TRIALS TALK DAY 7: VAL CONSTIEN LEADS EPIC WOMEN'S 3000M STEEPLECHASE FINAL, FIRST LOOK AT RAI BENJAMIN + SYDNEY MCLAUGHLIN-LEVRONE + 1500M ROUND 1 ANALYSIS
06/28/24 • 93 min
Did you miss us?!
The U.S. Olympic Trials are back and better than ever in the second half of the 8-day program, with incredible drama, upsets, and underdog stories across the board.
The race of the day (and perhaps the week?) was the women’s steeplechase, where a fast early pace and a topsy-turvy final lap ended with a whole slew of personal bests and rewriting of the record books. Tokyo Olympian Val Constien ended up on top thanks to a phenomenal final 400m, running 9:03.22 to PR by 11 seconds and land at #3 on the U.S. all-time list. Constien had ACL surgery last year and after a long road back is better than ever.
We got our first peeks at the 400m hurdles crew, and the main takeaway from the first round is that Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and Rai Benjamin are looking like world beaters out for an easy jog. McLaughlin-Levrone in particular shut it down entirely over the final two laps and still ran 53.07, the third-fastest performance in the world this year behind her own season’s best and Femke Bol’s world lead.
Speaking of first looks, Erriyon Knighton doesn’t seem to have missed a step as he ran his first 200m in four months, cruising through the first round with a 20.15 just behind Noah Lyles’s 20.10 in an earlier heat. And a stacked final is set for the 5000m, where reigning U.S. champ Abdi Nur takes on two of the three members of Team USA in the 10,000m, the 1500m Trials champ, and two NCAA champs.
The middle-distance rounds will continue to get more and more cutthroat, with the women’s 1500m featuring Elle St. Pierre, Heather MacLean, Cory McGee, Emily MacKay, Elise Cranny, Nikki Hiltz, Sinclaire Johnson, and more heading to the semis and Olympians Bryce Hoppel and Clayton Murphy looking ready to once again do battle in the 800m.
Did you miss us?!
The U.S. Olympic Trials are back and better than ever in the second half of the 8-day program, with incredible drama, upsets, and underdog stories across the board.
The race of the day (and perhaps the week?) was the women’s steeplechase, where a fast early pace and a topsy-turvy final lap ended with a whole slew of personal bests and rewriting of the record books. Tokyo Olympian Val Constien ended up on top thanks to a phenomenal final 400m, running 9:03.22 to PR by 11 seconds and land at #3 on the U.S. all-time list. Constien had ACL surgery last year and after a long road back is better than ever.
We got our first peeks at the 400m hurdles crew, and the main takeaway from the first round is that Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and Rai Benjamin are looking like world beaters out for an easy jog. McLaughlin-Levrone in particular shut it down entirely over the final two laps and still ran 53.07, the third-fastest performance in the world this year behind her own season’s best and Femke Bol’s world lead.
Speaking of first looks, Erriyon Knighton doesn’t seem to have missed a step as he ran his first 200m in four months, cruising through the first round with a 20.15 just behind Noah Lyles’s 20.10 in an earlier heat. And a stacked final is set for the 5000m, where reigning U.S. champ Abdi Nur takes on two of the three members of Team USA in the 10,000m, the 1500m Trials champ, and two NCAA champs.
The middle-distance rounds will continue to get more and more cutthroat, with the women’s 1500m featuring Elle St. Pierre, Heather MacLean, Cory McGee, Emily MacKay, Elise Cranny, Nikki Hiltz, Sinclaire Johnson, and more heading to the semis and Olympians Bryce Hoppel and Clayton Murphy looking ready to once again do battle in the 800m.
Previous Episode
Fred Kerley's Big Bet On Himself Pays Off, Qualifies For Paris Olympics With Third Place Finish In 100m At U.S. Olympic Trials | CITIUS MAG LIVE FROM EUGENE!
“I will forever bet on myself no matter what. If my gut is telling me something’s going wrong, I'm going to make sure it’s going right. I'm always going to bet on myself no matter what... And that’s been paying off my entire career."
Fred Kerley joins us live in Eugene after finishing third in the 100m at the U.S. Olympics Trials to book his ticket to another Olympic Games. From switching events to switching sponsors to trusting his fitness, Fred Kerley is always going to bet on himself. Fred shares about how he’s built unshakeable confidence in his abilities, what in his training indicated that he was capable of qualifying for the 100m, his goals for the Olympics, what he thinks it’ll take to win Olympic gold, and how he manages pressure. Hear more from Fred and what’s ahead for his career in this episode of the CITIUS MAG Podcast.
Host: Hosts: Chris Chavez | @chris_j_chavez on Instagram
Guest: Fred Kerley | @fkerley99 on Instagram
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CITIUS MAG LIVE From Eugene! will bring you daily interviews with athletes, coaches and notable folks in town at noon PT each day. Our guests for day seven of the Olympic Trials include Fred Kerley and Taliyah Brooks.
LIVE SHOWS
Good Morning Track and Field will start your day with some takes and updates from Eugene hosted by Eric Jenkins, Mitch Dyer and Karen Lesiewicz at 8:30 a.m. PT.
