Before the sun rises, two Venezuelan sisters wake up, prepare their breakfast &ndash; bread with ham and cheese and pink sauce, a combination of ketchup and mayonnaise &ndash; then embark on an hour-long drive to the track.
The Brea sisters are the Venezuelan duo competing in the 5000m at the World Athletics Championships Oregon22. Joselyn Brea is the Ibero-American champion in the 5000m, and Edymar Brea is the South American champion over the same distance.
&ldquo;Being with my sister at the World Championships makes it more special,&rdquo; said Joselyn.
These sisters share the same passion: running.
Joselyn started running first at the age of 14, and two years later her sister joined her. Edymar says her sister was the person who influenced her to start running. 
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/62d8cd7adc11825820b88114.jpg" alt="Edymar and Joselyn Brea" />
Edymar and Joselyn Brea (&copy; Diana Ramos)
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 &ldquo;I just wanted to stay home watching telenovelas,&rdquo; said Edymar, who also was 14 when she started running.
Joselyn encouraged her sister to get up and come to practice with her. Now they are two of the four women representing Venezuela at the World Athletics Championships Oregon22. The Venezuelan delegation is composed entirely of women, led by Yulimar Rojas whose triple jump performances have put the South American country on radar.
&ldquo;I feel very happy to be one of the four Venezuelan women, warrior women, fighter women who are here defending our homeland, defending our colours,&rdquo; said Rojas, who just won her third outdoor world title.
&ldquo;I am happy to be able to wear this on my chest,&rdquo; said Rojas, pointing to the Venezuelan flag on her shirt. 
<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3RQvgHLZs2U" width="100%" height="475" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
 Dancing to the podium, Rojas received her gold medal and the Venezuelan national anthem was played, marking another historic performance for the country.
The four Venezuelan women in Oregon are making history for being one of the few women who have represented the country at the World Athletics Championships.
When the sisters compete together, they create an alliance.
&ldquo;She and I made one,&rdquo; Edymar said. &ldquo;We both run together against the other rivals.&rdquo;
During races, the sisters work together to achieve the best outcome. If one of them isn't feeling good during a race, one will go in front and protect the other one from the wind.
They support each other when dealing with injuries and training, and besides being rivals on the track, these sisters believe family is always first.
&ldquo;We will never stop being sisters, not even the biggest competition in the world will change it,&rdquo; Edymar said.
For sprint hurdler Yoveinny Mota, her family is the foundation of her sporting career.
She had a desire to run the 100m hurdles, but she didn't like it because she would fall. Mota&rsquo;s mother told her, &lsquo;you have to try so you can see what you are capable of doing&rsquo;. Now, Mota is the Venezuelan record-holder with a best of 12.87.
&ldquo;My mother is my motor,&rdquo; said Mota. &ldquo;If it wasn't for my mom, I wouldn't be here.&rdquo;
Mota has represented Venezuela on multiple occasions, including the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Belgrade, where she finished fifth in 8.05, having set a national indoor record of 7.99 in the semifinal. 
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/62d8cdaadc11825820b88117.jpg" alt="Cyrena Samba-Mayela and Yoveinny Mota at the World Athletics Indoor Championships Belgrade 22" />
Cyrena Samba-Mayela and Yoveinny Mota at the World Athletics Indoor Championships Belgrade 22 (&copy; Getty Images)
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 In her last competition before heading to Oregon, she competed at the Bolivarian Games in Valledupar, Colombia, taking the gold medal in a competition record of 13.07. It was also the first time her mother watched her competing at an international event, which made the moment even more special.
&ldquo;I was puffed up with pride,&rdquo; Mota said.
Mota says that there were many times where she wanted to give up, but her mother was there for her to push her forward. Mota studies at University of Arkansas, where she majors in psychology. Because of her academic and athletic careers, she doesn't get to see her family often, sometimes only once a year for a few days.
&ldquo;The biggest sacrifice for me is being away from my family,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;I feel like I miss the best moments like birthdays and Christmas.&rdquo;
The 22-year-old admires Allyson Felix because of her capacity to be a mother, wife and athlete, inspiring women around the world. Mota also admires Jasmine Camacho-Quinn because of her resilience as one of the Latinas who competes in 100m hurdles. She feels proud to be in a sport that embraces strong women.
&ldquo;Us women, nothing stops us,&rdquo; Mota said.
Besides Mota&rsquo;s successful sporting career, she has her feet on the ground. She wants to create a foundation to help the next generation of Venezuelan track and field athletes to fulfil their potential.
&ldquo;I would like to be remembered as an athlete who, despite the adversities that came her way in life, continued and did not give up,&rdquo; Mota said.
Diana Ramos for World Athletics

World Athletics Championships, Oregon 2022

Venezuelan delegation for the World Athletics Championships Oregon22 is composed entirely of women

Women leading the Venezuelan team in Oregon

At the beginning of 2022, few would have predicted that Spain's Mariano Garc&iacute;a would become world indoor 800m champion.&nbsp;&nbsp;
Only the most passionate athletics fans knew of the 24-year-old whose only appearance on a major stage came at the 2019 world championships where he was eliminated in the opening round. Disappointment followed in 2020 with the postponement of the Olympic Games and followed him the following year when he was struck with appendicitis just as the season was reaching its pinnacle and Olympic berths were at stake.&nbsp;
But that disappointment proved to be the first step to unexpected triumph in Belgrade in March.
&ldquo;It was hard to lose any chance of making the Spanish team for Tokyo but I managed to leave the disappointment behind me soon,&rdquo; Garcia said. &ldquo;And once I could resume training I focused in the following major championship, Belgrade."
Earlier in 2021, Garc&iacute;a has shown his indoor credentials by winning at the Madrid stop on the World Athletics Indoor Tour thanks to a 1:45.66 lifetime best. But he failed to reach the final at the European Indoor Championships in Torun.&nbsp;
"The 800 metres, especially indoors, is such a tactical affair that any minor mistake leaves you out of the following round,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;In Torun I missed the final by seven hundredths of a second and the athlete who preceded me, Poland's Patryk Dobek, then became European champion, so sometimes the line between success and failure is very thin."
<h2>Early season world lead sets the tone</h2>
 The Spaniard warned his rivals in his second outing of the 2022 indoor season with a commanding victory in Staten Island, clocking a world-leading 1:45:12 to clip 0.13 from Spain's 20-year-old national record.&nbsp;
"Honestly I didn't expect to run than fast at that early stage of the season but it's true that training was going really well."
Garc&iacute;a's performances were expected to be bettered in the lead-in to Belgrade but arrived but the Spaniard arrived in the Serbian capital as the world leader and ready to face the world&rsquo;s best.
"The fact of entering the world championships as the season's leader didn't add any pressure,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I felt great and full of optimism as I had finished either first or second in all my previous outings, That was a strong morale and confidence booster."
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/62362c3cca06d609d7fd5c5f.jpg" alt="" width="100%" />
Garcia advanced comfortably to the final, the first time as an eight-athlete race. The smaller field didn&rsquo;t faze him. "I think that's a positive decision; at longer events there are up to 12 finalists. It's true that we run much faster in the 800 metre event but at the same time we all are accustomed to compete against eight or ten rivals at any meeting so definitely it's a right measure."
<h2>Strong tactician</h2>
 The final included Canada's Marco Arop, a clear hint that the race would be fast, given his well-known front-running style. Arop fulfilled expectations, setting a lightning pace as he ripped through the opening 200m in 23.97 before reaching 400m in 50.34, a rhythm quick enough to threaten the current world record of 1:42:67. As he pace slowed on the third lap, Garcia followed his coach Gabi Lorente&rsquo;s advice to sit back and not panic if the race started fast. &ldquo;Stay back and don&rsquo;t panic &ndash; you&rsquo;ll be able to bounce back in the second half,&rdquo; he was told.
Arop led at the half with Sweden&rsquo;s Andreas Kramer close behind with Garcia moving on to his shoulder. Shortly afterwards, the Spaniard passed the Swede to reach the bell in second. Garc&iacute;a made his decisive move just before the final bend to easily leave Arop behind but he still had to hold off a stiff challenge from Kenyan teenager Noah Kibet who pushed Garc&iacute;a to the line, 1:46:20 and 1:46:28 their respective times.
Ironically, Garc&iacute;a became world champion barely three weeks after failing to capture the national title in Orense, an honour claimed by &Aacute;lvaro de Arriba after a blanket finish (1:49:26 vs 1:49:34). Both beat Adri&aacute;n Ben, the fifth place finisher at the Tokyo Olympics. De Arriba, the 2019 European indoor champion, was fourth in Belgrade, missing the podium by just 0.23. "The level in Spain over 800 metres is huge, there are no fewer than four or five athletes extremely even and any of us can take the national title at a given day.&rdquo;
<h2>His athletics roots? Running from a dog</h2>
 Many accomplished athletes kicked-off athletics at school or inspired in their childhood by top athletes. But Garc&iacute;a's way to take up running was different and definitely quite funny. "When I was a kid there was a dog in my village which wanted to bite me day after day so the only thing I could do was run away as fast as possible.&rdquo;
In contrast to most athletes who move up to longer distances over time, Garc&iacute;a first serious approach to competition came in the 3000m steeplechase.&nbsp;
"At first athletics was just a game for me and I found that event really exciting,&rdquo; Garcia said. &ldquo;I enjoyed the water jumps.&rdquo; He then moved down to the 1500m before finally settling on 800m.&nbsp;
"I had promised myself not to quit the steeplechase before breaking the nine-minute barrier. I did so then I began to feel more comfortable at the 1500 but the change to the 800 was a surprise even for me."
The 24-year-old has never competed at an individual 400m event, so moving an lower in an unlikely option. More likely is a move back up, given his familiarity with the 1500m and a 3:39.06 lifetime best achieved this year.
"Yes, I'm not sure exactly when I'll move up to the 1500m but in a matter of two, three or four years, I'll be focused on the longer event and I would also like to tackle the steeplechase again to find out how fast I can run."
<h2>Faster times to come</h2>
 Garcia was the only Belgrade finalist without a sub-1:45:00 to his name, unfinished business he hopes to complete soon.
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/62d80becf022de3b2b1a0f8f.jpg" alt="" width="100%" />
&ldquo;Being world indoor champion I don't mind not having performed under 1:45 as I consider titles much more important than times. But of course I hope to dip well under 1:45 soon."&nbsp; &nbsp;
Unlike many of the world's finest 800m specialists, Garc&iacute;a's usual training venue is not a high performance centre equipped with several tracks and a modern gym but the countryside and streets of Cuevas de Reyllo, his small village some 100 kilometres away from the coastal city of Murcia. Garc&iacute;a feels proud to remain loyal to his hometown despite the most luxurious place for training is a 300 metre triangular dirt track.&nbsp;
"I only go to the synthetic track twice a month to do the quality work as I feel very comfortable in my village. I prefer to be surrounded by my family and friends to having top-notch facilities."
Belgrade's was Garc&iacute;a's first medal on the international stage. His previous best finish was at the 2019 European Championships where he finished fourth &ndash; when still a starry-eyed runner.
&ldquo;It was my first international competition and I asked for an autograph from all my rivals over the three rounds. I used to watch many of them on TV when was younger so their signatures were a nice memory."
Garc&iacute;a has a trademark gesture he makes with his knee, arms and face in the presentation of the athletes, resembling a motorcycle.
&ldquo;At some cross country races early in my career I pretended to ride a motorcycle. Many people found it funny and now I can't stop doing that.&rdquo;
Success in Belgrade has left him confident about his prospects in Eugene.
"After Belgrade I have been focused on training well. It's true I haven't run faster than 1:46:04 so far this outdoor season but I managed that time at the Spanish championships in a tactical affair and I know I'm in better shape than this winter. So I'll be aiming for the final in Eugene and once there anything can happen."&nbsp;
Watch out then for Garc&iacute;a's motorcycle, which seems to fuel up when it really matters.
Emeterio Valiente for World Athletics

