Does USAs feel like it was a million years ago already?

Time moves quickly during track and field summers. They’re still mopping up two-week-old beer off the floors of the Wild Duck, but the sporting world outside Eugene has turned its eyes eastward, to Europe, or even started to look beyond the horizon and the International Date Line to Tokyo.

The six-ish weeks between national and World championships each year is a weird time to be a fan. In some ways, it’s a lot like this same exact period in time in Major League Baseball: the very best and the very worst teams have more or less solidified their fates, but a lot can still change in the middle of the pack. Fellow Angelino Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone is a lot like the Dodgers: untouchably good, and likely to stay that way no matter what happens, and it would be mean to call out any specific Colorado resident by name, but the track equivalent of the Rockies would be something like barely squeaking into USAs then flaming out in the first round.

Then there’s the in-betweeners, and now is a very fun time to keep an eye on them. Luis Grijalva’s two-month turnaround from 13:27 in June to 13:17 in July to 12:58.58 last weekend in Oordegem, Belgium, is a lot like the 2025 Red Sox—surprising everyone by salvaging an exceedingly mid start to the season with a huge playoff run. And we’re all hoping that Julien Alfred’s withdrawal from the next few Diamond Leagues isn’t a sign she’s headed the way of this year’s Yankees.

The two reigning World 100m champions may be the most intriguing athletes in the whole sport to follow this month. Sha’Carri Richardson ran season’s bests in the 100m and 200m at USAs, but she still isn’t back to her top form after picking up an unspecified injury in February and we’re not exactly sure what her racing plans are moving forward. At this point, the fact that she’s even entered in Silesia is a great sign—although she’ll have her work cut out for her with Melissa Jefferson-Wooden and the Clayton twins of Jamaica entered.

Noah Lyles, on the other hand, also had a quiet start to the year but seems determined to race his way back to the top. First, he silenced the doubters (and riled up a lot of conversation) in the 200m at USAs. You may have completely forgotten the race itself given everything that happened afterward, but Lyles did win his fifth U.S. title in the event in a world-leading 19.63, beating the guy who hadn’t lost an open race all season. And now he and Kenny Bednarek are matching back up, this time over 100m, just 13 days later in Silesia… in a race that ALSO features world leader Kishane Thompson and four of the top five finishers from USAs. Everyone in your office may be taking overlapping vacations this month, but these guys are all showing up to work like it’s the World final.

Speaking of racing into fitness, Silesia will also feature the long-awaited return of Olympic champion Keely Hodgkinson, albeit in a non-Diamond League event. Also on the pre-TV part of the program (ugh) is Olympic 110m hurdles champ Grant Holloway, who’s been very clearly not his usual dominant self. Despite skipping the final at USAs (which he’s done several times in the past while fully healthy), Holloway deserves a LOT of credit this year for his willingness to compete in the public eye at diminished capacity rather than disappearing from the circuit. And making her return to the DL circuit is Shericka Jackson, who’s only raced once (outside a relay) since the Jamaican championships. It’s not often that Jackson, the second fastest woman of all time over 200m, toes the start line ranked seventh by season’s best, but that’s the situation she finds herself in. Jackson is in a much better position than she was in her last DL, however, as she did clock a 10.88 100m in Kingston in between.

At the other end of the racing spectrum are Beatrice Chebet (running the 1500m) and Faith Kipyegon (running the 3000m). Chebet is the Olympic champion over 5000m and Kipyegon is the World champion, and these two running off-distances at the same meet feels less like baseball and more like boxers circling each other in the ring. Chebet is bound to shatter her 4:06.09 PB, but she has historically been seen as more of a strength-based runner, so if she handily dispatches Gudaf Tsegay here like she did at the Pre Classic, Kipyegon should be nervous. Kipyegon, on the other hand, will surely shave a huge chunk off her PB of 8:23.55, and everyone will be looking to see how close she gets to Chebet’s 8:11.56 world lead.

Last, but certainly not least, everyone’s favorite part of the post-USAs racing period: the revenge tour. The men’s 1500m in Silesia features three runners who are likely steamed after getting beaten up by a bunch of youngsters at USAs: Josh Hoey (fourth in the 800m), Hobbs Kessler (fourth in the 1500m), and Yared Nuguse (fifth in the 1500m). Don’t be surprised to see one or more of these guys channeling his rage into absolutely cooking the likes of Timothy Cheruiyot, Abel Kipsang, and Narve Nordas. But it won’t just be for bragging rights: while Hoey is more likely to pursue a Diamond League wild card to Tokyo in the 800m final, Nuguse and Kessler need the next few races to break their way to have a shot at competing in Zurich. Nuguse is currently tenth in the 1500m standings, and he should be good to go if he racks up a few more points for safety. But Kessler would need to both race and place well in Silesia and Brussels on August 22nd just to have a shot at making the final, so the stakes here are sky-high.

Regardless of whether you’re tracking your faves’ redemption arc or trying to size up their true medal potential, the stretch of racing between national championships and Worlds is anything but boring. Not everything can change at this point in the season, but a lot still can—but with the playoffs just around the corner, the opportunities to turn things around shrink with each passing day.

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