{"id":254848,"date":"2026-07-27T09:00:37","date_gmt":"2026-07-27T09:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/27\/us-track-and-field-nationals-olympic-stars-and-hopefuls-deliver-at-la-2028-dress-rehearsal\/"},"modified":"2026-07-27T09:00:37","modified_gmt":"2026-07-27T09:00:37","slug":"us-track-and-field-nationals-olympic-stars-and-hopefuls-deliver-at-la-2028-dress-rehearsal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/27\/us-track-and-field-nationals-olympic-stars-and-hopefuls-deliver-at-la-2028-dress-rehearsal\/","title":{"rendered":"US track and field nationals: Olympic stars and hopefuls deliver at LA 2028 \u2018dress rehearsal\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

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I<\/span>n two years\u2019 time, tens of thousands of fans will pack into the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum \u2013 with tens of millions watching around the world \u2013 as the world\u2019s fastest and strongest athletes compete at the 2028 Olympics.<\/p>\n

But this vast audience ebbs and flows in the long years between Olympics. On the other side of the country, around 5,000 fans filed into New York\u2019s Icahn Stadium this weekend for the USA Track & Field national outdoor championships.<\/p>\n

After five consecutive years with either an Olympics or world championships, 2026 is the first without a major international outdoor track and field competition \u2013 lowering the stakes of this meet, without global qualification on the line.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was nothing to lose,\u201d Gabbi Jennings said after finishing second, behind Lexy Halladay-Lowry, in the women\u2019s steeplechase final on Saturday afternoon. \u201cBit of a dress rehearsal.\u201d<\/p>\n

More than a few stars did not make rehearsal. Absent Olympic champions included hurdler and sprinter Rai Benjamin; 1500m gold medalist Cole Hocker; 100m hurdles gold medalist Masai Russell; and sprinter Gabby Thomas.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know not everyone is doing it this year, for various reasons, but I value a national championship, and I want to compete at it,\u201d said Grant Fisher, Olympic bronze medalist in both the 5,000m and 10,000m at Paris 2024. \u201cAnd I think, you know, people deserve seeing good athletes and performances.\u201d<\/p>\n

For the fans and athletes who showed up in New York, the meet amounted to an early window into who Team USA could send out on to the track, and into the field, at their first Summer Games on home soil in three decades.<\/p>\n

\u201cHonestly, I never viewed this as an off year,\u201d said Nikki Hiltz, who this month ended Faith Kipyegon\u2019s five-year winning streak at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Oregon, where they won the women\u2019s mile.<\/p>\n

<\/svg><\/span>Nikki Hiltz crosses the finish line in the women\u2019s 1500m.<\/span> Photograph: Aviana Goode\/USATF<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Hiltz won the women\u2019s 1500m \u2013 their fourth straight national title \u2013 in 4min 6.92sec on Saturday, ahead of Addy Wiley and Emily Mackay, who stumbled over the line. On Sunday, Mackay won the women\u2019s 5,000m, and Wiley came second in the 800m, behind Nia Akins.<\/p>\n

Big names<\/h2>\n

Olympic gold and silver medalist Sha\u2019Carri Richardson stormed the women\u2019s 100m final to win in 10.77 seconds. Her training partner, Olympic gold and bronze medalist Melissa Jefferson-Wooden, steamed through the 200m final in 21.69 seconds.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m in a really good spot,\u201d said Jefferson-Wooden, telling reporters she had wanted to set a new personal best this weekend \u2013 but that she is \u201cabsolutely\u201d confident more will come. \u201cToday told me everything I need to know.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/svg><\/span>Noah Lyles dominated the men\u2019s 100m, but pulled up short in the 200m final.<\/span> Photograph: Aviana Goode\/USATF<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Noah Lyles, Olympic gold and two-time bronze medalist, equalled his lifetime best of 9.79 seconds in the men\u2019s 100m final, seeing off Olympian Ronnie Baker, two-time Olympic silver medalist Kenny Bednarek and former world champion Christian Coleman.<\/p>\n

But Lyles pulled up before finishing the 200m final. \u201cNot how I wanted that,\u201d said Garrett Kaalund, of the University of Southern California, who won in 20.04 seconds.<\/p>\n