At the beginning of 2022, few would have predicted that Spain's Mariano García would become world indoor 800m champion.  

After Belgrade triumph, Garcia revving for success in Oregon 

He did what he could. Andriy Protsenko had no other choice. In a village in the Ukrainian countryside &ndash; the location of which he&rsquo;d rather not share &ndash; the high jumper tried to find some normality amid the horrific uncertainty of war.
His sole concern, while waiting in that home through February and March, was his family&rsquo;s safety, but with little else to do all day, he took refuge in his training routine, aware that if he could somehow keep up his fitness than maybe some way, somehow, he could win a medal at the World Athletics Championships Oregon22.
On 24 February, the day Russia launched a military invasion of Ukraine, Protsenko left his home city of Kherson along with his wife Katerina and two daughters, Sofia (5) and Polina (9 months).
At their new location, safe from harm, all possible sports facilities were inaccessible, which meant Protsenko had to improvise. He searched around for materials he could use to continue training, fashioning home-made hurdles out of materials in his yard, lifting weights by adding car tyres to a bar he found lying around.
He did plyometric exercises, drills and sprints in a local field.
&ldquo;There was no high jumping, but I found the possibility to run,&rdquo; he says through an interpreter. &ldquo;It was not so difficult to find something to create the equipment. The main thing was to find the motivation to train &ndash; but fortunately I could do it.&rdquo; 
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/62d7474de70d0f62745c4ef3.jpg" alt="Andriy Protsenko training" /></div>
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/62d7476de70d0f62745c4ef6.jpg" alt="Andriy Protsenko training" /></div>
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/62d74783e70d0f62745c4ef9.jpg" alt="Andriy Protsenko training" />
Andriy Protsenko training
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 In Eugene on Monday night, his hard work finally paid off, Protsenko earning bronze in the men&rsquo;s high jump final with a clearance of 2.33m &ndash; a seven-centimetre improvement on his season&rsquo;s best.
It was his seventh appearance at the championships &ndash; he competed at every edition since Berlin in 2009 &ndash; and his first final, his first medal; proof, on so many fronts, that persistence pays off.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m like a wine,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;The older, the better.&rdquo;
Protsenko was 13 when he first discovered high jumping, and it&rsquo;s safe to say he wasn&rsquo;t keen back then. He was running 300m races at the time when his coach, Zuiev Gennadii, told him he should give high jumping a go.
&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t know what it was and whether it was a good idea,&rdquo; he says.
But he clearly had a talent for it, and Gennaddii has nurtured that ability to this day. At the age of 19, Protsenko cleared 2.21m to win silver at the European U20 Championship and, at 20, he soared over 2.30m for the first time.
In 2014 he won silver at both the World Indoor Championships in Sopot and the European Championships in Zurich, and also cleared 2.40m, putting him joint-sixth on the world all-time list. At the 2016 Rio Olympics, he finished tied for fourth in the high jump, beaten to bronze on countback by teammate Bogdan Bondarenko after both cleared 2.33m.
His wait for that first medal at a major global outdoor championships was to go on but this, of all years, seemed an unlikely year to get it. When he left his home in February, he was only able to take one bag with him and with his home city since occupied by Russian forces, returning was never an option. 
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/62d747aae70d0f62745c4efc.jpg" alt="Andriy Protsenko in the high jump at the World Athletics Championships Oregon22" />
Andriy Protsenko in the high jump at the World Athletics Championships Oregon22 (&copy; Getty Images)
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 &ldquo;Everything is relative, but at first it was like a silence,&rdquo; he says of those first few weeks at the countryside village. &ldquo;That village was relatively safe but then Russian military (approached it) and we understood it&rsquo;s time (to leave).&rdquo;
He left on 13 April, going to the west of Ukraine until 22 April. &ldquo;When we changed city I could train maximum four times a week,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;But it was not the training athletes usually do.&rdquo;
He managed to then relocate to Portugal, and after that to Spain. &ldquo;These countries and their federations helped us so much,&rdquo; he says.
Protsenko&rsquo;s family is currently in France, being assisted by aid agencies, and after he is reunited with them later this week they will all move to Poland, where his coach is currently based with a group of Ukrainian athletes.
He can&rsquo;t wait to get back and show them his shiny piece of excess baggage.
Protsenko says &ldquo;there are no secrets&rdquo; to what he accomplished in Eugene &ndash; his achievement all the more impressive given he fought through heel pain in the final. &ldquo;I just gathered myself to show this result in the right moment.&rdquo;
He had some nervous moments at 2.27m, which he cleared on the third attempt, but he was perfect over 2.30m and 2.33m, before two failures at 2.35m and one at 2.37m. This time around, though, he was on the right side of the countback coin, edging Olympic champion Gianmarco Tamberi to bronze &ndash; both clearing a best of 2.33m.
Tamberi, who sported a Ukrainian flag on his shoulder alongside Protsenko&rsquo;s name during the World Indoors in Belgrade, was gracious in defeat. &ldquo;We appreciate it, really,&rdquo; Protsenko said of the support he received.
Mutaz Essa Barshim, the Qatari great who won his third world title with a world lead of 2.37m, also paid tribute to Protsenko&rsquo;s achievement.
&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a champion,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;He fought, despite everything he&rsquo;d been going through. He showed up and produced a performance. It wasn&rsquo;t easy for him but he&rsquo;s up here, a medallist &ndash; you&rsquo;ve got to give him that.&rdquo; 
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/62d747d6e70d0f62745c4eff.jpg" alt="Andriy Protsenko in the high jump at the World Athletics Championships Oregon22" />
Andriy Protsenko in the high jump at the World Athletics Championships Oregon22 (&copy; Getty Images)
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 Protsenko&rsquo;s sponsor, Adidas, has helped him out substantially in recent months, sending him what gear and shoes he needs as he continues his training at various locations, and with a world bronze in the bag, he&rsquo;s looking for more of the same at the European Championships in Munich next month and at the Wanda Diamond League final in Zurich in September.
But even now, he&rsquo;s living a life of great uncertainty.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a terrible situation,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m afraid it could be a long time (before it&rsquo;s possible to return home) but I ask the world to support Ukraine. Ukrainians are strong and we hold each other together. I will try to help Ukraine in every way I can.&rdquo;
He has done that this week through his performances, but given Protsenko&rsquo;s belief that he ages like a fine wine, surely an Olympic medal in 2024 is now in his plans?
Protsenko smiles, and he doesn&rsquo;t need an interpreter to answer that one: &ldquo;I hope.&rdquo;
Cathal Dennehy for World Athletics

This, of all years, seemed an unlikely year for Protsenko to earn his first medal at a global outdoor championships

