Women's 4x1 (© How Lao / WCH Oregon22)
On the penultimate day of the World Athletics Championships Oregon22, there will be finals in six events, including the men’s and women’s 4x100m relays.
The U.S. swept the medals in the 100m at WCH Oregon22, and even without 100m champion Fred Kerley, who suffered a quad injury in the 200m semifinals, the U.S. should still win if the team gets the baton around the track.
Noah Lyles is on the relay again. When Noah Lyles anchored the win at the 2019 Worl Athletics Championships in Doha, Qatar, it was the first World Athletics Championships gold medal for the United States since the 2007 Osaka World Athletics Championships.
Lyles ran the second leg in Friday’s heats when the U.S. ran 37.87 seconds to set a Hayward Field record. Marvin Bracy-Williams, who won the silver medal in 100m, anchored the team in the prelims. Trayvon Bromell, who took the bronze medal in the 100m, did not run Friday but is expected to in the final. Christian Coleman, who finished sixth in the 100m, will likely lead off as he did Friday. The men’s 4x100m relay concludes Saturday’s events at 7:50 p.m. Elijah Hall ran the third leg Friday.
Italy won this event in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics but that was with a healthy Marcell Jacobs, who pulled out of the 100m semifinals at WCH Oregon22.
Great Britain, Canada, Ghana, France, and Jamaica would appear to be other top medal contenders.
WOMEN’S 4x100-METER RELAY (Final, 7:30 p.m.)
After sweeping the medals in the 100m, Jamaica is a big favorite here with Shericka Jackson, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Elaine Thompson-Herah, and former University of Oregon standout Kemba Nelson. Fraser-Pryce won the 100m gold for the fifth time, the most individual gold medals for a woman in World Athletics Championships. She won in a Championships record time of 10.67 seconds.
Only Nelson ran on the Jamaican relay on Friday.
Jackson, who was the 100 silver medalist, won the 200m in a Championships and Hayward Field record of 21.45 seconds on Thursday, making her the No. 2 performer of all-time. Fraser-Pryce was second in the 200.
The U.S. set the world record of 40.82 seconds at the 2012 London Olympics that included Allyson Felix and Carmelita Jeter. The Championships record of 41.07 seconds was set in 2015 by a Jamaican team that included Fraser-Pryce and Thompson-Herah. The U.S. set a Hayward Field record of 41.56 seconds Friday.
The U.S. is the silver-medal favorite. Other top medal contenders include Great Britain, Spain, Switzerland, and Germany.
DECATHLON (Day 1 begins at 9:50 a.m.)
The first five events of the decathlon are Saturday with Canada’s Damian Warner the favorite. He is one of only three people in history who has topped 9,000 points. He won the Olympic gold medal in Tokyo after taking the bronze medal at the 2019 World Athletics Championships, and has the No. 2 score in the world this year.
Germany’s Niklas Kaul is the defending champion from Doha. Kevin Mayer of France is the world record-holder and was the silver medalist in Tokyo, where Australia's Ashley Maloney was the bronze medalist. Estonia’s Maciel Uibo was the silver medalist in Doha.
Garrett Scantling of the U.S., the world leader with 8,867 points, has been provisionally suspended for repeated whereabouts infractions. Kyle Garland is the third in the world with 8,720 points after finishing second to Scantling at the U.S. Combined Events Championships. Garland shattered the collegiate record for the University of Georgia, but was third at the NCAA meet to Ayden Owens-Delerme, who will compete for Puerto Rico here and is ranked fifth in the world, and Leo Neugebauer, who will compete for Germany here.
Zachary Ziemek of the U.S. is ranked fourth in the world this year.
MEN’S JAVELIN (Final, 6:35 p.m.)
Six men have thrown over 89m this year and two others over 87m. Seven of those eight advanced to the final.
Grenada’s Anderson Peters is the defending champion from Doha and the world leader at 93.07m. Jakub Vadlejch of the Czech Republic was the 2020 Olympic silver medalist, and has thrown 90.88m this year. India’s Neeraj Chopra, the 2020 Olympic gold medalist, is third on the world list at 89.94m.
Finland’s Oliver Helander is fourth on the world list at 89.83m, followed by Germany’s Julian Weber (89.54m). Curtis Thompson of the United States is ranked sixth at 87.70m, and Germany’s Andreas Hoffman is seventh 87.32m.
Jan Zelezny of the Czech Republic holds the World Athletics Championships record at 92.80m.
WOMEN’S 5,000 METERS (Final, 6:25 p.m.)
The favorites include Ethiopia’s Letesebet Gidey, the 10,000m champion on Saturday, and Gudaf Tsegay, second in Monday’s 1,500m, and Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands. Hassan won this event at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics with Tsegay third. Hassan, however, has raced sparingly this season and was a surprising fourth in the 10,000m final.
Norway’s Karoline Grovdal and Ethiopia’s Dawit Seyaum are also medal contenders. Americans Elise Cranny, Karissa Schweizer and Emily Infeld would need a breakthrough to medal here. Infeld won the bronze medal at the 2015 World Athletics Championships in Beijing.
