Making Herstory ⏱️

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Compiled by David Melly and Paul Snyder

The Jamaican National Champs Are Ja-Makin’ Things Interesting In The Sprints 🇯🇲

Track and field in Jamaica is like nothing else in the world of track and field, or really, the world, period. If you didn’t make it to Kingston or the sketchy pay-per-view website turned you off to tuning in, you could still follow along via the thriving, and occasionally chaotic, Twitter commentary community. But if you were outside touching grass last weekend, here’s what you need to know:

Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce didn’t go quietly into the night. Track fans around the world both cheered and mourned SAFP’s pre-race announcement that these would be the final national championships for the beloved “Pocket Rocket.” At 38 years old, Fraser-Pryce has had a truly epic career as one of the sport’s all-time greats, appearing in World Championships stretching back to 2007 and having earned a whopping 24 global medals (13 gold). But she wasn’t just showing up to her fifteenth national championship to collect her flowers—she came to compete.

After a fourth-place finish in Doha raised some concerns (it was her lowest finish in a 100-meter race in four years), it looked like even a fit Fraser-Pryce would face an uphill battle, as she clocked an 11.02 in the semifinal behind Tia Clayton’s 10.86. But as she so often does, SAFP saved her best stuff for when it counted most, running a season’s best 10.91 in the final to take third behind Shericka Jackson’s 10.88 and Tina Clayton’s 10.81. Tia pulled up with an injury mid-final so we’ll never know for sure where she would’ve finished fully healthy, but regardless of anyone else’s performance, Shelly-Ann showed she can’t be counted out of any podium conversation in her specialty event when the stakes are high.

Kishane Thompson made history—and ignited a little controversy: 23-year-old Kishane Thompson—though undoubtedly one of the most talented sprinters in the world—has had a relatively quiet spring so far, running 9.99 in China for his first race of the outdoor season and then sticking to domestic races post-World Relays. He clocked a 9.88 at the Racers Grand Prix in early June, defeating Oblique Seville and Bayanda Walaza, among others, but mostly fans were looking forward to Thompson’s impending clash with Trayvon Bromell at the Prefontaine Classic (more on that below).

Thompson didn’t wait for Eugene to make his statement. He clocked a world-leading 9.80 in the semifinal, miles ahead of Kadrian Goldson and Ackeem Blake, who both went 10.05. Then he followed up that performance a few hours later with an incredible 9.75 victory in the final, improving his PB 0.02 seconds to leap from T-9th to sixth on the men’s all-time list. 

But Thompson’s night wasn’t done. When asked about whether he was practicing dipping at the finish line in his post-race interview, he said “If you’re that good, you don’t need to dip,” which some have interpreted as a shot at Noah Lyles’s Olympic-winning performance in Paris. As far as shade-throwing goes, it’s a pretty benign comment, but it’ll surely be dredged back up when Lyles returns to the racing scene.

Shericka Jackson put (some) early-season fears to rest: The sole Jamaican set to compete in both the 100m and 200m in Tokyo is Shericka Jackson, by virtue of her runner-up finish in the 100m and bye in the 200m as the reigning World champion. Jackson hasn’t been quite the unstoppable force she was in 2023, but running 10.94 and 10.88 a few hours apart makes it clear she’s back to something resembling full strength after an injury-shortened 2024 season. Jackson didn’t contest the 200m since she didn’t need to, so the jury’s still out on what her full capacity over both events may or may not be.

The next generation of great Jamaican sprinters is here: It’s not just Kishane Thompson and the 20-year-old Clayton twins—Jamaica has plenty of young talent coming up through the ranks to fill the gaps when Jackson, Fraser-Pryce, and the mysteriously absent Elaine Thompson-Herah finally do make their final exits from the international scene. 21-year-old Bryan Levell had a tough 100m final, finishing last after pulling up around 80 meters, but bounced back to win the 200m in 20.10. Thompson’s podium mates in the 100m are Oblique Seville (24 years old) and Ackeem Blake (23 years old). In fact, only one finalist in that event was born before the year 2000. If any of these athletes has a fraction of Fraser-Pryce’s longevity, we’ll be seeing them at the top of race results for the next decade or more.