After the race, Lyles blamed cramp in his hamstring, which he suggested was the result of his performance in the 100m. \u201cI wanted to push myself, to make sure that I knew what it felt like to try and get up the next day,\u201d he said. \u201cIf this happens at the Olympics, I need to be ready for it. This does show me what it takes to keep going, which, y\u2019know, kinda puts a perspective on how kinda great Bolt was<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/svg><\/span>Chase Jackson led the women\u2019s shotput at the USATF outdoor championships.<\/span> Photograph: Aviana Goode\/USATF<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In the field, Chase Jackson \u2013 who won the 2022 and 2023 world titles and came second in 2025 \u2013 won her 11th national title, clinching the women\u2019s shot put by more than a meter.<\/p>\n

Tara Davis-Woodhall, who won gold in Paris, initially prevailed in the women\u2019s long jump, only for her final attempt to be ruled a foul after review. She ended up in third place, a day after also coming third in the 100m hurdles. Olympic silver medalist Anna Cockrell won the women\u2019s 400m hurdles, her first national title.<\/p>\n

<\/svg><\/span>Tara Davis-Woodall competed in both the long jump and the 100m hurdles at the USATF outdoor championships.<\/span> Photograph: Aviana Goode\/USATF<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ones to watch<\/h2>\n

High school phenom Cooper Lutkenhaus<\/a>, 17, blazed through the men\u2019s 800m final in 1:43.48, winning by the biggest margin in a US men\u2019s outdoor 800m final since 2014 \u2013 ahead of Wes Ferguson and Hobbs Kessler, who ran a season\u2019s best. (Donavan Brazier, who staged a fairytale comeback in 2025 after years of injury woes, unexpectedly failed to qualify in the heats.)<\/p>\n

<\/figure>\n

\u201cWhen you run 1:42 at 16 years old, you\u2019re expecting that \u2026 there\u2019s going to be a lot of pressure,\u201d said Lutkenhaus, still holding the finishing tape. \u201cThere\u2019s people thinking you should run this, run that. I\u2019m not really focused on that. I\u2019m just focused on what I can do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two-time Olympian Woody Kincaid outkicked Fisher in the final stages of the men\u2019s 10,000m, winning by a second. \u201cWhen the race got slow, I was ready, ready for it to take off,\u201d said Kincaid. \u201cI\u2019m sure there were some doubters saying, \u2018He\u2019s 33,\u2019 but I didn\u2019t feel that when I finished the race.\u201d<\/p>\n

Olympic men\u2019s 400m champion Quincy Hall did not make it through the heats, setting the stage for one of the biggest upsets of the meet. Justin Robinson, an unsponsored athlete, was first across the line in the final, narrowly ahead of Chris Bailey, who won gold in the 4x400m relay at Paris 2024.<\/p>\n

Last year was \u201cpretty difficult\u201d, said Robinson, who had worked at Costco and a landscaping company to make ends meet. \u201cI\u2019m waking up at 2 o\u2019clock in the morning just to get to work and practice at 3 in the evening, and not getting home until sometimes 7, 8 at night.\u201d<\/p>\n

With a gold medal around his neck, Robinson expressed hope that a national title would help him land a sponsor. Within minutes, however, his victory was scratched from the record over a lane violation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, I get rules are rules,\u201d said Bailey, who took the 400m title following Robinson\u2019s disqualification. \u201cBut I don\u2019t agree with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m proud of him,\u201d Bailey added, of Robinson. \u201cThis is a guy who was beating me all throughout college, and y\u2019know, to see him finally making that transition, into the shape he was in college, is truly an honor to watch.\u201d<\/p>\n

The opening ceremony of the LA Olympics, scheduled for 14 July 2028, is less than two years away. \u201cI think about that almost every single day,\u201d laughed Wiley.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt comes up so quick,\u201d said Hiltz, who said they were trying to take things day by day. \u201cIn the back of my mind, like, it is this big looming thing \u2013 not in a bad way, but in a really, really exciting [way]: this is my main character moment. I want to see if I can medal on home turf.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In two years\u2019 time, tens of thousands of fans will pack into the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum \u2013 with tens of millions watching around the world \u2013 as the world\u2019s fastest and strongest athletes compete at the 2028 Olympics. But this vast audience ebbs and flows in the long years between Olympics. On the other […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":254849,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6802],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-254848","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-athetics"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254848","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=254848"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254848\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/254849"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=254848"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=254848"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=254848"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}