MEN’S TRIPLE JUMP (Final, 6 p.m.)
Portugal’s Pedro Pichardo is the favorite after winning the 2020 Tokyo Olympic gold medal. He was the silver medalist for Cuba at the 2013 and 2015 World Athletics Championships. He has a season best of 17.49m, and a career best of 18.08m from 2015.
Cuba’s Lazaro Martinez won the indoor World Athletics Championships gold medal in March when he jumped 17.64m.
Fabrice Zango of Burkina Faso was the bronze medalist behind four-time champion Christian Taylor (who did not make the final), and Will Claye of the U.S. in Doha. He also finished third at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, and has a career best of 18.07m. Claye was the silver medalist in 2017 and 2019 after winning bronze medals in 2011 and 2013.
China’s Zhu Yaming was the silver medalist at the 2020 Olympics, and Algeria’s Yasser Triki was fifth in Tokyo.
Italy’s Emmanuel Ihemeje was 11th in the Tokyo Olympics. He was the NCAA indoor and outdoor champion for the University of Oregon in 2021 and the NCAA indoor champion in 2022. He was third in qualifying Thursday with a season-best 17.13m.
MEN’S 800 METERS (Final, 6:10 p.m.)
Kenya’s Emmanuel Korir won the gold medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and ran a season best 1:45.38 in Thursday’s semifinals, but has a career best of 1:42.05, a second faster than anyone else in the field. Kenya’s Wyclife Kisasy is ranked second in the world at 1:43.54, and teammate Emmanuel Wanyonyi is ranked eighth in the world at 1:44.01.
Canada’s Marco Arop has run 1:43.61 this year to rank No. 3 in the world, one spot ahead of Algeria’s Djamel Sedjati, who has run 1:43.69 for a personal best this season. Australia’s Peter Bol has clocked 1:44,00 this season, No. 7 on the world list. Completing the field are Algeria’s Slimane Moula (1:44.19), and France’s Gabriel Tual (1:44.23).
WOMEN’S 4x400-METER RELAY (Heats, 5:10 p.m.)
Apparently, Allyson Felix’s World Athletics Championships career isn’t over.
The Associated Press reported Friday night that Teams USA officials asked Felix to run in the 4x400m heats to help the U.S. team qualify for Sunday’s final.
Felix ran the second leg on July 15 when the U.S. finished third behind the Dominican Republic and Netherlands to win bronze in the mixed 4x400m relay. That gave Felix her 19th Championships medal, by far the most in World Athletics Championships history. If Felix runs in the prelims and doesn’t run in the final, she still gets a medal if the U.S. is in the top three.
At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Felix won the bronze medal in the 400m, and was the only 400m runner on the U.S. team that ran in the final to win the gold medal.
MEN’S 4x400-METER RELAY (Heats, 6 p.m.)
The U.S. has won this event in seven of the past eight World Athletics Championships, and is a huge favorite to win again. Trinidad and Tobago won the gold medal in 2017 to end a streak of six straight U.S. wins before the Americans rebounded and won again in Doha.
WOMEN’S 100-METER HURDLES (Qualifying, 11:20 a.m.)
Keni Harrison and Alaysha Johnson of the United States have the top two times in the world this year as they ran 12.34 seconds and 12.35 seconds, respectively, in the U.S. Outdoor Championships. Johnson, who began her college career at the University of Oregon, is competing in her first World Athletics Championships.
Harrison is the world record-holder at 12.20 seconds but is seeking her first major global outdoor gold medal. She was second to teammate Nia Ali in the 2019 World Athletics Championships, and was second to Puerto Rico’s Jasmine Camacho-Quinn at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Camacho-Quinn has run 12.37 seconds this year, and Ali has run 12.49 seconds.
Ali Armstrong, the NCAA Outdoor Championships winner for LSU, is the fourth American in the field with a personal best of 12.47 seconds. Jamaica’s Danielle Williams was the 2015 World Athletics Championships gold medalist, and the 2019 bronze medalist. Nigeria’s Tobi Amusan is ranked fourth in the world at 12.41 seconds. Jamaica’s Britany Anderson is ranked sixth in the world at 12.45 seconds, and teammate Megan Tapper was the bronze medalist in Tokyo.
WOMEN’S LONG JUMP (Qualifying, 11:20 a.m.)
Germany’s Malaika Mihambo is the defending champion from Doha, the 2020 Tokyo Olympic gold medalist and second in the world this year at 7.09m.
Serbia’s Ivana Vuleta was the indoor World Athletics Championships gold medalist when she jumped 7.06m. She was the bronze medalist at the 2013 and 2015 outdoor Championships, and won the bronze medal at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
Australia’s Brooke Buschkuehl is the world leader at 7.13m, and Sweden’s Khaddi Sagnia is ranked fifth in the world at 6.95m.
Nigeria’s Ese Brume was the bronze medalist in Doha and Tokyo, and is ranked sixth in the world at 6.92m. Jasmine Moore of the United States was the NCAA indoor and outdoor champion for Florida this year, and Quanesha Burks of the U.S. was fifth at the indoor World Athletics Championships in March.
By Ashley Conklin
