The Athletes We're Watching at the U.S. National Meet |
 | | Sha'Carri Richardson won the 100-meter final at the U.S. national championship. She will be making her debut on the world championship stage in Budapest next month.Ashley Landis/Associated Press |
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The biggest American names in track and field have gathered in Eugene, Ore., once again to punch a ticket to the world championships. |
If it feels like you've read this sentence before, it's because you have. |
Delays from the coronavirus pandemic have meant that track and field athletes have had to stay at peak fitness for years. The 2021 Tokyo Olympics were followed by the 2022 world championships in Eugene. This year's world championships in Budapest will be followed by the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris and the 2025 world championships in Tokyo. |
The athletes can then rest in 2026. |
So which big names will return in their marquee events this year? What kind of upsets will send Olympians home, and new stars of the sport onto the global stage? |
We're following all of the races from Hayward Field. Here are some standout athletes and events we've seen in the first two days of the U.S. outdoor track and field championships. |
Women's 100-meters: Sha'Carri Richardson |
Sha'Carri Richardson made one thing clear in her first heat on Thursday: She would not simply "survive and advance." She would not be waiting until the final rounds of competition to show her fitness. |
In her first heat, Richardson clocked 10.71 seconds, the fastest time run in the world this year, and a personal best. |
She went on to win her semifinal round on Friday evening, and returned to the track shortly thereafter to win the 100-meters with a time of 10.82. |
Richardson broke the tape and ran some 50 meters further, barely able to pump the brakes as she turned her steely focus toward the stands, where row after row of spectators gave her a standing ovation while she scanned the crowd for her family. |
It was a world away from her previous performances on this track. She won the 100-meters at the U.S. Olympic trials in 2021 but missed the Olympics in 2021 because of a positive test result for marijuana. Richardson failed to make it to the world championships in the 100- and 200-meters in 2021. |
Now, she will debut at the world championship in Budapest and will be joined by Brittany Brown and Tamari Davis. |
After clinching her first national title, Richardson repeated a refrain that she has uttered after a series of successful races this spring. "I'm not back," she said. "I'm better." |
And she's not done. The 23-year-old will also try to qualify for the world championship event in the 200-meters. |
The preliminary events begin on Saturday at 8:09 p.m. Eastern. The semifinals are slated for Sunday at 8:45 p.m., and the finals will follow that evening at 10:10 p.m. on Peacock and CNBC. |
 | | Noah Lyles, a 200-meter specialist, reacting to his third-place finish in the 100-meters.Ashley Landis/Associated Press |
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Men's 100-meters: Noah Lyles |
The final of the men's 100 meters on Friday night was, in a word, eventful. Cravont Charleston, a relative unknown sponsored by the apparel brand Tracksmith, outclassed a decorated field to win in 9.95 seconds. Christian Coleman, the 2019 world champion, finished second. And Noah Lyles, a two-time world champion at 200 meters, recovered from a recent bout of Covid-19 to finish third. |
"Coming off being sick, I can't ask for more," Lyles said. |
There was one notable absence: Fred Kerley, who has a guaranteed spot in Budapest as the reigning world champion, did not compete. |
Lyles, one of track and field's most charismatic stars, said he became ill after racing at the New York Grand Prix on June 24. He was not cleared to race again until Sunday, and traveled to Oregon on Monday. His premeet workouts were not ideal, he said. He could only hope for the best. |
"To be honest, it's faith," Lyles said. "I cannot tell you how much faith it was." |
Trayvon Bromell, the bronze medalist in the event at last year's world championships, finished sixth and dropped out of contention. Afterward, he revealed that he was dealing with a foot injury that would require surgery. |
 | | Athing Mu, Cory McGee and Addy Wiley competing in the women's 1,500-meters during the U.S. championships in Eugene.Ashley Landis/Associated Press |
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Women's 1,500-Meters: Athing Mu |
With a guaranteed spot in Budapest in the 800-meters, Mu decided to try something new at the national championship level: the 1,500-meters. She has proved herself to be a versatile athlete as a member of the gold medal winning 4x400-meter team in Tokyo. So could her range extend to the 1,500-meters, too? |
In the first heat of the 1,500 meters on Thursday evening, questions were answered. Kind of. |
Mu set a personal best by six seconds, running 4:10.33 to qualify for Saturday's final. That time ranks her sixth out of the 12 runners who have advanced to the final round, a group that includes Sinclaire Johnson, last year's national champion, and Heather MacLean and Cory McGee, two of the three Americans who ran the 1,500-meters at the Tokyo Olympics. |
But will Mu run the final, set for 9:34 p.m.? "We'll see," she said. |
And if she were to make the 1,500-meter team, advancing to the world championship, would she race both the 800 and the 1,500 in Budapest? "Probably not," she said. |
But she left just enough room for curiosity. "Things could definitely change next year," she said, grinning. |
Men's 1,500-meters: Matthew Centrowitz |
Before one of the opening-round heats of the men's 1,500-meters on Thursday, the public address announcer at Hayward Field introduced Matthew Centrowitz to the crowd. The announcer gave an abridged list of his accomplishments that managed to dip all the way back to 2011, when Centrowitz won his first global medal — a bronze in the event at that year's world championships. It was no fluke, of course. He went on to win Olympic gold in 2016. |
Now, at 33, Centrowitz is most likely in the twilight of his celebrated career. About a year ago, he underwent knee surgery. But he is not done — not yet, anyway — and his methodical comeback continued on Thursday when he ran 3:37.36 to sneak into Saturday's 9:45 p.m. final as a time qualifier. |
That might have been the easy part. In the final, Centrowitz will go up against a deep field that includes Yared Nuguse, the freshly minted American record-holder; Hobbs Kessler, the former high school prodigy who has had a strong outdoor season; Sam Prakel, the reigning national indoor champion in both the 1,500- and the 3,000-meters; and John Gregorek and Josh Thompson, both seasoned pros. |
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