By David Melly
January 28, 2026
What kind of year are we in for? That’s the question on everyone’s minds heading into the season—athletes and fans alike.
After his 3000m at New Balance this past weekend, Graham Blanks voiced what we’ve all been thinking: “There’s no down year anymore. I’ll have down years for the rest of my life when I’m done running.”
Sure, there’s no outdoor World Championship and a few moms-to-be taking the year off competing, but everyone on the track on Saturday didn’t seem to be taking much down time. There’s still prize money to be earned, contract bonuses to be hit, national and international accolades to add to the shelf. But there isn’t a defining narrative of a season oriented at one overarching goal… and maybe that’s a good thing.
What else did we see this weekend? There was no lack of stars at the NBIGP, but some of them showed up in events that haven’t historically been their forte. Short sprinters Noah Lyles and Trayvon Bromell lined up against Jereem Richards for a 300m, which the 200m/400m specialist from Trinidad and Tobago won by 0.01 seconds over Lyles. Bromell didn’t exactly turn heads with his performance and vowed on social media afterwards never to race the distance again, but it was nevertheless fun to see him try. Lyles may be the American record holder in the event, but he hasn’t raced a 300m in eight years. And with no trifecta of 100m/200m/4x100m on offer at the end of the season, Lyles’s persistent threat to become a threat in the 400m may get a little more real this year.
Blanks, for his part, may become one of a few athletes to go for the World XC/World Indoor double just two months apart. You don’t see that much high-quality racing in the first three months of the calendar most years, and you definitely don’t see many serious 10ks in January. World heptathlon champion Anna Hall may similarly frontload her year, since she has the chance to claim another global gold in the indoor pentathlon but not her primary event(s). Her weekend consisted of a 400m/long jump double, neither of which is an unusual event for the human equivalent of a Swiss army knife, but the combo is a little out of place at a meet as high-profile as the Grand Prix.
If she does make it to the World Ultimate Champs, one option available to Anna would be the 400m hurdles, an event that isn’t on the heptathlon card but one she’s raced in the NCAA and on the Diamond League circuit. And the path to a big payday there is looking a little clearer than usual, because Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone will be otherwise occupied and reigning World champ Femke Bol has opted to focus, at least in the near term, on the 800m. The unusual setup of 2026 affords athletes like Bol the chance to give us a little more intrigue as we speculate about her middle-distance potential, instead of just mindlessly tuning in for another ten or so Diamond League victories that won’t be particularly close.
For others, the chance to try something new doesn’t necessarily mean a shift in events. Since last medaling in the 200m in 2022, Dina Asher-Smith has become something of a journeywoman across continents and training groups, and most recently she’s landed with Michael Ford and the Baylor crew in Waco, Texas. That seems to be a pretty good fit so far as Asher-Smith won the 60m at NBIGP in 7.08, her first race at the distance in three years. As Asher-Smith, who turned 30 last month, plots out the next (and potentially even final) phase of her career, this seems like a great time for a fresh start.
It’s not an Olympic year; it’s not a Worlds year. It’s not a down year though, either. 2026 is the year to try something new. Rather than thinking about the season as an ugly, boring barrier en route to the back half of the decade, it’s a season of potential, of exciting unknowns. The possibilities are endless.
David Melly
David began contributing to CITIUS in 2018, and quickly cemented himself as an integral part of the team thanks to his quick wit, hot takes, undying love for the sport and willingness to get yelled at online.