Oregon high jump medal is a silver lining for Ukraine’s Protsenko

When Wyomia Tyus became the first runner to win back-to-back 100m Olympic titles, the historic feat passed relatively unnoticed in an era when female athletes &ndash; especially black women &ndash; received scant recognition.
Now, more than 50 years later, Tyus can only marvel at the spotlight being shone on the female stars of track and field, including the trio of Jamaican sprinters who are dominating the 100m as if it were their private domain.
Few people are more qualified to assess the advancement of female athletes than Tyus, one of the famed &lsquo;Tigerbelle&rsquo; runners who unexpectedly won gold in the 100m at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics at the age of 19 and successfully defended her title at the 1968 Mexico City Games.
Tyus is attending the World Athletics Championships Oregon22 and savouring the buzz and awareness surrounding female competitors in all events, not just the sprints. 
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/62d60fd0eb09ea8d73dbcf91.jpg" alt="US sprint legend Wyomia Tyus" />
US sprint legend Wyomia Tyus
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 &ldquo;It&rsquo;s such a big thing to be able to see so many people supporting and cheering for the women,&rdquo; the 76-year-old Tyus said on Tuesday (18), the dedicated &lsquo;Women in the Spotlight&rsquo; day of the championships with the schedule featuring predominantly women&rsquo;s events. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s overwhelming in a way. I&rsquo;m just so happy that the athletes of this day and time, especially the women, can get the recognition they deserve.&rdquo;
It wasn&rsquo;t that way when Tyus was competing. A sharecropper&rsquo;s daughter, she grew up on dairy farm in rural Georgia during the Jim Crow era. Overcoming discrimination, racism and other challenges, Tyus went on to win four Olympic medals (the two in the 100m, and gold and silver in the 4x100m) and set or equal the 100m world record four times.
Tyus was a member of the Tigerbelles, the group of black female runners coached by the legendary Ed Temple at Tennessee State University. From 1950 to 1994, Temple coached 40 black female Olympians who won 23 medals, including 13 gold. 
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/e3231dc9-6a44-4ad2-93c1-52eda842a99a.jpg" alt="Wyomia Tyus wins the 100m at the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo" />
Wyomia Tyus wins the 100m at the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo (&copy; Getty Images)
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 But Tyus competed at a time when female athletes, particularly black female athletes, received little acclaim or media attention. Even today, her record of being the first sprinter &ndash; man or woman &ndash; to win consecutive Olympic 100m titles is often overlooked.
&ldquo;I always felt that because we were black women, we never got the credit,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;We would go to a track and there would be maybe five people in the stands cheering for us. It was all family members. Now you have so many people watching and cheering. I see so many young people, girls and boys, really into it. But there&rsquo;s still more room for growth. Let&rsquo;s not get comfortable where we are.&rdquo;
Tyus was in the stands on Monday night when the Jamaican women &ndash; as widely expected &ndash; swept the medals in the 100m, with Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Shericka Jackson and Elaine Thompson-Herah going 1-2-3. It was Fraser-Pryce&rsquo;s fifth world title in the event.
&ldquo;What the Jamaican women are doing in the 100m is opening up a lot of people&rsquo;s minds to: &lsquo;Gosh, women are fast, women are good&rsquo;,&rdquo; Tyus said. &ldquo;They put on a show on and off the track, they are really selling the sport. They are about speed. They are showing we can do this.&rdquo;
Tyus admired the way Fraser-Pryce was able to separate from her Jamaican rivals in the final strides to win in a championship record of 10.67.
&ldquo;Just the way she pulled away at the end,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;They were even. I could see it. Right at the end she did that little burst and it was over. I don&rsquo;t think that&rsquo;s coaching. It&rsquo;s natural ability and desire.&rdquo; 
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/62d610edeb09ea8d73dbcf94.jpg" alt="Jamaica's Elaine Thompson-Herah, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Shericka Jackson in Oregon" />
Jamaica's Elaine Thompson-Herah, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Shericka Jackson in Oregon (&copy; Getty Images)
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 Tyus says the Jamaicans have changed the way the world sees the 100m event.
&ldquo;When people think of the 100m they always think of just men &ndash; now they can&rsquo;t,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;Every time they speak of 100m, they have to talk about women. And when they talk about back-to-back 100m, there are four women who have done it, all black women.&rdquo;
The others who have won consecutive Olympic titles are US great Gail Devers (1992/1996), Fraser-Pryce (2008/2012) and Thompson-Herah (2016/2020).
Tyus has words of encouragement for the US sprinters trying to keep up with the Jamaicans. Aleia Hobbs finished sixth in the 100m final in 10.92, while national champion Melissa Jefferson was eighth in 11.03.
&ldquo;They&rsquo;re good,&rdquo; Tyus said. &ldquo;They&rsquo;ve got some work to do &ndash; nothing wrong with that. I think when it comes to the 100m, they aren&rsquo;t the only ones who are behind.&rdquo;
A founding member of the Women&rsquo;s Sports Foundation, Tyus published a memoir in 2018, &lsquo;Tigerbelle: The Wyomia Tyus Story,&rsquo; co-authored with Elizabeth Terzakis. She lives in Los Angeles with husband Duane and has five grandchildren.
When Tyus returns to her hometown in Griffin, Georgia, she makes sure to visit Wyomia Tyus Olympic Park. The 164-acre park opened in 1999 and features soccer and baseball fields, pickle ball courts, a fishing pond, picnic areas and nature trails.
&ldquo;I go there all the time,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;I have a friend who says, &lsquo;Listen to you. You&rsquo;re always saying your park.&rsquo; I say, &lsquo;That&rsquo;s my name! It has to be my park.&rsquo; Just for that to have happened in my hometown, in the south, there can&rsquo;t be a better honour or legacy.&rdquo;
Steve Wilson for World Athletics

When Wyomia Tyus became the first runner to win back-to-back 100m Olympic titles, the historic feat passed relatively unnoticed

Two-time Olympic 100m champion Tyus hails higher profile of women in athletics

Eighteen-year-old Noah Kibet will be attempting an ambitious and fairly unusual double over the next few weeks. On Wednesday (20) he&rsquo;ll toe the line in the opening round of the 800m at the World Athletics Championships Oregon22 and 15 days later, on 4 August, he&rsquo;ll do the same at the World Athletics U20 Championships Cali22 which kick off two weeks from today in Cali, Colombia.
He&rsquo;s grateful and delighted for the opportunity.
&ldquo;When I am training, I don&rsquo;t say this training is for a junior event and this one is for a senior event,&rdquo; Kibet said. &ldquo;I train to be able to run against the best in the world; be it a senior or junior.&rdquo;
Kibet has proven that he is a medal contender at both levels, having won bronze at the World U20 Championships in Nairobi last year and silver medal at the World Indoor Championships in Belgrade in March.
Kibet, who was surprised to beat his idol Nijel Amos at the Golden Spike in Ostrava earlier this season, is excited about the prospect of running against some of the world&rsquo;s best senior runners in Oregon and is optimistic that the formidable Kenyan team in the men&rsquo;s 800m event will do very well.
&ldquo;World Championships is not something small,&rdquo; Kibet said. &ldquo;It needs great preparations. I believe I have done my best in training, but I know my competitors have done so, too. I was not in my best form during the national trials but the experience there, where I had led up to the last 150 metres before being overtaken, gave me and my coach an idea of where to work on in my preparations to be able to do well in Oregon.&rdquo;
Another thing that will be giving Kibet an extra push is his belief that he owes it to the selectors who named him to the Kenyan squad despite not finishing in the top-two at the national trials &ndash; and also to his fellow runners who turned up and gave their best at the trials.
&ldquo;It came as a surprise to me to learn that I had been included in the team after failing to finish in the first two automatic qualifying positions,&rdquo; said Kibet, the winner at this year&rsquo;s Wanda Diamond League opener in Doha. &ldquo;It was later after the trials had been done and a different provisional team had at first been named, that I received the good news that my name had eventually been added to the team.&rdquo;
Kibet did not compete at the U20 national trials a week later since he was already included in the team to Oregon and had been informed by officials that if the runners there would run good times, then he should just concentrate on Oregon and let new talents go to Cali. However, he ended up being added to the junior team as well.
In Cali he will be competing alongside his cousin Brian Kiptum, winner at the U20 trials. The two train together in Iten and also while at home in Endebess, Trans-Zoia County, whenever they break from their training camp in Iten.
&ldquo;Kiptum is a very strong runner. He at times gives me strong challenges during our training. I think we stand a good chance to win the top two medals for Kenya in Cali,&rdquo; Kibet said, adding that in the absence of Emmanuel Wanyonyi, the defending world U20 champion, and Algeria&rsquo;s Mohamed Ali Gouaned, who won silver in Nairobi, he sees a better chance for him and his cousin to sweep the top two spots. He says, however, that the junior ranks at times produce surprises from other emerging and little-known talents.
Kibet first realised his running talent at Kietkei primary school in Chepchoina where he represented his school up to the regional level. He would have proceeded to the nationals had it not been for the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic that closed schools nationwide.
&ldquo;At that time, I used to train alone at home. I would just run hard for about two kilometres. On some days, I would do some hill sprints once or twice a day. I was not following any training program.&rdquo;
Proper training, he said, began after he attended an Athletics Kenya competition in his county where his talent was discovered. His performance there earned him a trip to a training camp in Chewoiyet.
&ldquo;There, I started training in a team of young runners that included Jacob Krop, who is also on the national team to Oregon in the 5000m, and under a coach for the first time. There, I got enough experience on how to train and race well.&rdquo;
He then joined the Elite Sports Marketing and Management group, and began to train in Iten. He continued to improve and met his new coach who has already guided him to a pair of global medals.
&ldquo;Coach Geoffrey Rutto is a great coach who listens and understands,&rdquo; Kibet said. &ldquo;It is hard to get to a new place and find someone who understands you very well, but Coach Rutto does. He gives me enough recovery when I need it. When I tell him how I feel when I am not feeling well, he doesn&rsquo;t force me to train.&rdquo;
Rutto says that Kibet&rsquo;s good character traits have enabled him to mature into a world-class runner.
&ldquo;Kibet is focused on his running career, knows exactly what he wants and what is good for him,&rdquo; Rutto said. &ldquo;He is also careful in choosing the right company of friends while in Iten. I have never had any problems with him.&rdquo;
&ldquo;He didn&rsquo;t make good calculations during the Oregon trials, but we have talked with the national team to rectify a few things. We should expect some good results from him in Oregon.&rdquo;
Justin Lagat for World Athletics

Eighteen-year-old Noah Kibet will be attempting an ambitious and fairly unusual double over the next few weeks. On Wednesday (20) he’ll toe the line in the opening round of the 800m at the World Athletics Championships Oregon22 and 15 days later, on 4 August, he’ll do the same at the World Athletics U20 Championships Cali22 which kick off two weeks from today in Cali, Colombia.

