If you’re waking up fresh from an early night last night and only just now catching up on results from Day 4 of the U.S. Olympic Trials… make sure you’re sitting down when you keep reading.

Nothing seemed to go as expected. Favorites like Michael Norman and Yared Nuguse got beat in their specialty events. 15-time U.S. high jump champ Vashti Cunningham was denied a seven-peat — but still booked a spot on Team USA with a third place finish. Reigning World discus champ Lagi Tausaga-Collins didn’t advance to the final after fouling out in the qualifying round. And then… distaster struck in the final race of the evening, when reigning Olympic champ Athing Mu tumbled to the ground in the first lap of the 800m final and won’t have the chance to defend her title.

The surprises weren’t all bad. Hurdle maestro Grant Holloway started the day with an out-of-this-world performance in the first round of the 110m hurdles, clocking an incredible 12.92 — the fastest time in Hayward Field since Holloway’s 12.81 from last Trials. The 1500m finalists didn’t just break the meet record, they obliterated it, led by Cole Hocker’s 3:30.59. And at 33 years old, Chari Hawkins set a lifetime best of 6,456 points in the heptathlon to finish second and secure her first Olympic berth, both phenomena that don’t often happen to athletes that deep into their pro careers.

Probably the most predictable race of the evening was the 5000m final, where NCAA champ Parker Valby led veteran racers Elle St. Pierre, Elise Cranny, and Karissa Schweizer for 4km before St. Pierre took over and held off Cranny’s kick to win in a meet-record 14:40.34. Valby was rewarded for her rabbit work with a fourth-place finish and PB of 14:51.44, a critical half-second under the Olympic qualifying mark in case any of the women in front of her (who are all double-entered in later events) opt to contest only one.

The results-based, top-three format of the American trials system is many things: cruel, fair, occasionally random, and certainly dramatic. Dreams can be dashed in a second by a single misplaced step or a toe over the wrong line, but it always feels better (and makes for better television) to leave outcomes up to fate, rather than a selection committee.

What To Watch On Day 5 | Thursday

After a two-day break for athletes (and tired media members!) to rest and recover, the second half of the Olympic Trials gets underway on Thursday. There’s only two finals in the first session: the women’s discus, where Olympic champ Valarie Allman looks to keep her incredible 2024 going, and steeplechase, where the a whole host of contenders like Courtney Wayment or Val Constien could end up in the mix.

We also get another look at some of the stars from the first half of the meet: Elise Cranny and Elle St. Pierre in the 1500m prelims, Sha’Carri Richardson and the short sprinters in the 200m, and all three 10,000m Olympians in the 5000m. By the time Thursday comes around, you’re going to have a huge Trials-shaped hole in your heart and your days: but don’t worry, there’s plenty of activity around the corner.

Follow along with live results here and on the CITIUS MAG social channels.

Race Of The Day: Women's 5000m

In some ways, this race went comfortably according to form. The four fastest runners in the field by season’s best finished 1-2-3-4 in order and three Tokyo Olympians booked another trip to the Big Dance.

But that doesn’t mean it’s not epic to watch a bunch of the greatest U.S. distance runners do battle head-to-head. Elise Cranny is the defending champ and indoor American record holder; Elle St. Pierre is the Trials 1500m champ and World Indoor champion who’s seemingly only scratching the surface of her potential in the 5000m. St. Pierre is fearless about starting the drive to the finish line from multiple laps out; Cranny is famous for her lethal kick. If you played out this race 10 times, it feels highly likely that Cranny would win 5 and St. Pierre would win 5.

St. Pierre, Cranny, and Karissa Schweizer all ran under the previous meet record, and all three ran the respective second-fastest 5000ms of their careers. In what’s bound to be a brutally competitive Olympic event, with multiple current and former world record holders of 14:0x caliber, seeing all three American stars healthy, fit, and rounding into possibly the best form of their careers heading into Paris is exactly what it’ll take to contend with the world’s best.

Athlete Of The Day: Cole Hocker

For a guy who graduated high school in 2019, Cole Hocker sure hasn’t wasted time racking up some seriously impressive credentials in the first few years of his pro career.

Hocker, still only 23 years old, has made U.S. teams in 2021, 2023, and 2024, won two national titles outdoors and three indoors (not to mention four NCAA titles), and picked up his first global medal this past March with a silver in the indoor 1500m in Glasgow. He has personal bests of 1:45.63 for 800m, 3:30.59 for 1500m, 3:48.08 for 1 mile, and 12:58.82 for 5000m. And when he has gotten to championships healthy, he’s raced with fearlessness and tactical brilliance beyond his years, finishing 6th in Tokyo and 7th in Budapest.

It’s not like we don’t pay attention to Hocker — he’s got a big fan base, particularly in Eugene, Oregon, where he lived and trained until last year, and he’s been a near-constant fixture of the U.S. distance scene in the last four years. But when Yared Nuguse is running miles in 3:43, that can sometimes suck up all the air in the room.

Not this week, however. Hocker consistently looked among the best of the contenders in the first two rounds of racing and decisively kicked past the defending U.S. champ with 250 meters left in an already-fast race, reminding the world why he deserves to be in the medal conversation as much as any other American. When he heads to Paris, it may seem on paper like a many-way race for bronze behind Olympic champ Jakob Ingebrigtsen and World champ Josh Kerr, but with the way Hocker is racing these days, I wouldn’t rule out any spot on the podium quite so easily.

Photo Of The Day

An emotional Anna Hall qualifies for her first Olympic team and picks up her third U.S. title less than a year after knee surgery.

Social Moment To Remember

Yared’s flock of goose-headed fans was thrilled with his Olympic-qualifying performance, and he even signed a few himself.