A mixed bag for medal contenders in the hurdles: While Ackera Nugent and reigning World champ Danielle Williams often get top billing on the Jamaican hurdles scene, Megan Tapper has quietly been putting together a really strong year. The 2021 Olympic bronze medalist had a few early-season wins and a good run at the Philly GST meet, finishing third behind Nugent and Tia Jones, but it was still a bit of a surprise to see her set a big 0.10-second PB of 12.34 and take down Nugent in the final of the 100H last weekend. Williams, who also has a wild card into Worlds, opted not to contest the final, so we won’t know for sure how she factors into the pecking order until later in the summer.

On the men’s side, Rasheed Broadbell also had a good start to 2025, starting the season with three wins in four races, but he hit a bit of bad luck in Kingston, winning his heat but picking up an injury in warmups and ultimately not starting the final. Olympic finalist Orlando Bennett won the national title instead in 13.10, but neither of Jamaica’s Olympic champions in the event will be representing in Tokyo as Hansle Parchment finished seventh in the final and Omar McLeod did not compete.

Jamaican’s podium hopes could extend to the 400m:

2024 NCAA champ Nickisha Pryce hasn’t had quite the same success yet this year as fellow Arkansas alumnae Amber Anning and Bella Whittaker, but she took a big step forward with her first sub-50 in 11 months, defending her national title in 49.97. On the men’s side, 32-year-old Rusheen McDonald picked up the first national title of his career in 44.89, which probably causes a wide range of emotions for Jamaican fans who know McDonald has seen high highs (his PB is 43.93 and he ran 44.03 as recently as 2023), but has never quite delivered in global championship settings.

Coming off a disappointing Olympics for Jamaican track fans, where Thompson’s silver and Broadbell’s bronze were the only medals won by Jamaicans on the track, there’s plenty of reason to be excited as the nation prepares to send a team loaded with both veteran experience and young talent on a revenge mission. It’s hard to say what effect JAAA’s gamble to hold its selection event a month earlier than the U.S. will have on its athletes chances—they have more time now to rest and reset, but also had to be ready to perform three months before Worlds. But if the team comes home with a wagonload of medals, it will look like a stroke of scheduling genius.

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The Highs, Lows, And “Huh”s Of Breaking4 ⏱️

Last Thursday, Faith Kipyegon, a phalanx of pacers, and all the technology Nike had to offer took over Stade Charléty in Paris to audaciously attempt something that had never been done before in human history.

And the results were… mixed.

The 31-year-old three-time Olympic champion didn’t wilt under the bright lights by any means. She stuck her nose in the pace and hit halfway just behind schedule (2:00.75 for 800 of 1609 meters, to be exact), ultimately clocking a 4:06.42 or 4:06.91, depending on how you count. It was the fastest mile ever recorded by a woman. 

That said, the event wasn’t called “Breaking4:07,” and Kipyegon didn’t record a single lap under the 59.65-second tempo that sub-4 requires. Yes, it was an interesting novelty that built up the profile of one of the sport’s most likeable yet underappreciated stars, but if you judge success on the answer to the question “did she break four?” then it was also a failure 

It’s important to recognize what the event was and was not. Breaking4 was a glorified brand activation and a live-TV science experiment—an opportunity for the largest shoe company in the world to showcase both its cutting-edge innovation and support for women athletes. It was not, nor did it ever pretend to be, a legitimate race environment or potential counterprogramming to the Diamond League (or any other professional sporting event). Most experts thought Faith Kipyegon was doomed to fail in her attempt, and yet plenty of track fans tuned in anyway.