Kibet’s summer double: first Oregon, then Cali

Kristjan Ceh has ambitions of becoming a chicken farmer. But first, there are global discus medals to be won.
The 23-year-old goes into the World Athletics Championships Oregon22 as one of the leading contenders in a highly-anticipated throws clash at Hayward Field.
While he has honed his craft most recently under the guidance of coach Gerd Kanter, Estonia&rsquo;s 2007 world and 2008 Olympic champion, it is the hours spent working on his family&rsquo;s farm in Slovenia that helped to develop the base strength that Ceh now uses so powerfully in the throwing circle. It helped to propel him to fifth place at his debut Olympic Games in Tokyo last year and he returns to the global stage in Oregon as the No.2 discus thrower this year, behind Sweden&rsquo;s Olympic and defending world champion Daniel Stahl.
&ldquo;We have a farm at home, so I worked on the farm and I had the strength already,&rdquo; explains Ceh, who is now studying agriculture at the University of Maribor.
&ldquo;When I was in grammar school, one teacher brought a shot and suggested trying it. I was throwing far so he signed me up for a competition and a coach saw me there and asked if I would join. I started in the shot put but quickly changed to the discus because I liked it more.
&ldquo;My power evolved in training,&rdquo; adds the two-time European U23 champion. &ldquo;Because when I came to training I had a natural power, but I couldn&rsquo;t do one push up!&rdquo; 
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 Things have changed significantly since then. Now standing 2.06m (6ft 9in) tall, Ceh teamed up with Kanter last October and building on his breakthrough 2021, which saw him throw 70.35m and make his mark against some of the world&rsquo;s top throwers, he has since improved to 71.27m &ndash; a Wanda Diamond League record that he achieved in Birmingham to move to 10th on the world all-time list and improve his own Slovenian record.
The first of his European U23 gold medals was won in 2019, the same year he made his World Athletics Championships debut in Doha, and he retained his title in Tallinn two years later.
&ldquo;I mostly train in Estonia, not so much in Slovenia anymore,&rdquo; Ceh explains. &ldquo;So, I totally changed everything &ndash; the coach, the programme, the location. Everything.
&ldquo;Usually, when athletes make such big changes, they sometimes take a step backwards. But we have moved forwards, which is really good. We are doing good work.
&ldquo;Before it was hard, hard, hard work, and I think if I would have continued that I would have an injury now. We changed that, now it&rsquo;s more calculated. We also changed my technique at the start, making a big change to be more static so it is a little easier than what I did before. I think it has worked, for now!&rdquo; 
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 His performances confirm that is the case. It was at the European Throwing Cup in Portugal in March that Ceh defeated Stahl for the first time and he followed up with wins in Birmingham, Rabat and Rome. But Stahl again showed his strength at the Swedish Team Championships in Uppsala in June, bettering Ceh&rsquo;s world lead with 71.47m &ndash; his second-farthest ever throw behind the 71.86m national record he set in Bottnaryd in June 2019. That came three months before the Swede won the world title in Doha and he went on to claim the Olympic crown in Tokyo.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a different feeling,&rdquo; Ceh says, trying to describe the emotion of beating some of the athletes he has been inspired by. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a special one, of course, when you do it the first time, but it&rsquo;s also a bit weird.
&ldquo;When I competed with those guys, the first competition I was so scared of them, I felt like I didn&rsquo;t know how to throw any more! But now it is fun, we have fun together, good competition. It&rsquo;s good.&rdquo;
As the saying goes, success breeds success. It is the first time since 2008 that two men have thrown beyond 71 metres in the same season, and another three athletes have surpassed the 69-metre barrier. One of those is 19-year-old Mykolas Alekna, Lithuania&rsquo;s world U20 champion in Nairobi last year. Like Ceh, another star is on the rise, but the Slovenian remains focused on his own development.
&ldquo;We are peaking for the World Championships,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I want to perform there as best as we can, then a month later we have the European Championships, so two big competitions in such close time.&rdquo;
But building on his Olympic performance must surely be an aim, with medals in mind?
&ldquo;Maybe it is, maybe it&rsquo;s not &ndash; I don&rsquo;t think about that so much,&rdquo; says Ceh. &ldquo;I just have my focus on the competition and what I am doing there. No pressure.&rdquo; 
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/62c5ad1c762eea9956f3b3d3.jpg" alt="Leading discus throwers Kristjan Ceh and Daniel Stahl will go head to head in Oregon" />
Leading discus throwers Kristjan Ceh and Daniel Stahl will go head to head in Oregon (&copy; Getty Images)
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It will be his first trip to the United States but he has been keeping a keen eye on the performances at Hayward Field, the country&rsquo;s track and field Mecca.
&ldquo;Crouser set the world record there in the shot put, so you never know &ndash; if there are good conditions, we could have some very good results in the World Championships,&rdquo; he adds.
But Ceh&rsquo;s ambition doesn&rsquo;t end there. Next year the global showpiece heads to Budapest and then there are also Ceh&rsquo;s goals outside of the throwing circle.
&ldquo;I want to have my own farm when I end my career, so I am aiming that way,&rdquo; he says.
&ldquo;Right now, I am mostly focused on this season, but of course I look forward to other championships,&rdquo; Ceh adds. &ldquo;Next year the World Championships are close to Slovenia, in Hungary.&rdquo;
And a medal in Oregon, perhaps even gold, would be the perfect launchpad to further success on that stage.
Jess Whittington for World Athletics

Kristjan Ceh has ambitions of becoming a chicken farmer. But first, there are global discus medals to be won.

Ceh cultivates his craft on quest for discus success in Oregon

Sometimes the worst moments can, over time, be seen for what they are: a place from which the only way is up, an opportunity to change, grow and to come back stronger.
For Peru&rsquo;s Kimberly Garcia, that&rsquo;s exactly what happened at the Tokyo Olympics. The 28-year-old race walker had gone to the line in the 20km event in Sapporo thinking she could be a contender. She left it downbeat, disillusioned, having stepped off the course around the 15km mark, her body going into shutdown after she tried &ndash; in vain &ndash; to keep up with the world&rsquo;s best.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I thought I was prepared but I wasn&rsquo;t and it was really painful, the most difficult part of my career,&rdquo; she says now, before adding a key update to her story&rsquo;s epilogue: &ldquo;But I bounced back.&rdquo;
On Friday, Garcia produced the performance of her life to take gold in the 20km race walk at the World Athletics Championships Oregon22, Peru&rsquo;s first ever medal in the championships&rsquo; history. What will her victory mean to young athletes back home?
&ldquo;This will show that nothing is impossible,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;The road has been long, tough, full of sacrifice, but it&rsquo;s a road I love.&rdquo;
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/62d1dfaa2870dfcfc111288a.jpg" alt="" width="100%" />
Race walking has been Garcia&rsquo;s thing for a long time &ndash; 23 years, and counting.&nbsp;
She first took up the sport at the age of five, drawn towards it by her brothers and cousins, who formed a race walking club in their home city of Huancayo.&nbsp;
Sitting in the central highlands of Peru, at an altitude of 3,200m, it&rsquo;s a place that proved an ideal starting point to build an endurance champion. As a kid, Garcia would watch the Olympics and World Championships on TV with her father. &ldquo;My dream was to win a medal,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;And I have followed that dream.&rdquo;
At the age of 13, she began competing in schools championships and she made international appearances at underage events in the years that followed, including at the World U18 Championships in 2009.&nbsp;
Race walking is typically not a lucrative pursuit, and Garcia needed help from those around her to chase the dream through her late teens and early 20s.&nbsp;
&ldquo;When I first started it was my family chipping in to support me,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;Eventually it was private companies chipping in with sponsorship so I could do training camps, to get that exposure to compete with the best in the world.&rdquo;
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/62d3ea23be7834fc85652983.jpg" alt="" width="100%" />
She finished 10th at the World U20 Championships in 2012 and made her senior World Championships debut the year after, finishing 32nd in Moscow. Two years later in Beijing, she failed to finish the 20km event but at the 2016 Rio Olympics she improved to 14th in 1:32:09. In London a year later she was seventh.&nbsp;
Over the years, she always made race walking her priority, putting it even ahead of her university studies and completing a degree in administration on the side, which she hopes to resume in September.&nbsp;
As she ascended through the ranks, her sporting hero was Jefferson Perez, the three-time world champion and Olympic gold medallist from Ecuador. But it was another Ecuadorian, Andres Chocho, who would make the key difference in her career.&nbsp;
Following her disappointment at the Tokyo Olympics, Garcia linked up with Chocho and joined his group of world-class walkers. For most of the past year they worked remotely, chatting on Zoom and sharing videos for technical feedback.
&ldquo;I admire him as a person and as an athlete,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;We connected well from the get-go. Confidence and trust is important, and he asked me what I wanted. We started with modest goals, but he said I had what it took to achieve (more).&rdquo;&nbsp;&nbsp;
Having finished third at the World Athletics Race Walking Team Championships Muscat 22 in March, Garcia began to harbour medal ambitions for Oregon. On the build-up to the World Championships, she went to Ecuador to spend 40 days training under Chocho&rsquo;s guidance. She improved each week, and a month before she raced in Oregon, her goals shifted.&nbsp;
&ldquo;That&rsquo;s when I really started to believe I could win,&rdquo; she says.
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/62d3e98cbe7834fc8565297d.jpg" alt="" width="100%" />
For Peruvian athletes, finance is often a huge issue, with athletics federation president Javier Chirinos explaining that their budget in the past year is now one third of what it used to be. &ldquo;It would be a gamechanger to provide an opportunity to do training camps &ndash; that&rsquo;s all she needs,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;The athletes are having a really hard time.&rdquo;
The value of her camp in Ecuador was brought home to Garcia on the build-up to Oregon. She&rsquo;d put in 20-30 kilometres every morning, typically followed by a recovery 5-6km in the afternoon, with Chocho&rsquo;s technical expertise and feedback having a huge effect.&nbsp;
In the race in Eugene, she made an early break along with China&rsquo;s Qieyang Shijie, the pair racing together until 14km, at which point Garcia began to edge away from the 2012 Olympic champion. Under a burning sun, which she described as &ldquo;perfect conditions,&rdquo; Garcia turned up the heat in the closing laps, making her last kilometre, 4:13, her fastest.&nbsp;
She hit the line in 1:26:58, smashing her national record by a whopping 1:40 &ndash; a performance she hopes will make a difference to how athletics is viewed in her home country.&nbsp;
&ldquo;The road is not easy, but hopefully we get more support,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;If we have more support, we can do much better. I&rsquo;m very proud of myself, my country should be very proud of me. We worked very hard to get here.&rdquo;
Cathal Dennehy for World Athletics

