The track is HOT.

Okay, it’s actually quite pleasant by Eugene-in-June standards, with temperatures in the high 70s and a pleasant breeze that always seems to be a tailwind in Hayward Field. But the performances laid down last night in Day 8 of the Olympic Trials sure heated up the stadium — even in events where we’re not on finals yet.

For the first time in history, three men broke 13 seconds in the same 110m hurdles race as Grant Holloway picked up his second national title, made his second Olympic team, and clocked the fourth-fastest performance in history ahead of Freddie Crittenden and Daniel Roberts’s lifetime bests. Five men broke 20 seconds in the 200m semifinals led by Noah Lyles’s wind-aided 19.60, and another epic battle between Gabby Thomas and Sha’Carri Richardson is set up in the women’s 200m final.

While middle-distance rounds can sometimes get tactical, they sure didn’t tonight. It took 4:05.36 to make the final of the women’s 1500m, and the “heavy hitters” heat did not disappoint with Nikki Hiltz making a statement with a 4:01.40 win and five finishes at 4:02.14 or faster. The 1500m final will be absolutely stacked, and in the mixed zone competitors were suggesting that it may make times well under 4 minutes just to make the team.

In the men’s 800m, it’s clear that qualifying for the Games in the 1500m has lifted a weight off Hobbs Kessler’s shoulders, as he seems to be absolutely elated in each round of racing and led all semifinal qualifiers with a huge personal best of 1:43.71. Kessler skipped the 1:44s entirely as his PB heading into this weekend was 1:45.07.

It’s now officially the weekend and, bittersweetly, our final two days of action, so make sure you don’t miss any of these incredible competitions over the last few finals. If we’ve learned anything form the action we’ve seen so far, we’re in store for something very, very fast in multiple events.

What To Watch On Day 9

We’ll get some very short and very long distance action today, with the women’s 10,000m final sandwiched in between the women’s and men’s 200ms. Olympians Sha’Carri Richardson and Noah Lyles are back to try and make another team, and we’ll see Karissa Schweizer as well looking to make the team in her second event — but she’ll have to go through a fresh Weini Kelati first.

We’ll also get field finals in the women’s shot put, the men’s discus, and women’s long jump. If you like theatrics, definitely tune in to the long jump to watch the magnetic Tara Davis-Woodhall perform. And the hurdlers aren’t done entertaining us, as the second round of the 100m hurdles and 400m hurdles are both taking place in the program, featuring two Bobby Kersee disciples in Keni Harrison and Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone.

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

Race Of The Day: Men's 110m Hurdles

We’re used to watching greatness from Grant Holloway and his friends in the 110m hurdles, but you can never forget that the hurdles is a high-risk, high-reward event. Just ask Daniel Roberts, who fell at two global championships before finally getting a bronze medal last year in Budapest.

So when everything goes very, very right for multiple athletes, it’s a total treat to see. Holloway always separates from the field early — the world record holder at 60m hurdles is particularly strong in the first half of the race — but it was a bit unusual to see him not gain much ground on Freddie Crittenden to his left, who had a huge breakthrough race to clock the first sub-13 of his career and take second place in 12.93.

Holloway, for his part, got the job done and clocked the second sub-12.90 of his career, the fourth fastest performance in history. And Roberts, Mr. Reliable when it comes to making teams, made his fifth U.S. team in a row and second Olympic team in lifetime-best form.

You’ve gotta feel for guys like Cordell Tinch, the 9th-ranked hurdler in the world right now who ran a season’s best 13.03 and still finished fourth. If Tinch represented any other nation in the world, he’d be national champion. Instead, he’ll be watching the Olympics from home.

Athlete Of The Day: Gabby Thomas

After the USATF Grand Prix, Olympic bronze medalist Gabby Thomas took to Twitter because she felt she owed her fans an explanation. Coming off a 4th-place 11.42 100m and a 6th-place 22.68 200m, Thomas tweeted: “Obviously didn’t look like myself today, it happens every season when I compete in the middle of this training block, but I committed to the meet long ago, and I just can’t pull out when fans look forward to seeing us compete. I’m okay, everything is going according to plan.”

Fast forward to yesterday, when Thomas put the world on notice with a world-leading 21.78 in the semifinals of the Trials 200m looking easy and comfortable. It seemed like the time surprised even Thomas herself, based on her facial expression after seeing the result. The win in the final won’t come easy, as Sha’Carri Richardson also looked very comfortable equalling her lifetime best of 21.92 in an earlier heat, but Thomas is the Trials record holder, Olympic bronze medalist, and fourth-fastest woman in history for a reason.

It’s refreshing to have an athlete so forthcoming after a sub-par result in the midst of early-season racing, and even more refreshing to have athletes training heavy and not feeling their best and showing up to races anyways. If Thomas is an example of anything, it’s that you don’t have to crush every single race to have a successful season, and that fans appreciate honesty from their favorite stars above all else.

And given that the weekend is not yet over, it’s likely we’re not done finding out just how fast she can go when things are going well.

Photo Of The Day

Olympic silver medalist Raven Saunders showing off some seriously blingy nails (on their non-throwing hand, of course) before qualifying for the final of the shot put in a season’s-best 19.54m.

Social Moment To Remember

400m national champ Quincy Hall had a hilarious response to fans and observers who commented on his unorthodox running form.