The U.S. Outdoor Track and Field Championships are set to kick off tomorrow at Icahn Stadium. New York City, baby! Not Eugene! National titles on the line in the nation’s largest city! This is something everyone in the American track and field ecosystem has been clamoring for years!

And yet, the pre-meet hype feels a bit muted.

This is a weird year for professional track and field. Thus, we have a weird USAs. Instead of an Olympics or World Championship to build a season around, all some roads lead to the brand new World Ultimate Championships. Possible world ranking point accumulation aside, qualification for said Diamond League Final x Worlds hybrid ignores national championships.

Accordingly, athletes with byes into the WUC fields or who are confident their rankings will get them in can pass on a weekend in New York, relatively consequence free. That’s why fans who schlep over to Randall’s Island will not be treated to feats of strength/speed/endurance/springiness from the likes of Cole Hocker, Yared Nuguse, Brandon Miller (a late scratch), Masai Russell, Gabby Thomas, Rai Benjamin (another late scratch), Katie Moon, or Ja’Kobe Tharp.

Before you let your fan ire reach a critical mass and head to the comments section of these athletes’ profiles, consider: you make more money finishing first ($10,000 vs $8,800) at any Diamond League than at USAs, and you also make more money finishing fifth, sixth, or seventh. Plus, USAs offers nothing in the form of appearance fees, and for sprinters in particular, Icahn Stadium is not likely to produce times quite as fast as Hayward.

But rather than dwell on who is not on the start lists, here at the Lap Count, we choose to focus on the positives. And there are plenty. First off, stars like Sha’Carri Richardson, Melissa Jefferson-Wooden, Noah Lyles, Kenny Bednarek, Valarie Sion, Cooper Lutkenhaus, Quincy Hall, among plenty of others, are all slated to compete as of Tuesday evening. Any time you can watch big names like these do their things—especially inside a condensed, four-day schedule in a (comparatively) easy to reach stadium—that’s special.

But beyond that, the notable absences at USAs, in some ways, make for more interesting competitions. Neat things—athletically, to be clear—can happen in a power vacuum! Events are less predictable, rising talent has a chance to make a statement on a still-very-much major stage.

The men’s 1500m is perhaps the single event most obviously defined by who’s sitting it out—in addition to no Hocker or Nuguse, Jonah Koech has been M.I.A. all year, Ethan Strand has scratched, and Hobbs Kessler is opting for the 800m. But that simply leaves room for a scene veteran—competing during a historic period for U.S. men’s middle distance—like Vince Ciattei or Sam Prakel to take home a precious U.S. title or for a youngster like Nathan Green or Simeon Birnbaum to re-announce their presence on the pro stage. Plus, without known entities like Nuguse to keep things honest, or Hocker’s anxiety-inducing kick in the mix, even predicting how this one will pan out is a challenge. And that rocks!

Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone’s absence here has nothing to do with the World Ultimate Championships, at least not directly. She just gave birth to her daughter, and is understandably sitting things out. But in her absence, both the 400m and 400m hurdles suddenly feel wide open. As much as we love witnessing SML outclass world class athletes, we’re pretty stoked about the prospect of a late career Dalilah Muhammad U.S. title in her hometown, or an Aaliyah Butler win that establishes her as the unquestionable quarter-mile queen of the U.S.

In a race like the men’s 5000m, we’ve got our headliner in Grant Fisher, but no clear pecking order beyond that. Without Graham Blanks, Nico Young, or Parker Wolfe in the field, Fisher’s strategy feels more open ended. Does the double Olympic medalist simply run away from the field from the gun, flexing on a crew of young, scrappy, non-sub-13-PR guys? Does he trust he can cruise at a comfortable clip then close better than anybody else? It seems unlikely that anybody else will lead for much of the race—why would they? The men’s longer distance events at U.S. championships in recent years have deviated from the sit-and-kick affairs of yore, and become true races of attrition where three or four big dogs battle it out and let the pace and warm conditions take their tolls. Here, Fisher has the world’s largest target on his back and will likely be handed the keys to the race from the jump—how does he play it?

But it’s not just tactical intrigue or room for new champs that slightly watered down fields encourage. Superstars feel a bit more leeway to dabble in a secondary event, as Nikki Hiltz is doing in the 800m, and Davis-Woodhall is apparently attempting in the long jump and 100m hurdles. In both cases, a double victory at first thought feels impossible, but hey… stranger things have happened.

Hiltz is undoubtedly the class of American 1500m running at the moment, but given their strength relative to the nation’s 800m cohort and absolutely killer close and racing instincts, you never know. Plus, despite Addy Wiley and Roisin Willis having had very strong years up to now, there isn’t a clear insurmountable favorite in the field. Because Hiltz’s world ranking projects to comfortably slot them onto the World Ultimate starting line of the longer race, they can give this demanding double a shot.

As a high schooler, Davis-Woodhall posted the then-second fastest ever prep time in the event, and as a college senior she ran 12.75. Returning to the event for the first time since 2021, in her one outing over hurdles this season she ran a massive PB of 12.47. She’ll likely need to shave off another 0.2 seconds to be competitive—and potentially to even make the final—but given her talent and the rust she could conceivably bust through the rounds, who’s to say what her ceiling is this weekend?

No matter what, it’ll be fascinating to watch her alternate between lining up in the blocks and measuring her steps before getting the stands clapping. And even if everything goes horribly, horribly wrong, Davis-Woodhall still knows she’s still assured a turn on the runway in Budapest as the reigning World and Olympic champ. That degree of insurance makes risk-taking like what she’s set to do viable. (It’s a damn shame Ryan Crouser has shut down his season, because this is likely the best shot we’d ever get at witnessing the high school record holder dust off the discus.)

So go ahead and open up the usual browser tabs, ensure you’ve got access to the requisite streaming services, get the group chat fired up, and tune in to what may not be the most star-studded USAs in history, but what still promises to be a memorable one. We’ve got superstars stepping out of their comfort zones, soon-to-be household names hungry for their first U.S. title, and best of all, lots of favorite-less competitions in store.

For more of the top stories and analysis from the biggest stories in track and field from the past week, subscribe to The Lap Count newsletter for free. New edition every Wednesday morning at 6:00 a.m. ET.