Kimberly Garcia's victory in the 20km race walk brought Peru its first medal at a world championships

Garcia’s historic triumph: ‘The road has been long, tough, full of sacrifice, but it’s a road I love’

Before most of the field knew what hit it Saturday night, Chase Ealey had already won the women&rsquo;s shot put at the World Athletics Championships Oregon22.&nbsp;
Ealey was throwing first in the order in the shot put final at the reimagined Hayward Field at the University of Oregon and wasted no time.&nbsp;
On that first throw, Ealey launched the shot 20.49m to immediately put the rest of the field in a hole from the start.&nbsp;
That throw held up as the winning mark as Ealey became the first United States&rsquo; woman to win a shot put gold medal at an outdoor World Athletics Championships.&nbsp;
&ldquo;The list came out and me and my coach decided that was the move,&rdquo; Ealey said. &ldquo;I warmed up bigger than I competed, which happens a lot. But I warmed up and every throw was at 20 (meters) so I was like, &lsquo;I think we can do this.&rsquo;&nbsp;&nbsp;
&ldquo;The minute I got in there and the cheers and the crowd, I knew it would happen, and so I felt really good about it.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Ealey&rsquo;s throw was just off her personal best of 20.51m set last month when she won the event at the U.S. Outdoor Track and Field Championships. That mark broke the Hayward Field record and made her the No. 2 thrower in American history.&nbsp;
On Saturday, she made her own American history with the win. Prior to Saturday, the only outdoor World Athletics Championships medals won by U.S. women were bronzes by Jillian Camarena-Williams in 2011 and by Michelle Carter in 2015 and 2017.&nbsp;
Ealey&rsquo;s win was also the first individual medal for a U.S. athlete at WCH Oregon22 on top of being the first in U.S. women&rsquo;s shot put history.&nbsp;
&ldquo;My main goal was to come out here and get gold and to do it at home and in front of my family,&rdquo; Ealey said. &ldquo;To be the first medal here, the first medal outdoors for us, it&rsquo;s all amazing. I feel like a bunch of firsts and I&rsquo;m really proud of it.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Getting a big mark early in the competition is not the norm for Ealey, she said, and put her in a different position as she waited to see if anyone would surpass her.&nbsp;
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s nerve-wracking, but I felt like if I had to, I could have got another throw out there,&rdquo; Ealey said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s hard to tell, but I felt like my last throw, had I needed it, I was definitely at that point where I was ready to go big.&rdquo;&nbsp;
China&rsquo;s Lijiao Gong figured to be Ealey&rsquo;s main competition entering the final as she was the two-time defending World Athletics Championship gold medalist and the 2020 Tokyo Olympic gold medalist. Gong was the only other woman to throw past 20m Saturday and moved closer to Ealey when she threw 20.23m in the third of six rounds. In the fifth round, Gong got even closer with a throw of 20.39m, but Ealey said she was confident she had maintained the lead based on where she saw the shot put land and where her previous mark was still viewable in the cinder sector.&nbsp;
Ealey also had throws of 19.82m and 20.07m in the competition.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I feel like it was an amazing competition,&rdquo; Ealey said. &ldquo;Gong is a seasoned veteran, so she definitely had me on my toes the whole time, but I&rsquo;m happy I pulled out the win even if it was just one throw.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Gong, who is 33 years old, won her first outdoor World Athletics Championships medal in 2009 as a 20-year-old when she took bronze and won her sixth overall Championships medal Saturday. She also won bronze in 2013 and silver in 2015.&nbsp;
Jessica Schilder of the Netherlands won the bronze medal Saturday by setting a national record of 19.77m. Canada&rsquo;s Sarah Mitton also threw 19.77m, but Schilder had two throws at 19.77m, and Mitton&rsquo;s second-best throw was 19.18m.&nbsp;
Jessica Woodard was eighth for the U.S. at 18.67m, and Maggie Ewen was ninth at 18.64m.&nbsp;
Ealey was seventh at the 2019 World Athletics Championships, then finished fifth at the Olympic Trials last year. She won her first global medal when she finished second at the indoor World Athletics Championships in March in Belgrade, Serbia. She was second in the 2016 NCAA Outdoor Championships for Oklahoma State, and has openly discussed how it took her some time before she took track and field seriously.&nbsp;
"My senior of college I think I just kind of started respecting it more,&rdquo; Ealey said. &ldquo;And then when I went pro, I realized how amazing athletics was, which a lot of people don&rsquo;t realize how amazing athletics is.&nbsp;&nbsp;
&ldquo;I really started just falling in love with the sport as a whole, which made me start respecting my event more. I really felt like I could do something, and I wanted to stop being OK at something. I really turned over and started going for it."&nbsp;
In the other throwing event final Saturday, Pawel Fajdek of Poland became the first person to win an event five times at the outdoor World Athletics Championships when he threw 81.98m to win the men&rsquo;s hammer gold medal for the fifth consecutive time. He led a 1-2 finish for Poland as Wojciech Nowicki, the 2020 Olympic gold medalist, was second at 81.03m. Eivind Henriksen of Norway, the Olympic silver medalist, was third at 80.87m.&nbsp;
Rudy Winkler, the American record-holder, was sixth at 78.99m, Daniel Haugh, the U.S. champion, was eighth at 78.10m, and Alex Young was 12th.&nbsp;
In the men&rsquo;s long jump, Jianan Wang of China, the bronze medalist at the 2015 World Athletics Championships in Beijing, went 8.36m on his final jump to take the gold medal. He moved from sixth into the lead with that attempt.&nbsp;Greece&rsquo;s Miltiadis Tentoglou, the Tokyo Olympic gold medalist, was second at 8.32m, and Switzerland&rsquo;s Simon Ehammer was third at 8.16m.&nbsp;
Steffin McCarter and Marquis Dendy of the U.S. finished fifth and sixth, respectively, with jumps of 8.04m, and 8.02m.&nbsp;
By Ashley Conklin

Chase Ealey makes U.S. shot put history with gold medal at World Athletics Championships