The world’s most-watched time trial—at least since Eliud Kipchoge’s INEOS challenge in 2019—brought with it plenty to unpack from the sports media perspective, even if its result didn’t live up to its name.

The Good: The focus of Breaking4 was largely centered on Faith Kipyegon the athlete, not the clown-car of pacers or the high-tech apparel. (As it should be!) Kipyegon has to be one of the best introductions to athletic excellence currently on offer. There are only three active athletes who hold a world record and three Olympic golds: Kipyegon, Ryan Crouser, and Mondo Duplantis. She’s earned this moment and then some.

In a sport that struggles to break into the mainstream and often tries to do so on the back of its shortest track event, the 100 meters, it’s refreshing to see a female middle distance runner with broad international appeal centered so prominently. The pomp and circumstance of Breaking4 presented a pleasant contrast, for example, to the latest chapter of the Tyreek Hill nonsense. Inherent in this presentation was a deep respect for the history and culture of professional track and field, distance running specifically, and women’s sports generally.

It was also charming to see the odd assortment of Nike-sponsored pacers take to the track in permutations yet unseen in service of a common goal. It wasn’t quite an “Avengers, assemble” moment as much as it resembled everyone showing up to the Heathrow Airport at the end of Love, Actually, but it was fun nevertheless to see Craig Engels, Georgia Hunter Bell, Grant Fisher, and Elliot Giles, to name a few, toe the same start line while Eliud Kipchoge cheered from the sidelines.

And Big Swoosh deserves credit for going all-in on the promotion of this event. The main Nike social accounts were all full of Faith Kipyegon content leading up to the time trial, and it makes a real difference to get track and field on the feeds of @Nike’s 300 million Instagram followers. The event was also streamed for free on YouTube and accessible on Amazon’s Prime Video service, making it an unusually easy running event to tune into.

Faith Kipyegon may be the LeBron James of the women’s mile, but she’s not the LeBron James of… y’know, sports. So seeing Nike elevate her profile into that same tier feels like more than an acknowledgment of her storied career; it feels like Nike is putting their money where its mouth is to boost Kipyegon’s name recognition to a broader audience. In a Lap Count reader’s perfect world, Faith is as much a household name as Tiger or Serena, and Breaking4 felt like a genuine effort to make that dream a little more real.

The Bad: One of the most baffling elements of Breaking4 happened before Kipyegon ever set foot on the track: why the heck was Carl Lewis there?

The legendary Olympic sprinter and long jumper was perfectly pleasant on the pre-broadcast analyst panel, which also featured Olympic 800m champion Keely Hodgkinson and Nike coach Diljeet Taylor, herself a former pro middle distance runner. There are countless qualified athletes both active and former who have impressive medal shelves, receive a Nike paycheck, and would have thoughtful things to say about middle distance running… but instead, it feels like someone on the production team Googled “famous track and field guy” and made a hiring decision based on the first result.

Then there’s what happened in the moments after Faith crossed the finish line, but didn’t fully come to light until days later. When Kipyegon completed her journey ‘round the track and stopped the clock, it first flashed “4:06.91” before correcting to “4:06.42” about a minute later. At the time, it seemed like a bit of a moot point: either way, she ran faster than her official world record but was way off the 4:00.00 target. And anyone who’s watched a track broadcast on TV before knows that often the clock stops at a slightly different mark than the FAT-official time, although usually by one or two hundredths of a second.

But this was no timing gaffe—unbeknownst to the public and with no prior announcement, Nike was tracking (and touting) Kipyegon’s moving time, not her time from the firing of the starting gun. Had she run something like 4:00.3 and Nike had corrected to 3:59.8, this would’ve been a way bigger source of controversy, but instead it was notable only by the weird vagueness with which Nike let the information trickle out. The statement the company ultimately provided to Runner’s World is one of the most opaque, public-relations-by-committee bits of corporate gobbledegook ever typed out.

