Hello again track and field fans! As opposed to the Olympic Trials, which stretch out over a week, athletes at USAs are packing their heats, finals, and attempted doubles into just four condensed days of racing. We can expect even more unexpected outcomes in already highly volatile events like the men’s and women’s 800m, but we did our best to make sense of the madness and lay out how to watch each race below. If you just can’t get enough track and field coverage, there’s plenty more where that came from:

- Each day before the meet begins, tune in to Good Morning Track and Field (presented by Bee Keeper Coffee), where Eric Jenkins and Aisha Praught-Leer give their takes on the action and happenings in Eugene. (Also available on the Off The Rails Podcast feed.)

- After each day at the track, tune in for CHAMPS CHATS—Chris Chavez, Eric, Aisha, Anderson Emerole, and Paul Hof-Mahoney will break down all of the results and offer up their analysis from each day’s competition. (Also available on the CITIUS MAG Podcast feed.)

- The CITIUS MAG Newsletter will be hitting your inbox daily with a recap of results and a round-up of the best content from the day.

- And for those in Eugene, we’ll be hosting two group runs with New Balance, Saturday and Sunday at 8 a.m. PT, meeting in front of Agate Alley on 1461 E. 19th Avenue. There will be coffee, treats, free “I Love Track and Field” t-shirts and the chance to try out the new FuelCell Rebel v5 and FuelCell SuperComp Elite v5. It’s going to be a great time!

Schedule + How To Watch

First Round: Thursday, July 31st at 6:54 p.m. ET (Watch it on USATF.TV)

Final: Saturday, August 2nd at 2:03 p.m. ET (Watch it on NBC, Peacock)

Last year's Olympic team: Nikki Hiltz, Emily MacKay, and Elle Purrier St. Pierre

Who has the World Championship qualifying standard or is in the World Rankings quota: The U.S. has eight women who have run under the World Championships standard of 4:01.50 and 12 women in the World Rankings quota.

Top Contenders: We won’t get a replay of last summer’s historically fast Olympic Trials race, spurred on by Elle Purrier St. Pierre’s bold front running. She led the first 1300m of the race and teed up a hard closing Nikki Hiltz to the meet record promised land. Purrier St. Pierre is sitting this one out, having recently given birth to her second child. But in her absence, we’ll get an equally compelling, just as competitive race—just in a different form.

Hiltz hasn’t lost a U.S. 1500m/mile title in their last five attempts, and between that exhibited level of consistency, and a notoriously well-timed closing kick, they come in as the favorite. But they’ll be tested every step of the way by Sinclaire Johnson, who bettered Hiltz’s old American mile record, going 4:16.32 at the London Diamond League meet. Like Hiltz, Johnson can both hang with a quick pace and close maniacally off a slow one. If these two are expected to finish first and second, the battle for the likely third-place-finisher will be much more open-ended.

Emily MacKay, Heather MacLean, and Helen Schlachtenhaufen have all run under 4:00 before, and are experienced championship racers who tend to set themselves up well tactically. MacKay and MacLean have both made U.S. 1500m squads before, but it would be a first for Schlachtenhaufen.

Dark Horses: BYU’s Riley Chamberlain is next fastest by PB (4:02.03), but is textbook dark horse material. She didn’t qualify for the NCAA final in June, but since then has gone on quite the tear—first taking almost five seconds off her 1500m PB in one race, then shaving off nearly two more. She’s anchored BYU’s DMR squads to multiple indoor titles, but has yet to deliver a solo championship performance at that level.

Chamberlain also won the 800m at Stumptown Twilight in 1:59.75, followed closely by Dani Jones in 2:00.19. Jones is another athlete with an outside shot at the team, finishing ninth in last year’s Olympic Trials and running a 4:00.64 PB last summer.

One Good Stat: The explosion of depth and talent in this event cannot be overstated—10 years ago, seven Americans in history had broken four minutes in the women’s 1500m. In the final at least year’s Olympic Trials, eight athletes did it in one race.

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