Chase Ealey makes U.S. shot put history with gold medal at WCH Oregon22

Joshua Cheptegei doesn&rsquo;t do many things slowly.&nbsp;
That&rsquo;s the way it is when you&rsquo;re the men&rsquo;s world record-holder in the 5,000m and 10,000m, and on a trajectory to become the greatest track and field distance runner in history.&nbsp;
But after a lightning-fast past three seasons that culminated with two medals at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, the defending World Athletics Championships 10,000m gold medalist from Uganda has started this season slowly as he prepares for World Athletics Championships Oregon22, which begins Friday and runs through July 24 at the reimagined <a href="https://hayward.uoregon.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Hayward Field</a> at the <a href="https://www.uoregon.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">University of Oregon.</a>&nbsp;
&ldquo;I just have one goal for this year and that&rsquo;s to win a gold medal in Eugene,&rdquo; Cheptegei said. &ldquo;After the Olympics, I took it a bit easier to recover and we started 2022 gradually. I am happy where I am at, at this point, and look forward to the Championships. I feel I can defend my title.&rdquo;&nbsp;
It wouldn&rsquo;t be wise to bet against him.&nbsp;
Cheptegei, only 25, won the 10,000m at the 2019 World Athletics Championships in Doha, Qatar, to earn an automatic bye into WCH Oregon22. He was the silver medalist in the 10,000m at the 2017 World Athletics Championships in London, and last summer won the gold medal in the 5,000m at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics eight days after taking the silver medal in the 10,000m.&nbsp;
And while the rest of the world took most of 2020 off because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Cheptegei broke world records in the 5,000m and 10,000m in his only race of the season in each event, taking down long-held world records by the great <a href="https://worldathletics.org/athletes/ethiopia/kenenisa-bekele-14181357" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kenenisa Bekele</a>.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I can say through the years, my career has been an upwards journey, building blocks which fit together and a step-by-step process,&rdquo; Cheptegei said. &ldquo;I hope to continue this development together with the help of my team for many years to come.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Cheptegei&rsquo;s first international experience came at Hayward Field as a 17-year-old at the <a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/results/world-athletics-u20-championships/2014/iaaf-world-junior-championships-2014-7065881" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2014 World U20 (Junior) Athletics Championships</a>. On the opening day of the event, Cheptegei won the 10,000m in 28 minutes, 32.86 seconds, defeating a pair of Kenyan runners to win. Three days later, Cheptegei finished fourth in the 5,000m in what was then a personal best of 13:32.84. Ethiopia&rsquo;s Yomif Kejelcha won in 13:25.19.&nbsp;
"I really have good memories of that,&rdquo; Cheptegei said. &ldquo;It was my first time in the USA, as well. It was the start of, so far, a successful career and therefore, Hayward Field and its fans always remain special to me.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Since 2015, Cheptegei has participated in every Prefontaine Classic except for 2018. When the Prefontaine Classic was moved to Stanford University in 2019 when Hayward Field was being rebuilt, Cheptegei won the 2-mile race there. Last year, three weeks after the Tokyo Olympics, he again won the 2-mile at the Pre Classic. This season, in his only 5,000m race, he won the Friday night session of the Pre Classic in 12 minutes, 57.99 seconds, which has him ranked eighth in the world this season.&nbsp;
&ldquo;So far I have been in Hayward Field many times,&rdquo; Cheptegei said, &ldquo;and it really feels like coming home to me, it&rsquo;s a special place with knowledgeable fans and now a fantastic new stadium. I am really happy we can battle for gold in Hayward Field this year.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Cheptegei will see many familiar faces in both races at the World Athletics Championships Oregon22 as most of the world&rsquo;s top runners are doubling. The 10,000m will be up first for the world&rsquo;s best distance runners at 1 p.m. Sunday. Grant Fisher of the U.S., who set the American record of 26 minutes, 33.84 seconds earlier this year, is the world leader, followed by Canada&rsquo;s Mo Ahmed of the Bowerman Track Club in Portland, Ore., Ethiopia&rsquo;s Selemon Barega, the Tokyo Olympic gold medalist, and Berihu Aregawi. Other top 10,000m contenders include Uganda&rsquo;s Jacob Kiplimo, the Tokyo Olympic bronze medalist, and Kenya&rsquo;s Rodgers Kwemoi, Stanley Mburu and Daniel Mateiko.&nbsp;
The men&rsquo;s 5,000m field may be even more loaded with its semifinals on July 21 and the final on July 24, the final day of competition. Ethiopia&rsquo;s Muktar Edris is the two-time defending World Athletics Championships gold medalist. Barega was the silver medalist in Doha in 2019, and Ahmed was the bronze medalist in Doha and the silver medalist in Tokyo. Kenya&rsquo;s Nicholas Kipkorir and Jacob Krop have the top two times in the world this year, set at the June 9 Rome Diamond League meet. Aregawi is third in the world rankings, having run 12 minutes, 50.05 seconds in the Saturday day portion of the Prefontaine Classic to set the Hayward Field record. Kejelcha, the 2014 World U20 champion at Hayward Field, is ranked fourth in the world, and Fisher will be a contender, as will Norway&rsquo;s Jakob Ingebrigtsen, the Tokyo Olympic gold medalist in the 1,500, who is running both events at WCH Oregon22 and ran what was then a world-leading time of 13:02.03 in May.&nbsp;
Running and winning against elite fields is nothing new for Cheptegei. In 2015, he finished ninth in the 10,000m at his first senior World Athletics Championships in Beijing after winning the African junior championship earlier that season. In 2016, he was sixth in the 10,000m at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics and eighth in the 5,000m as a 19-year-old, and was undefeated in road races between 5K and 15K that season.&nbsp;
WATCH: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTPHH880Cyc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The men&rsquo;s 10,000m final from the 2017</a> World Athletics Championships&nbsp;
Cheptegei had an uncharacteristic hiccup when the 2017 World Cross Country Championships were held in Uganda, and he finished in 30th place despite being one of the favorites. But Cheptegei put that performance behind him in one of the greatest 10,000m championship races in history at the 2017 World Athletics Championships in London.&nbsp;
&ldquo;Of course, I would have wished to keep gold in Uganda at home,&rdquo; Cheptegei said, &ldquo;however, it also gave me some important lessons. It took hard work and determination and self-belief to come back, but luckily half a year later in London I could redeem myself.&rdquo;&nbsp;
In London, Cheptegei, the up-and-coming star, finished second in 26:49.91, a personal best at the time, and only 43-hundreths of a second behind the veteran superstar, Great Britain&rsquo;s Mo Farah, who won his third-straight 10,000m world title and the last of his six World Athletics Championships between 5,000m and 10,000m. Seven men in the field broke 27 minutes, two national records were broken, and 11 of the top 15 finishers set personal bests.&nbsp;
Cheptegei won Commonwealth Games gold medals in the 5,000m and 10,000m in 2018, setting up his 2019 season that saw him win the 10,000m at the World Athletics Championships in Doha after winning the Diamond League 5,000m finale a little over a month earlier. And he avenged his showing from the World Cross Country Championships by winning that race in Denmark in March.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I can say 2019 was really a great year, obviously because of taking two senior titles, which I happily defend,&rdquo; Cheptegei said. &ldquo;It put my name on the map and boosted Ugandan distance running.&rdquo;&nbsp;
WATCH: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-rqg2ug7dE" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The men&rsquo;s 10,000m final at the</a> 2019 World Athletics Championships&nbsp;
In Doha, Cheptegei again found himself in a sprint to the finish in a World Athletics Championships 10,000m race. Like the London final, this one was also fast with six runners recording personal bests and two setting national records. Cheptegei took the lead with about a mile remaining. Kejelcha pulled on the final lap and had a one-step lead on the backstretch, but he was never able to make a definitive move for the lead, and Cheptegei did over the final half-lap, outsprinting Kejelcha over the final 150m to win in 26 minutes, 48.36 seconds, and winning by almost a second.&nbsp;
The victory by Cheptegei was the first by a Ugandan man in the World Athletics Championships and came seven days after Halimah Nakaayi was an upset winner for Uganda in the women&rsquo;s 800m and became the country&rsquo;s first World Athletics Championships gold medalist.&nbsp;
Without any championship races in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Cheptegei took aim at the long-standing world records of Bekele, perhaps the greatest track and field long-distance runner ever, at 5,000m and 10,000m. Bekele won his first World Athletics Championships medal in 2003 where he won bronze in the 5,000m. Bekele won four-straight World Athletics Championships gold medals in the 10,000m from 2003-2009 and also won the 5,000m in Berlin in 2009. At the Olympics, Bekele won back-to-back 10,000m gold medals in 2004 and 2008 and after winning 5,000m silver in 2004, took the gold in that event in 2008.&nbsp;
After Bekele took the 5,000m and 10,000m world record away from countryman Haile Gebreselassie, he held them longer than any man ever has. He set the 5,000m record of 12:37.35 in 2004, and eight days later, broke the 10,000m record for the first time. Bekele improved his 10,000m record to 26:17.53 in 2005. Bekele&rsquo;s records were long thought untouchable, and they were for a long time. When Barega ran 12:43.02 in 2018, it was the only time anyone had been within six seconds of the world record. And no one came within 15 seconds of Bekele&rsquo;s 10,000m world record.&nbsp;
Until Cheptegei in 2020.&nbsp;
On Aug. 14, 2020, Cheptegei went after the 5,000m world record at the Herculis Diamond League meet in Monaco. His personal best of 12 minutes, 57, 14 seconds prior to that came from winning the Diamond League final in 2019. With the help of three pacers, Cheptegei ran 12:35.36 to become the first man from Uganda to hold the 5,000m world record. On Oct. 7, in a meet called World Record Day in Valencia, Spain, Cheptegei obliged by taking more than six seconds off Bekele&rsquo;s 10,000m world record, running 26:11.00.&nbsp;
And so far, no one has come close to Cheptegei&rsquo;s records either.&nbsp;
&ldquo;Breaking the 5,000-meter and 10,000-meter (records) put me into the class of those I admired over the years," Cheptegei said. &ldquo;No one knows, of course, how much faster one can run. However, I believe strongly that I still have room to improve and possibly lower my world records.&rdquo;&nbsp;
WATCH: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCntSFAk0GY" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Joshua Cheptegei wins the men&rsquo;s 5,000m</a> at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics&nbsp;
At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Cheptegei further cemented his name alongside those he admired for years by winning the 5,000m seven days after finishing second in the 10,000m final with Barega winning it. Barega, however, did not double back for the 5,000m.&nbsp;
"My life has changed for good,&rdquo; said Cheptegei, the first person from Uganda to win the Olympic 5,000m. &ldquo;Olympic gold is actually joy unspeakable.&rdquo;&nbsp;
How much longer Cheptegei will run on the track will be interesting to see. As fast as he is on the track, he&rsquo;s just as impressive in road races. Ten days after setting his 10,000m world record, he finished fourth in the World Athletics Half Marathon Championships in Poland, running 59 minutes, 21 seconds. In his only race this season besides the 5,000m at the Prefontaine Classic, he won a 10K road race in France in March in 26:49. Since 2017, he&rsquo;s undefeated in road races ranging from 5K to 10 miles. In December 2019, he set a 10K road world record by running 26:38 that was later broken. In February 2020, he became the first person to break 13 minutes in a 5K road race when he ran 12:51. That mark was broken by Aregawi in December 2021.&nbsp;
&ldquo;In the past eight to nine years, we mold my career step by step," Cheptegei said. &ldquo;I am still focused on the track for now, but also slowly moving into road racing as a next step. I am not yet done on the track, and still have many years left on the roads. So, in my view I will still be around for many years to come.&rdquo;&nbsp;
That&rsquo;s great news for track and field fans who will get another shot at seeing Cheptegei running fast with Sunday&rsquo;s 10,000m on the third day of WCH Oregon22. It promises to be fast because Cheptegei doesn&rsquo;t do anything slowly.&nbsp;
By Ashley Conklin&nbsp;