For an event where so many racing conventions were being defied in the name of performance optimization, it shouldn’t be a big deal to also change the way the race is timed. The unforced error was simply not telling people first and being evasive about it when confronted. The race wasn’t official anyways, so why not just be proactive and honest with your communications?

The Rest: The timing controversy, while marginal and unimportant, speaks to something fundamentally frustrating about how this event was messaged after the fact. Seemingly nobody involved was downplaying the monumental task being laid upon Kipyegon’s shoulders, but everyone was also adamant that a sub-four mile was possible.

Yet, after the race, Patrick Sang, Kipyegon’s coach, mused: “Looking back, is there anything that we could have done better? I don't think so. We gave our best in planning and execution, and today, she gave her best.”

How can both things be true? That Faith could have broken four minutes, but also couldn’t have done anything better?

Nike’s social media after the race chose an optimistic approach, focusing on the world-best performance and reiterating the inevitability of an eventual female sub-four. It’s understandable that the brand wouldn’t want to imply that Kipyegon or the team responsible for her tech hadn’t done their jobs. But it creates a mind-bending cognitive dissonance to dance around reality for the sake of a good narrative.

It might be foolishly naive to beg for authenticity from an event that was as much sports marketing as sport, but there was an opportunity here to do something radical. Nike prides itself on its unconventional, attention-grabbing marketing tactics. The standard response to taking a big swing and coming up short is to fire up the spin machine to find the positive angle, but it can feel inauthentic to try and frame everything as a success.

To quote Jedi Master Yoda, “pass on what you have learned: strength, mastery, yes, but also weakness, folly, failure… The greatest teacher, failure is.” The radical and more interesting move here would be to embrace what was ultimately a failed attempt to make history. We tried to do something, and we came up short: let’s figure out why.

The greatest achievements in history almost universally came after years of trial and error. We humans rarely get anything right on the first try. The Wright Brothers smashed up a bunch of wooden airplanes on the beach before they finally got one off the ground. More aptly, Roger Bannister spent all of 1953 running in the 4:02 to 4:03 range. Learning to process disappointment, adapt, and grow is important role modeling for young athletes all over the world and is far more relatable than winning a gold medal.

When the story of Faith Kipyegon is complete, Breaking4 will be an asterisk one way or another. It’ll either be seen as a fun bit of trivia, a footnote on the career of the greatest miler of the 21st century when she ran out of conventional milestones to achieve, or, like Breaking2, it’ll be a precursor we reflect on in the next year or two when Faith runs 3:59 in Breaking4 Part 2: 4Real This Time.

What it won’t do is define Kipyegon’s legacy. She’s already bigger than any one day on the track. Instead, Faith will be remembered for more than a decade of consistent dominance, a medal shelf richer than a pirate’s chest, and the generations she inspired along the way.

The 50th Prefontaine Classic Loads Up On Talent And Storylines 🥳

Who do you want to come to your 50th birthday party?

If your answer to that question includes Yared Nuguse, Faith Kipyegon, Quincy Hall, and Tara Davis-Woodhall, great minds think alike, as the Prefontaine Classic organizers have pulled out all the stops in preparation for the 50th edition of the historic meet hosted at formerly-historic, now-refurbished Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon.

The action kicks off on Saturday, July 5 at 1pm EDT (10am PDT), with the TV window, beginning at 4pm E.D.T. on NBC and Peacock (subscription required). A full schedule of events can be found here, and live results can be found here. It’s hard to compress what might be the most talent-filled meet of the year outside the World Championships into a few key storylines, but we did our best.

The official return of Athing Mu-Nikolayev. Let’s be honest, after the former World and Olympic champ regained her racing legs in mid-5000m tempo runs and B-heat 1500ms, this is her season debut. The last time Mu-Nikolayev (congrats on the wedding!) contested Pre, she set the American record of 1:54.97, the only sub-1:55 clocking by a U.S. athlete to date and the ninth fastest mark of all time. But it’s been nearly a full year since Mu-Nikolayev ran an 800m, after a hamstring tear and fall at Olympic Trials derailed her 2024 campaign. She enters the Pre Classic a largely unknown quantity, against a strong but not insurmountable field. 

