race:
Gift Leotlela -Was fifth at Worlds in the 100m in 2025
Kenneth Bednarek - The bridesmaid of the men's 200m, gotten silver in two different Olympics and at a World Championship
Trayvon Bromell - Won a 60m world title in 2016 and two world bronze medals in 2015 and 2022 in the 100m. Been in the game a while
Akani Simbine - made the final at Worlds in the 100m in 2025
Letsile Tebogo - 2024 Olympic champion in the 200m dash
Christian Coleman - world record holder in the indoor 60m dash
What's Happening: After a bit of a rocky start, Omanyala breaks away from the field and wins with a clear lead, in contrast to the photo finish of last week.
Callout: One thing to watch out for in these 100m races are the different phases: acceleration, max velocity, and maintenance. Some athletes get out well out of the blocks. Others are better at holding on and that will look like they are pulling away. These elements could change or evolve over a season. You'll notice that Christian Coleman gets out well, but then fades in the last 30m. He's known for having a good start, for example. Travyon Bromell got out well, but seemed to stall out in the middle phase.
Definitions: "Acceleration phase" is the first part of the sprint, where the goal is getting out of the blocks and generating the power and upright position to get to max velocity. "Max velocity" is the absolute peak speed of a sprint and one can only hold it for a handful of seconds. "Maintenance" refers to the ability to slow down as little as possible. If I were a troll, I'd call the 100m an endurance event. I wouldn't do that, but a troll might.
Women's 100mH:
Big Names in the Race:
Masai Russell - now American record holder, 2024 Olympic gold medalist in the 100m hurdles
Tobi Amusan - 2022 World Championship gold medalist, World Record Holder in the 100m hurdles
Devynne Charlton - 2024, 2025, 2026 World Championship gold medalist in the 60m hurdles
Megan Simmonds - 2020 Olympic bronze medalist in the 100m hurdles
Ditaji Kambundji - reigning world champion in the 100m hurdles
Ackera Nugent - 2025 world championship bronze medalist in the 60m hurdles
Danielle Williams - 2015, 2023 world championship gold medalist in the 100m hurdles
What's Happening: This is the second time where many of the heavy hitters in this event are lining up and Masai Russell comes out with another win and a dominant performance.
Definitions: "World Lead" refers to the fastest time in the world so far in this season.
Callout: Note the pedigrees of many of the contenders. There are many championship titles spread out among this field. Historically, this race is much closer and unpredictable than this, but now we're seeing Russell consistently emerge on top. Last week, she hit a world lead. This time, she sets an American record. Charlton gets a really good start here in the beginning and this is expected behavior as she has multiple world titles in the 60m hurdles. Russell overtakes her right around the 9.0 second mark. Charlton being next to Russell very likely set Russell up for her record.
Men's 5000
Big names in the race:
Addisu Yihune - 2022 U20 bronze medalist in the 5000m
Mohamed Abdilaahi - German national record holder in the 10,000m
Eduardo Herrera - Mexican national record holder in the 5000m
Andreas Almgren - European record holder in the 5000m, World bronze medalist in the 10,000m
Timothy Cheruiyot - 2020 Olympic silver medalist, 2019 World Gold medalist in the 1500m
What's Happening: This is a loaded field of guys that competed against each other in the 3000 meters in Shanghai and they are aided by two pacers and wavelights. After the pacers drop out, a small lead pack separates and Addisu Yihune outkicks the field in the bell lap. He sets a world lead and meet record.
Definitions:
"Pacer" is an athlete paid to take the field out fast with the goal being the field can draft and run faster than they would otherwise. You'll sometimes see them invitational meets like this and usually it's helpful for athletes who are looking for qualifying times. They don't usually finish the race, they will drop out halfway or so and are found in the middle distance and distance events.
"Wavelight" refers to a pacing system where there is a series of lights set up on the curb of the track and usually move at prescribed speed. The idea is that it's mentally easier for athletes to just follow a light.
"World Lead" refers to the fastest time in the world so far in this season.
"Bell lap" is the last lap, signaled by a ringing of the bell.
"Kick" refers to a finishing sprint.
Callout: There are really 2 stages of this race: the setup and then the "real" race. There are pacers and wavelights, which set athletes up to cooperate and try to collectively run as fast as possible. You'll notice in the beginning, people file in single file behind the pacers and hug the rail. There aren't a whole lot of position changes at first. When pacers drop out after about 6 minutes, the "real" race starts and pacing gets more volatile. The splits that they show on the bottom right screen change quite a bit, particularly at the end when the leader a 60 and a 57 for the last two laps. They don't show the first pacer dropping out, which brings up a common frustration with distance events: they don't show the entire thing.
HS translation: This is like if a major invitational distance race had access to pacers and lights.
Women's 1500
Big names in the race:
Abbey Caldwell - reigning Australia national champion in the 800m.
Birke Haylom - 2022 U20 gold medalist in the 1500m
Emily Mackay - 2026 world silver medalist in the 3000m, 2024 world medalist in the 1500m
Dorcus Ewoi - 2025 world silver medalist in the 1500m
Jessica Hull - 2024 Olympic silver medalist, 2026 world indoor silver medalist in the 1500m
What's happening: Abbey Caldwell pulls off a major upset over huge lineup of star athletes. Haylom goes with the pacers and they separate from the rest of the field early on. The pacers drop out and Haylom runs alone for a lap. She is then caught by Caldwell in the bell lap and then outkicked in the final straightaway.
Definitions: "Kick" refers to a finishing sprint. "Bell lap" is the last lap, signaled by a ringing of the bell. U20 refers to a world championship that is specifically designated for athletes under 20 years of age.
Callouts: Haylom lost a good amount of steam in her pace in that third lap and that set Caldwell up to catch her. The 1500 is a bit of an odd event for tracking splits since they are starting on the straightaway, so you can track when they come through the first turn. Haylom came through in ~2:04 at the 800 and her third lap was ~65 seconds. Haylom struggled with running solo whereas Caldwell benefited from being in a pack.
In summary, things start to heat up and develop a little more, but we continue to see upsets over Olympic and world medalists. One thing we'll want to keep an eye out is who can match each other's performances. For example, Gift won the men's 100, but was defeated by Omanyala this week. Will we see the world and olympic medalists start to round form? Will we see a response to Masai Russell's recent dominance in the women's 100m hurdles? We will have to see in the next meet!
If you want to follow along with other things that I observe in track and field, you can follow me at @predamame on Twitter. Until then, see you next time.
The nice thing about the first two meets being in the same country for two consecutive weeks is we get to see a lot of the same athletes face off again. I like that because repeat competitors build context. Imagine watching a tv show and it's a brand new cast of characters every week. That's not uncommon with track, but that makes it tough to follow along!
Let's get into some events and see what happened this week.