Double world record-holder Joshua Cheptegei seeking two gold medals at WCH Oregon22 

Chase Ealey has been unstoppable this season.&nbsp;
The 2022 World Indoor Championships shot put silver medallist is undefeated. She hit three personal bests in consecutive competitions in June and has the world leading distance this year after throwing 20.51m at the US national championships at Hayward Field just two weeks ago.&nbsp; &nbsp;
Women from the US are dominating throwing events this year, entering the world championships with the world-leading distances in the shot put, javelin, discus and hammer throws. Ealey leads the host team&rsquo;s women&rsquo;s shot put squad, which also includes Maggie Ewen, Adelaide Aquilla and Jessica Woodard, eager to add to the host nation&rsquo;s modest World Championships shot put medal haul. Women shot putters from the US have won just three medals in world championship competition: one silver and a pair of bronze.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I'm really happy that we're leading all four events,&rdquo; Ealey said at the USA Track &amp; Field press conference, a day before the start of the World Athletics Championships Oregon22 in Eugene. &ldquo;I'm really proud of it.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Both Ealey and Ewen qualified for today&rsquo;s (16) final with identical throws of 18.96m in Friday&rsquo;s qualifying round, as did Woodard with 19.08m, each earning a chance at redemption after they failed to make the 2021 Olympic team last summer. Ewen, who qualified for the World Championships as last year&rsquo;s Wanda Diamond League champion, said that she&rsquo;s excited that the focus of her physical progress is on worlds.&nbsp;
&ldquo;The USA is so deep in the women&rsquo;s shot put that we usually have to peak for nationals just to make the team,&rdquo; Ewen said.&nbsp;
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/62d2a6d15f5f48cbb69b1535.jpg" alt="" width="100%" />
Ewen has the fifth-furthest distance this season after throwing 19.79m at the US Indoor Championships in February. She finished fifth at the 2022 World Indoor Championships.&nbsp;
&ldquo;We&rsquo;re all getting better in the US, we&rsquo;re all the same age, we&rsquo;re all very young, we&rsquo;re all very new and we&rsquo;re still all developing. It keeps you on your toes,&rdquo; Ewen said. &ldquo;You know there&rsquo;s competition right next to you.&rdquo;
Ealey, who was second at the World Indoor Championships in March, 22cm behind winner Auriol Dongmo of Portugal, is stronger than ever. Ealey has bested Dongmo and Ewen in every meet they&rsquo;ve competed in together during the outdoor season.&nbsp;
Ealey&rsquo;s success came after a difficult year. She was thrown off her pace of improvement when she developed long COVID-related intestinal issues in the winter of 2021 and couldn&rsquo;t keep food down, losing more than 40 pounds over the course of two months.&nbsp;
The 2021 Olympic Trials were a deep disappointment for Ealey, after a fifth place finish with a best of 18.39m.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I got defeated and gave up,&rdquo; Ealey said in an Instagram caption recapping the experience.&nbsp;&nbsp;
Ealey needed something new. She joined her friend, British shot putter Sophie McKinna, for a brief training camp in England under McKinna&rsquo;s coach, Paul Wilson of the City of York Athletic Club. And it all clicked &mdash; shortly after her visit, Ealey made the decision to leave her former training group, Desert High Performance, and relocate from Arizona to the UK. She found an environment that helped her start over.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I just think I needed a reset after I got sick last year,&rdquo; Ealey said. &ldquo;And I'm just a lot happier and more content, and I think it's resulted in more efficient training.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Wilson helped Ealey adjust her throwing entry and encouraged her to stay balanced as she rotated in the ring. The change made a big difference, and Ealey went from only hitting 19 metres on a good day to consistently throwing over 20 metres in each competition. This time around, she&rsquo;s heading to the international stage with more confidence.
&ldquo;When my state of mind got better, I was more trainable and just in a better position to keep succeeding,&rdquo; Ealey said with a small laugh. &ldquo;I feel like I'm just getting started.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Madeline Ryan for World Athletics

Women shot putters from the US have won just three medals in world championship competition - Chase Ealey and Maggie Ewen are aiming to change that.

Ealey and Ewen chasing elusive women's shot put gold for USA

The first day of the first World Athletics Championships on U.S. soil concluded with a race for the ages.&nbsp;
A race for the ages is a term that gets thrown around a lot when we see someone run fast or a remarkable upset is pulled.&nbsp;
On Friday, in the first medal event on the track at Hayward Field, three relay teams were awarded medals for finishing ahead of other teams in the race.&nbsp;
For the Dominican Republic, it was a moment that will long be treasured. A comeback victory in front of a cheering crowd in the mixed 4x400m relay run for only the third time at a major global championships. There was also great pride for Netherlands, which possesses one of the sport's brightest starts in Femke Bol, a woman who is comfortable running over hurdles and even better running around and past people.&nbsp;
And one person in that race walked off Hayward Field time for the final time in her career. For Allyson Felix, this was her last appearance at a major championship meet before she finishes with a meet or two at home in Los Angeles before retiring from the sport.&nbsp;
Many people came to Hayward Field on Friday to watch the sport they love, cheer for their favorite track and field heroes or see what these World Athletics Championships Oregon22 were all about. Why was the 18th edition of this event here now in Eugene, Oregon, and in the United States when it had never been here before and oftentimes in such far-away places as Doha, Qatar, Daegu, South Korea, Tokyo, and Beijing?&nbsp;
And they came to see Felix, to see her run one last time, to cheer her on and hope she had one more victory in her.&nbsp;&nbsp;
&ldquo;I wasn&rsquo;t sure how it would feel to run here at home in a World Championship, but it was really cool,&rdquo; Felix said. &ldquo;I felt the love, I saw signs, just moments people shared with me, so I was feeling that and then of course, cheering the team on.&rdquo;&nbsp;
The results say the Dominican Republic won in 3 minutes, 9.82 seconds with Netherlands second in 3:09.90, and Felix&rsquo;s U.S. squad third in 3:10.16.&nbsp;
American fans love a winner, and no one won more than Felix. Her relay medal Friday was her 19th in her 10th World Athletics Championships appearance. She has 12 World Athletics Championships gold medals and seven Olympic gold medals, and 11 Olympic medals. But in the end, and in the middle, and maybe even the beginning, it was about more than winning which made Felix the icon she is.&nbsp;
&ldquo;There is no single (favorite) story of Allyson for me,&rdquo; said Elija Godwin, a college standout at the University of Georgia who finished fourth at the U.S. Championships and ran the opening leg on the mixed relay team in Friday morning&rsquo;s semifinals and again in the final.&nbsp;
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s what she did, and the manner in which she did it, which made her an icon in the sport. For us to come out and compete for her, it&rsquo;s a blessing to have the opportunity. You have to work really hard to even get here. We can go out with a bang with Allyson on the track. It feels good for me. It just felt like the right kind of history.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Felix&rsquo;s teammates, which also included Vernon Norwood and Kennedy Simon, like Godwin fresh off the college scene after a standout season at Texas, refused to yield to the notion that not winning and letting Felix leave one last time with a gold medal, was a disappointment. There was no Hollywood storybook ending to Felix&rsquo;s last race, but there was no need for one.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m a competitor, so I like close races," Godwin said. &ldquo;I went out there and had fun. The energy was good, the energy is still good. People keep asking us, are we happy with the bronze medal? Yes, we are happy with the bronze medal. We came out here and we competed against the world so that&rsquo;s big. I&rsquo;m not going to belittle it or anything, we&rsquo;re happy. It was a successful night.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Added Norwood: &ldquo;This bronze medal feels like a gold medal.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Simon agreed.&nbsp;
&ldquo;We just wanted to do everything we could so Allyson would leave with a medal,&rdquo; she said.&nbsp;
Felix left with more than that. She left with a lot of memories Friday night. In the twilight of her career, after having daughter, Cami, in November 2018, Felix found a new purpose to her running. The running was less about her success and the platform she had to advocate for women and mothers everywhere, particularly those who tried to return to sport after having a child.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I think the last couple of years, I&rsquo;ve stepped outside of just the clock and the medals,&rdquo; Felix said. &ldquo;I never would have imagined that would be a place that I would come to, but I have, and I think it&rsquo;s being a representation for women and mothers. I felt that, it was a really emotional day all over from people telling me and messages I got. I felt really proud tonight, and fulfilled.&rdquo;&nbsp;
The greatest track and field athlete left her last race fulfilled. To the average fan, it may not have seemed fulfilling the way it played out on the track with the U.S. team being run down from behind, but in some ways, it embodied Felix&rsquo;s career. While it has been better and, in many cases, longer than anyone else&rsquo;s ever, it&rsquo;s also brought its share of near-misses and what-ifs?&nbsp;
&ldquo;There&rsquo;s a lot of moments in this sport where my heart&rsquo;s been broken by it,&rdquo; Felix said, &ldquo;and I think those moments have made me better. As I&rsquo;ve gotten older, I&rsquo;ve realized there&rsquo;s a lot to learn from them. Instead of being devastated I can pick up the pieces and go on.&rdquo;&nbsp;
The sport of track and field will go on, too, whether Felix is a part of it or not. It&rsquo;s certainly been way better with Felix a part of it. Felix will be 37 in November, 10 days before her daughter turns 4. Felix has often spoken of what she hopes her daughter takes from her mother&rsquo;s legacy, although at her age, Cami may be too young to recognize what it means. In fact, when Felix came through the media interview area after receiving her medal Friday, a reporter asked her where Cami was. &nbsp;
&ldquo;She&rsquo;s having ice cream,&rdquo; Felix said. &ldquo;She&rsquo;s living her best life.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Felix hopes she&rsquo;s helped provide that for her daughter and others with the example she set on and off the track. She created her own athletic shoe line after a fight with Nike after she accused the apparel and shoe company of refusing to guarantee salary protections for female athletes in the months following pregnancy in an editorial she wrote for the New York Times after Cami was born.&nbsp;&nbsp;
&ldquo;I think it&rsquo;s about being a fighter,&rdquo; Felix said when asked what she hoped her daughter would take away from her career. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s something that it doesn&rsquo;t matter what you do, that&rsquo;s the spirit I hope she carries over and the confidence I hope that she has. That&rsquo;s what I want to teach her. You always stand up for what you believe in, for what&rsquo;s right.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Friday was &ldquo;was an emotional day from the beginning, right before the race. I think I just didn&rsquo;t expect the outpouring of people just sharing moments with me. I think I felt all the emotions and I&rsquo;m not that emotional of a person,&rdquo; Felix said.&nbsp;
A year ago, at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, the fighter and the icon and greatness in Felix poured out when she turned back the clock and won a bronze medal in the 400m. A few days later, she broke her tie with Carl Lewis as the most decorated U.S. track and field Olympian ever when she won a gold medal on a 4x400m relay which included Athing Mu, a teenage prodigy almost half of Felix&rsquo;s age.&nbsp;
She briefly gave us another one of those track moments Friday night.&nbsp;
It came shortly after she took off on the second leg of the relay, having received the baton from Godwin. When she reached the backstretch, she began to cut inside from lane 6 to lane 1 and when she began to reach the inside of the track, the sun hit track and field&rsquo;s brightest star, and one could look down the backstretch and see it again. The burst of speed. The grace of poetry in motion. The best the sport has ever seen.&nbsp;
And then a few moments later, she was off the Hayward Field track for good. Waving to Cami in the stands. Saying hello to her, and goodbye to us.&nbsp;
By Ashley Conklin&nbsp;
&nbsp;