With Olympic champ Keely Hodgkinson still working her way back from injury, her biggest competition will come from 2023 World champ Mary Moraa and the two fastest women in the world this year, Tsige Duguma and Prudence Sekgodiso. If Mu-Nikolayev is at or near the top of her game, the field shouldn’t be a huge problem. But if she’s still getting reacquainted with pack racing and 1:56 pace, Moraa’s unpredictable racing style may open the door for someone like Duguma, Shafiqua Maloney, or even Raevyn Rogers to capitalize with a well-timed kick.

A ridiculous women’s 100m sets up a Paris rematch. All year, we’ve been watching Julien Alfred and Melissa Jefferson-Wooden lay down fast times on opposite sides of the globe, salivating over the inevitable collision between the Olympic champ and three-time Grand Slam champ. Oh yeah—and Jefferson-Wooden’s training partner, reigning World champ Sha’Carri Richardson, will be there as well, alongside Tia and Tina Clayton. Short of expanding the track to 11 lanes to include Shericka Jackson and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, this is a dream mid-season, all-star matchup. With a favorable forecast and Hayward Field’s speedy straightaway, a winning time in the 10.6 range feels doable.

Alfred has to be considered the favorite as she’s the reigning gold medalist, has looked amazing all spring, and hasn’t lost all year. But Richardson has the fastest PB in the field, Jefferson-Wooden has clearly leveled up, and Tina Clayton is coming off a scintillating win at Jamaican Trials. Alfred rarely has an off day, but it’s entirely possible that she could run really, really well and still get beat by a stellar performance from a grade-A field.

Another epic Jamaica-USA battle in the men’s 100m. Much like in the women’s event, the headline of the men’s 100m features two stars who’ve been separately red-hot, finally going head-to-head. Kishane Thompson has put a massive target on his back thanks to his performance at Jamaican Trials, but Trayvon Bromell has just as good a chance as Thompson at taking the win and has a good history at Prefontaine, winning the 2022 edition over a field that included Noah Lyles, Fred Kerley, Christian Coleman, and Letsile Tebogo. Coleman is also entered in the 2025 field, along with potential contenders like Ackeem Blake and 2023 World medalist Zharnel Hughes, but for all intents and purposes, this is a two-man, two-nation battle for the win.

Sidenote: Tebogo won’t be in the 100m, but he’s facing off with Kenny Bednarek over 200m, and after facing some small injury setbacks earlier in the season, he’ll need to be operating close to 100% to hold off Kung Fu Kenny, who’s already having a season for the ages.

Kenyan Trials, featuring Conner Mantz. Outside the TV window, 12 Kenyans and a smattering of international athletes will circle the track 25 times to help the Athletics Kenya selectors pick a 10,000m team. With race-time temperatures likely around 70 degrees Fahrenheit, it certainly could be cooler. Last year, the top six finishers in the men’s race broke 27 minutes and Beatrice Chebet set a world record in the women’s (which isn’t happening this year), so getting under the World standard of 27:00 is certainly in the cards. And that could be why Conner Mantz is dropping down in distance from the marathon to test his mettle against the field. Mantz qualified for Team USA in the marathon but deferred his spot in that event. 

With Chicago already on his calendar and the World Championship 10,000m scheduled for September 14th, it’s no guarantee that Mantz would want a spot in the 10,000m should he qualify, but a sub-27 here would at least give him the option. Either way, he’s likely better his 27:25.23 PB, and a spot on the U.S. all-time top-10 (currently 27:07.57 or faster) feels well within reach. Up front, it’ll likely become a Kenya-Ethiopia dual meet.and Ethiopia has the edge going off resumes, with Selemon Barega, Biniam Mehary, and Berihu Aregawi all entered with PBs under 26:40. But keep an eye on Flagstaff-based Edwin Kurgat, who made a bid for the win last year before ending up fourth.

