Hope everyone had a great 4th of July!
We finally had a meet in the US on the Diamond League schedule. This meet is dedicated to the late distance running legend Steve Prefontaine and it had almost everything a great track meet could offer. It had meet records, national records, big rival matchups, shocking upsets, and a labyrinth of streaming apps to navigate through to catch all of the action. The only thing missing was a world record. Let's get into some examples.
Women's 100m:
Big Names in the Race:
Melissa Jefferson-Wooden - Reigning world champion in the 100m and 200m.
Sha'Carri Richardson - 2023 world champion in the 100m, 2024 Olympic silver medalist in the open 100m, Olympic and World gold medalist in the 4x100m relay.
Adaejah Hodge - Collegiate record holder in the 100m and 200m.
Tina Clayton - 2025 World silver medalist in the 100m. Has a twin named Tia, so beware of typos.
Shericka Jackson - Second fastest woman in history for the 200m, 6th all time in the 100m. Has a decade worth of Olympic and world medals in the open 100m, open 200m, 4x100m and 4x400m relays.
Dina Asher-Smith - 2025 world finalist in the 100m and 200m; 3-time Olympic medalist in the 4x100m relay.
What's Happening: In a loaded final, Melissa Jefferson-Wooden outleans Sha'Carri Richardson in a photo finish with a time of 10.78. For reference, Sha'Carri ran 10.79.
Callout: Both Sha'Carri and Melissa appear to be in fantastic form at the same time. Like many photo finishes, the winner is not immediately clear at first glance. The lean made the difference in determining a winner between Melissa and Sha'Carri. Sha'Carri does not normally lean at the end of a race. In these situations, you want to look for the torso, either when watching it live or when looking at the snapshot image that the officials catch and display at the end.
Definitions: "Photo finish" refers to a result that was so close that officials had to use high-speed cameras and go frame-by-frame to figure out who won. They use something called a slit-video system, which essentially takes 1,000's of scans a second at the finish line and stitches together a snapshot of the finish line to determine who won down to the 1/1,000th of a second. It can get THAT close.
Men's 200m:
Where to Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0U9P5ek2O9g
Big Names in the Race:
Tate Taylor - high national record holder in the men's 200m
Letsile Tebogo - 2024 Olympic champion in the 200m
Courtney Lindsey - 2025 World gold medalist in the 4x100m relay
Bryan Levell - 2025 bronze medalist in the 200m
Zharnel Hughes - 2024 Olympic bronze medalist, 2022 World bronze, 2019 Doha world silver in the 4x100m relay; 2023 bronze medalist in the open 100m
What's Happening: In a headwind, Tate Taylor wins in a decisive victory, defeating Olympic champion Letsile Tebogo and setting a new high school national record with a time of 19.75.
Callout: Every detail of this race adds to how remarkable it is. Setting a high school record is noteworthy. Running a 19.75 is noteworthy. Defeating an Olympic Champion is noteworthy. Pulling all of that off in a headwind no less is even wilder. So, this is a major moment for Tate Taylor and should put his name in the sprinter conversation.
Let's also take note of the curves. Recall that the 200 starts on a stagger and Tate is in lane 3, that means that he can chase people down, but he has a harder curve to run through. Despite that, he looked smooth around the bend and he put himself in a position to breakaway from everyone else in the home stretch.
Tebogo also had phenomenal race execution. He stays upright, he rotates his hips instead of leaning into the curve, and he has a longer, gradual acceleration. His issue here is he just had too much ground to make up against Tate Taylor.
Definitions:
"Stagger" refers to a staggered start line. Since the outside lanes cover more distance due a larger radius, they shift the starting lines for each lane accordingly.
"Head wind" refers to opposing wind that hinders performance. You'll see it labelled with a (-)
Women's Mile:
Where to Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJPgKuG6teA
Big names in the race:
Nikki Hiltz - 2024 world silver medalist, 2026 world bronze medalist in the indoor 1500m; American record holder in the mile
Dorcus Ewoi - 2025 silver medalist in the 1500m
Faith Kipyegon - the only three-time Olympic champion in the 1500m; world record holder in the mile and the 1500m; also won a gold medal in the 1500m at the 2017, 2022, 2023 and 2025 World Championships and in 2023 in the 5000m
Jessica Hull - 2024 Olympic silver medalist and 2025 world bronze medalist in the 1500m
Emily Mackay - 2026 world silver medalist in the 3000m, 2024 world bronze medalist in the indoor 1500m
Georgia Hunter Bell - reigning world champion in the indoor 1500m, 2024 Olympic bronze medalist in the 1500m.
What's Happening: In a stacked field, Nikki Hiltz pulls off a big upset win with a time of 4:17.49. Faith Kipyegon receives her first defeat in the mile or 1500 in over 5 years.
Callout: The first thing to call out is how unusual it is for Faith Kipyegon to lose in this event. It hasn't happened in 5 years! Faith's usual style is to run from the front, keep up with a pacer, and gradually pull away from the field before the bell lap. Faith did go to the front, but you'll notice the pacer is all by themselves in the first two laps before dropping out and the pack stayed with Faith.
What is not unusual, however, is Nikki's ability to seize an opportunity and wind up properly for a good kick. Notice how over the last lap that they do not make any sudden movements or waste distance swinging wide. Rather, they gradually move into position, only taking the final shot in the last 60 meters.
This likely bodes well for Nikki!
Men's 800m:
Where to Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpdq6WKM0Vs
Big Names in the Race:
Brandon Miller - made the 2024 US Olympic team in the 800m
Cooper Lutkenhaus - reigning world indoor champion, 17 years old. We saw him win in Stockholm and in Oslo.
Donavan Brazier - 2019 World champion in the 800m
Bryce Hoppel - 2024 indoor world champion in the 800m
What's happening: Brandon Miller pulls off a come-from-behind victory to defeat Cooper Lutkenhaus in a time of 1:43.68.
Callout: First thing to note is that the field does not go with the pacer or wavelights. (It can be easy to forget in this era that 1:41 pace is very, very challenging). Cooper puts himself in a good position from the breakline behind the pacer, but the pace slows down and field bunches up a bit in the second lap, which allows Brandon Miller the ability to move up rapidly from 9th(!) to first and make a hard move in the last 200m. The progression from almost last to first is channeling the energy of legends like Robbie Andrews or Shane Cohen or Dave Wottle.
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.
Overall Thoughts
This meet was also a rare moment of vulnerability for some reigning world champions in the distance events, but the sprints are as intense as ever this season. It looks like we will have to keep the name "Tate Taylor" in the rotation of male sprinting contenders. That said, Melissa Jefferson-Wooden is in really good form and looks hard to beat!
What's Next
If you want to catch the next meet, it will be in Monaco on July 10th and you can stream it on FloTrack. If you want to follow along with more track and field observations or bad puns between now and then, you can follow me at @predamame on Twitter. See you then!
Hope everyone had a great 4th of July!
We finally had a meet in the US on the Diamond League schedule. This meet is dedicated to the late distance running legend Steve Prefontaine and it had almost everything a great track meet could offer. It had meet records, national records, big rival matchups, shocking upsets, and a labyrinth of streaming apps to navigate through to catch all of the action. The only thing missing was a world record. Let's get into some examples.