TRIALS TALK – our hit daily podcast series from 2021 – returns on The CITIUS MAG Podcast feed + streaming live immediately post-race to unpack all of the action immediately following the meet.
LIVE MEET COVERAGE
Stay updated on live results, mixed zone interviews and more on the CITIUS MAG Instagram, X and Threads pages while the meet is underway each evening. All interviews will be uploaded to our aforementioned YouTube channel.
MORNING RUNS
Also, CITIUS MAG Newsletter subscribers will be getting daily emails from the Trials as David Melly rounds up all of the biggest results, stories + our best interviews, photos and original content from Eugene. If you want to hook a friend, there’s no better time than the Trials so forward them the emails or encourage them to sign up today for FREE here: https://citiusmag.beehiiv.com/
SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS
👟 NEW BALANCE: New Balance celebrates runners of all levels and styles. They believe there’s no single ‘right’ way to run - just your way. If you run, no matter the distance, pace or frequency, you’re a runner. New Balance, Run your way. NewBalance.com/Running
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TRIALS TALK DAY 8: GRANT HOLLOWAY HURDLES INTO THE HISTORY BOOKS, GABBY THOMAS FIRES A 21.78 WARNING SHOT, HOBBS KESSLER WITH A 1:43?!
The track is HOT.
Okay, it’s actually quite pleasant by Eugene-in-June standards, with temperatures in the high 70s and a pleasant breeze that always seems to be a tailwind in Hayward Field. But the performances laid down last night in Day 8 of the Olympic Trials sure heated up the stadium — even in events where we’re not on finals yet.
For the first time in history, three men broke 13 seconds in the same 110m hurdles race as Grant Holloway picked up his second national title, made his second Olympic team, and clocked the fourth-fastest performance in history ahead of Freddie Crittenden and Daniel Roberts’s lifetime bests. Five men broke 20 seconds in the 200m semifinals led by Noah Lyles’s wind-aided 19.60, and another epic battle between Gabby Thomas and Sha’Carri Richardson is set up in the women’s 200m final.
While middle-distance rounds can sometimes get tactical, they sure didn’t tonight. It took 4:05.36 to make the final of the women’s 1500m, and the “heavy hitters” heat did not disappoint with Nikki Hiltz making a statement with a 4:01.40 win and five finishes at 4:02.14 or faster. The 1500m final will be absolutely stacked, and in the mixed zone competitors were suggesting that it may make times well under 4 minutes just to make the team.
In the men’s 800m, it’s clear that qualifying for the Games in the 1500m has lifted a weight off Hobbs Kessler’s shoulders, as he seems to be absolutely elated in each round of racing and led all semifinal qualifiers with a huge personal best of 1:43.71. Kessler skipped the 1:44s entirely as his PB heading into this weekend was 1:45.07.
It’s now officially the weekend and, bittersweetly, our final two days of action, so make sure you don’t miss any of these incredible competitions over the last few finals. If we’ve learned anything form the action we’ve seen so far, we’re in store for something very, very fast in multiple events.
CITIUS MAG LIVE From Eugene! will bring you daily interviews with athletes, coaches and notable folks in town at noon PT each day. Our guests for day three of the Olympic Trials include Nico Young, Payton Otterdahl, Kendall Ellis, and Matthew Wilkinson.
LIVE SHOWS
Good Morning Track and Field will start your day with some takes and updates from Eugene hosted by Eric Jenkins, Mitch Dyer and Karen Lesiewicz at 8:30 a.m. PT.
TRIALS TALK – our hit daily podcast series from 2021 – returns on The CITIUS MAG Podcast feed + streaming live immediately post-race to unpack all of the action immediately following the meet.
LIVE MEET COVERAGE
Stay updated on live results, mixed zone interviews and more on the CITIUS MAG Instagram, X and Threads pages while the meet is underway each evening. All interviews will be uploaded to our aforementioned YouTube channel.
MORNING RUNS
CITIUS MAG and New Balance will be hosting group runs on Sunday, June 23rd at 8 a.m. ET; Tuesday, June 25th at 8 a.m. and Saturday, June 29th at 7:30 a.m. Come on by to our pop-up next to Prince Puckler’s Ice Cream shop to meet for some easy morning miles.
All paces are welcome. We’ll be giving away shirts, hats and more. Plus, you’ll have an opportunity to try all of the latest and greatest from New Balance. We’ll also have Olipop, coffee, games and cold plunges to enjoy afterward.
Also, CITIUS MAG Newsletter subscribers will be getting daily emails from the Trials as David Melly rounds up all of the biggest results, stories + our best interviews, photos and original content from Eugene. If you want to hook a friend, there’s no better time than the Trials so forward them the emails or encourage them to sign up today for FREE here: https://citiusmag.beehiiv.com/
SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS👟 NEW BALANCE: New Balance celebrates runners of all levels and styles. They believe there’s no single ‘right’ way to run - just your way. If you run, no matter the distance, pace or frequency, you’re a runner. New Balance, Run your way. NewBalance.com/Running
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