Which events to be on record watch. The meet schedule has been shuffled to put the women’s 1500m last on the program, and with Faith Kipyegon coming off an unofficial 4:06 mile, it would seem a legit possibility that she sets her third world record in the 1500m here. Her compatriot Beatrice Chebet is entered in the 5000m, and after she ran 13:54 on the roads, it feels inevitable that she will one day become the first sub-14 runner on the track—but will that day be Saturday?

Eventually, Mondo Duplantis will run out of space to improve his own world record in the pole vault, but it sure seems like he could still notch up the standards another centimeter or two for the foreseeable future. And he’s got a good track field record at Hayward, where he set WRs at Worlds in 2022 and at Pre in 2023.

Last but certainly not least, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone may still be over a second off the world record in the women’s 400m, but the past few years it’s felt like Sanya Richards-Ross’s 48.70 American record is living on borrowed time. It may be a tall order with neither Marileidy Paulino nor Salwa Eid Naser in the race to push her, but bet against Sydney on the start line at your own peril.

A Jakob-less Bowerman Mile still promises fireworks. Was Azeddine Habz’s performance at the Paris DL a flash in the pan or the arrival of a star? We’ll find out on Saturday when he takes on two-thirds of the Olympic podium in Cole Hocker and Yared Nuguse, plus 2022 World champ Jake Wightman back on the track where he won his title.

Habz enters with the fastest 1500m PB on the year, but this race could go in any of a dozen different directions, with veterans like Tim Cheruiyot, Olli Hoare and Neil Gourley lined up against rising stars like Tshepiso Masalela, Cameron Myers, and Niels Laros. Plus, Grant Fisher is dropping down in distance for his first mile race in a decade (although he’s coming off a lifetime best in the 1500m indoors). Good luck picking a winner in this one.

There’s about a million more events with top-level talent in this one, so keep an eye on our sibling newsletter over at CITIUS MAG for an even longer preview. So whether you’re celebrating America’s birthday, the Pre Classic’s, or both, this whole long weekend is shaping up to be quite the party.

More News From The Track And Field World 📰

– Rest in peace to Oregon coaching legend and three-time Olympian Bill Dellinger. Dellinger won a bronze medal in the 5000m at the 1964 Tokyo Games, led the Ducks to five NCAA titles, and coached 108 All-Americans.

– At the Iron Wood Classic in northern Idaho, Chase Jackson’s new U.S. record-setting shot put heave (20.95m) was the longest throw in the world since 2013, and Payton Otterdahl’s throw of 22.09m was the second best in the world this season.

– Caleb Olson (14:11:25) and Abby Hall (16:37:16) won the Western States 100, both in historically great times. Olson’s finish was the second-fastest ever by a man on the course, and Hall’s performance ranks her fourth all-time for women. Hall’s win was especially impressive, given the comeback it required from a gnarly, surgery-requiring injury she sustained two years ago.

– Two-time NCAA 1500m champion Nathan Green has signed a professional contract with Adidas. The former Washington Husky will remain in Seattle, and continue training under coach Andy Powell.

– NAU alum Maggi Congdon, fresh off a third-place showing in the NCAA 1500m final, inked a pro deal with Nike. She will continue training in Flagstaff, now as part of coach Mike Smith’s professional group.

– We finally got a Tyreek Hill versus Lyles 100m race. It happened at a sprints-only meet north of Austin, Texas. Hill ran faster than Lyles. (Did we mention it wasn’t Noah, but Josephus Lyles?) Hill placed sixth in the prelims, running 10.10. Lyles went 10.25 for 12th. NFL team training camps start up in a few weeks, so hopefully that’s the end of this saga.

– Correction: In last week’s newsletter we incorrectly stated that Emily Mackay left New Balance. She has left the New Balance Boston training group, but is still a New Balance-sponsored athlete.

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