The next time someone complains that track and field is boring, tell them about August 3, 2025.

Sunday’s epic conclusion to the 2025 USATF Outdoor Championships were so packed to the gills with drama that it extended beyond the start and finish lines. You want rivalries? Got ‘em. Records? check. Emotions? Certainly. Controversy? You bet.

After finishing a surprise third in the 1500m, the event that delivered an Olympic title, Cole Hocker found redemption in the 5000m, where he closed off a slow early pace in an astonishing 51.76 seconds to win his first U.S. title in the longer event. NCAA champion Roisin Willis won her first U.S. senior title in the 800m a few steps after national leader Addy Wiley got tripped up.

Two World champions weren’t even present for their event finals: Grant Holloway qualified for the 110m hurdles final but, for the third time in his career, leaned on his wild card entry to Worlds and skipped the last round of racing. Sha’Carri Richardson missed qualifying for the final of the 200m by 0.01 seconds, but her training partner Melissa Jefferson-Wooden added a second U.S. title to her resume with a personal-best 21.84 run.

Behind Jefferson-Wooden and runner-up Anavia Battle, who’s having a helluva season of her own, the last spot on the 200m team couldn’t have been tighter. The three women who represented Team USA at the Paris Olympics were all credited with a 22.20 finish, meaning the critical result came down to one thousandth of a second as Gabby Thomas (22.197) barely beat out Brittany Brown (22.198) and McKenzie Long (22.199).

And yet somehow, that wasn’t even the most dramatic 200m race of the day. In the men’s final, Noah Lyles defended his title over Kenny Bednarek in a world-leading 19.63 to Bednarek’s 19.67, but a little post-race shoving and strongly-worded jawing occurred in plain sight of the TV cameras and Hayward fans. It’s safe to say that Lyles and Bednarek are friendly rivals — except for the friendly part.

Two stalwarts of the American track and field community got back on top of the podium, as Sandi Morris won her first pole vault title since 2022 (but ninth overall) in a season’s best 4.83m and Dalilah Muhammad reclaimed her crown in a Sydney-less 400m hurdles. Muhammad has said that this will be her last professional season of competition, and she’s surely getting the most out of it, going out on top with her fifth national title 12 years after her first.

The lead changed hands four times in the latter half of the men’s shot put final before Josh Awotunde got a PB, World qualifying mark, and his first national title on his final throw. Speaking of firsts, Josette Andrews finally made her first U.S. team in her sixth-career 5000m final behind controversial winner Shelby Houlihan, making her first U.S. outdoor team since her four-year ban ended. And while it was far from a first, Valarie Allman still wowed the crowd with a 71.45m meet record, extending her incredible win streak to 27 straight competitions.

You rarely hear a packed stadium erupt in massive applause for the fourth round of the women’s discus, but that’s what makes this meet so special. Hayward Field is a cathedral to the track and field religion, and when athletes and fans make their annual pilgrimage to Eugene to worship at the altar of athletic excellence, the results never disappoint. This time around, the fans got even more than usual in return for their cheers: they got an entertainment product that felt as much like a soap opera as a sporting event.

Our last USAs reaction show was last night, and if you missed it, make sure you get caught up on all the hilarious Good Morning Track and Field fun with Eric and Aisha. Plus, check out the rest of our athlete interviews from USAs (final total: 129 reports from the mixed zone) and stay subscribed for more to come!

Race Of The Day: Men’s 800m

When Donavan Brazier won the 2019 World Championship in a then-American record at 22 years old, it felt like Team USA had just gotten its own David Rudisha. But like Rudisha, Brazier is the athletic equivalent of a Ferrari — finely tuned and perfectly designed for speed, but far more fragile than a Toyota Camry.

Injuries kept Brazier from reaching his true potential over the last several years, and when he failed to advance out of the first round of the 800m at the 2022 World Championships, it seemed possible that we’d never see him on the track again. After three years away from racing, however, he’s back and now better than ever, winning his third U.S. outdoor title in a personal best of 1:42.16.

Brazier got back on top with the help of a de facto rabbit job from rival Josh Hoey, who took the field out HARD through 400m in 49.34 in an attempt to drop the competition but instead burned the candle a little too brightly and ended up fourth for the second year in a row. Kicking past him were Brazier and three-time defending champ Bryce Hoppel, the now American record holder who had to settle for third but still made his sixth straight U.S. team.

Brazier getting back to his winning ways was a heartwarming comeback story but no huge surprise. The true shock came in the final 100 meters, when 16-year-old Cooper Lutkenhaus came out of nowhere to hawk down Hoppel, Hoey, and Brandon Miller with a ridiculous 12.48-second split to get a spot on the U.S. senior team. He’ll now be the youngest athlete ever to represent Team USA at a World championship, and in the process he broke the U18 world record and lowered his own high school record 3+ seconds to 1:42.27.

Yesterday, Lutkenhaus said that simply advancing out of the semis was his final. Today, he’s the fourth fastest American in history of any age and the 18th fastest 800m runner ever. He’s going to have the best possible answer when he goes back to high school for his junior year and gets asked what he did this summer.

Athletes Of The Day: Kenny Bednarek and Noah Lyles

Track and field is full of very lovely people who tend to get along great. It’s far more common in this sport for competitors to be one another’s biggest fans than sworn enemies. Just yesterday alone, training partners went 1-2 in both the women’s pole vault and the 400m hurdles. Maggie Ewen, USAs runner-up in the shot put, was a bridesmaid in winner Chase Jackson’s wedding. And the best part of Sha’Carri Richardson’s weekend was probably watching her teammate Melissa Jefferson-Wooden race from the mixed zone.

These stories are heartwarming, but they don’t often produce the kind of tension that sports rivarlies are built on. So whether you’re team Noah, team Kenny, or just hoping for Real Housewives-style fireworks, it’s inarguably good for the plot when the best athletes in the world don’t just want to beat each other; they don’t particularly care for one another.

Ultimately, the impetus behind the argy-bargy at the end of the 200m doesn’t really matter (although we unpacked some of the backstory in detail at the start of yesterday’s reaction show if you’re curious). What does matter is the intense energy of an authentic live-TV moment and the

It’s actually reminiscent of a similarly tense moment at the 2022 U.S. Championships with Erriyon Knighton — maybe there’s something about this event in particular. It could simply be that Team USA has never been harder to make — Americans swept the 200m in 2022 and won two medals in Tokyo, and Knighton, Lyles, and Bednarek are three of the five fastest Americans of all time, so the stakes are sky-high.

Rest assured, all eyes will be on these two sprint superstars when they line up in two events in Tokyo, as both are medal threats in the 100m as well, as well as the 4×100m, where they’ll potentially even be handing off a baton to one another. Talk about must-see TV.

Photo Of The Day

Sage Hurta-Klecker left it all on the track (literally) in the 800m final, but thankfully it paid off — she finally made her first U.S. team, finishing third just 0.04 seconds ahead of 2024 U.S. champ Nia Akins.

Social Moment Of The Day

Midway through his post-race interview, we got a fun moment of authenticity as Rai Benjamin watched the Lyles-Bednarek interaction live from the mixed zone.