One more medal as Allyson Felix says goodbye to the World Athletics Championships

Noah Lyles needed a new start.&nbsp;
In May, the reigning world 200m champion was working on a different way to explode out of the blocks. He consulted with Ralph Mann, a renowned expert in biomechanics and the 1972 Olympic silver medallist in the 400m hurdles.
&ldquo;He came by, looked at it, and said, &lsquo;That&rsquo;s trash,&rsquo;&rdquo; Noah said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s very blunt, and I&rsquo;m a blunt person so I can take it. Still, it was like, &lsquo;Okayyyy. That hit differently.&rsquo;&rdquo;
Mann helped Noah tweak his technique and the sprinter said he has &ldquo;made drastic improvement&rdquo; in the critical first 30 metres of his races.
As the World Athletics Championships Oregon22 begin, Noah is also feeling renewed.&nbsp;
He was disappointed last summer when he did not win the gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics, taking home the bronze instead. Noah felt unfulfilled while competing far from home in an empty stadium due to the pandemic.&nbsp;
Compared to Tokyo, Eugene is &ldquo;an exact 180,&rdquo; Noah said during a press conference for the US team on the eve of the championships. &ldquo;One, being on home soil, and two, having my brother and my whole family here. Everything I didn&rsquo;t have in Tokyo, I now have here at this World Championships.&rdquo; 
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/62d0c8daa96b802fd2b75aa3.jpg" alt="Josephus Lyles and Noah Lyles at the USA press conference ahead of the World Athletics Championships Oregon22" />
Josephus Lyles and Noah Lyles at the USA press conference ahead of the World Athletics Championships Oregon22 (&copy; Getty Images)
</div>
Noah is thrilled that his brother Josephus made his first senior national team as a member of the US 4x100m relay pool. Both brothers are candidates for the relay, which could use different personnel in each of the two rounds. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been saying this for years, when I&rsquo;m on the relay we ain&rsquo;t losing point blank,&rdquo; Noah said, &ldquo;and we might break the world record.&rdquo;
Noah, who will turn 25 on 18 July, and Josephus, who will turn 24 on 22 July, vowed to become professional athletes and make the US Olympic team while watching the 2012 Olympics on television.
For Josephus, this is a major step toward that goal. He placed fifth at the US Championships in the 200m in a race won by Noah. Josephus clocked 19.93, a PB and a time fast enough to represent any other country. &ldquo;The US is the hardest team to make for the sprint events,&rdquo; said Josephus, who has won world medals at U20 and U18 championships. &ldquo;I knew that coming in.&rdquo;
For Noah, having Josephus nearby gives him peace of mind.
At a recent US relay camp, Noah said: &ldquo;I was like, &lsquo;Dang, bro, I&rsquo;m happy you&rsquo;re here.&rsquo; It&rsquo;s always better to have your brother there, your best friend. It&rsquo;s a blessing. This is exactly what we&rsquo;ve been waiting to see since we turned pro. It&rsquo;s one thing to say and know that it&rsquo;s going to happen, and it&rsquo;s another thing to see it actually happen.&rdquo;
Noah said he watched Josephus progress in training and thought, &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know who the heck that guy is. That man is running.&rdquo;
He said Josephus, who used to run the 400m in addition to the shorter sprints, has a very high pain tolerance and would keep training when he ran the risk of injury. &ldquo;I truthfully believe that the reason that he&rsquo;s doing better,&rdquo; Noah said, &ldquo;is he actually learned how to speak up when he doesn&rsquo;t feel good.&rdquo;&nbsp;
The honour of telling Josephus that he made the US team actually fell to the elder Lyles. He was going through world team processing following nationals when an official told him Josephus should be there doing the same.
&ldquo;Oh, oh, oh, I was fumbling with my phone,&rdquo; Noah said. He called his little brother and told him to stop getting food and come back immediately. He was on the team. Josephus answered, &ldquo;Are you sure? Stop playing.&rdquo; &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not playing,&rdquo; Noah assured him. &ldquo;This is definitely a special moment we&rsquo;re always going to remember.&rdquo;
Their mother, Keisha, was just as surprised when Josephus told her that night.
&ldquo;She was bawling, crying, ecstatic,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;She was like, &lsquo;Oh my gosh, both my boys are going.&rsquo; Literally the next five days, she would call me every other hour and be like &lsquo;Josephus, you&rsquo;re on the team!&rsquo;&rdquo;
Noah added that after several deaths in the family, the news came &ldquo;in the hardest of times. We always know at the end of the storm, there is something greater on the other side.&rdquo;
While Noah is enjoying having a blood relative on the team, he also dispelled any notion of bad blood between him and US teammate Erriyon Knighton. The 18-year-old has the fastest time in the world this year of 19.49, which is also the fourth-fastest ever.&nbsp;
Knighton led the 200m at the US Championships until Noah roared past him, pointing a finger as he broke the tape. Noah said in an interview that he was pointing at all of his doubters, not at Knighton, but the teenager initially appeared angry at the gesture. 
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/62b8f9ff774be729e2fb1a54.jpg" alt="Noah Lyles wins the US 200m title ahead of Erriyon Knighton" />
Noah Lyles wins the US 200m title ahead of Erriyon Knighton (&copy; Getty Images)
</div>
&ldquo;We did talk about it,&rdquo; Noah said, &ldquo;Guess where we talked about it? When we were both trying to pee for drug testing. It was a simple conversation. I just reiterated what I had said in that interview. He was like, &lsquo;Bro, you don&rsquo;t even have to worry about it. I totally get it,&rsquo; and to be honest, that was it.&rsquo;&rdquo;
Noah said the sport needs more rivalries, and theirs makes both of them better. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s fun,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I know he&rsquo;s coming back with a vengeance and I&rsquo;m not going to give him anything less than I have of 100.&rdquo;
Noah has only been beaten twice in the 200m &mdash; to Michael Norman in 2019 in the Rome Diamond League meeting and to Andre De Grasse and Kenny Bednarek in Tokyo last summer. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m upset that it&rsquo;s even been that many times,&rdquo; Lyles said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want it to ever happen again.&rdquo;
To that end, he decided not to attempt a 100m and 200m double at the World Championships. &ldquo;I&rsquo;d rather grab a gold than two silvers,&rdquo; Noah said.
As 2022 began, he honed his skills by running five 60m races, culminating with a 6.55 at the Muller Indoor Grand Prix in Birmingham.&nbsp;
&ldquo;At first I was like, &lsquo;I don&rsquo;t want to run something I&rsquo;m not good at.&rsquo; It&rsquo;s not fun,&rsquo;&rdquo; Lyles said. &ldquo;But it was kind of needed. I realised that the main thing that&rsquo;s going to set me apart from really going after that American record and the world record in the 200m is my first 30, and what better way to work at that than running more 60s?&rdquo;
While Noah admits that his start may always be a work in progress, maintaining top-end speed is &ldquo;one of my gifts.&rdquo;
He aspires to be close to 10 seconds flat in his first 100m of a 200m, &ldquo;because I&rsquo;m going to work miracles in my second 100.&rdquo;
Noah said even Mann was impressed. Using computer-based teaching technology, Mann made his model even faster.
&ldquo;And I still beat it,&rdquo; Noah said. &ldquo;He never wants me to run faster than the model. But his model got a few 'L's on it from me.&rdquo;
Now he hopes to pin some 'L's on real-life rivals in Eugene. As a musician in addition to a world-class sprinter, Lyles said he feels similarities to Kanye West.
&ldquo;One of the biggest ones is I&rsquo;m always hungry for more,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I feel a lot of people would get very complacent with &lsquo;OK, I&rsquo;ve learned this much.&rsquo; No, I constantly want to learn and push and find the boundaries of more and if somebody won&rsquo;t give it to me, I&rsquo;m going to find a way to get it.&rdquo;
Karen Rosen for World Athletics

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