What We Learned from the 2024 U.S. Track and Field Trials

Coley Harvey, ESPN Editor-in-ChiefJuly 3, 2024, 7:35 a.m. ET

ClosePreviously covered Florida State for Orlando Sentinel and Georgia Tech for Macon Telegraph Graduated from Northwestern University

For the past week and a half, a miniature Eiffel Tower has stood proudly on the University of Oregon's Hayward Field athletic field. It's wrapped in a material that can be written on with Sharpie markers and is eventually covered in autographs.

Each of the names signed on the tower belonged to an American athlete who will compete in Paris next month – the signatures symbolically showing the world who had qualified for the Olympics.

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Now that the U.S. Olympic track and field trials are over, it's interesting to look back on the nine days in Eugene, Oregon, that helped shape the U.S. team. The trials had their share of major disappointments, broken world records, winners, losers and other surprises.

While Sha'Carri Richardson, Noah Lyles, Gabby Thomas and Ryan Crouser have shown the expected dominance ahead of Olympic qualifying – and 16-year-old Quincy Wilson has emerged as a star – other athletes have also made headlines.

Here are some key takeaways from an eventful week at the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials:

Sydney sets the tone

With two Olympic appearances under her belt, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, 24, is in a prime position to make even more noise at her third Olympics after setting the trials alight in the 400-metre hurdles final on Sunday.

She had already won gold at the Tokyo Games three years ago, sprinting in 51.46 seconds. But in Paris this summer, it is possible that her times will be significantly lower.

Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone set a new world record in the women's 400-meter hurdles final at the Olympic trials. Patrick Smith/Getty Images

On Sunday, during the trials, she stunned everyone who followed her on the oval and around the country, breaking the world record in 50.65 seconds in the final. It is entirely possible that she will surpass the 50-second mark, or even go below it, in Paris.

No other woman has managed to achieve such fast times in the 400 metres hurdles.

“I'm really shocked. Honestly, I'm shocked,” McLaughlin-Levrone said of her time after Sunday's final. “I didn't expect that time.”

During her young and rich career, she has now set the world record in the 400 metres hurdles five times.

Grief strikes Mu

The biggest surprise of the trials came in the women's 800 metres final. Reigning Olympic gold medallist Athing Mu failed to qualify after being jostled early in the race, causing her to fall to the back of a pack she was unable to catch.

Mu recovered, but she had lost too much ground and finished last.

The 22-year-old later appealed the result, claiming that contact with a competitor caused her to trip and fall. But the appeal was dismissed.

Athing Mu fell 200 metres from the women's 800 metres final. Patrick Smith/Getty Images

Mu came into the trials with some rust. She hadn't competed in nearly nine months, spending much of that time dealing with multiple hamstring injuries, including one she suffered as recently as late April.

After her fall, a video from mid-May began circulating showing the Olympic champion riding a scooter on a track with her left leg propped up. In it, Mu can be heard saying: “Four weeks before the Olympics, I tore my thigh. It was so much fun.”

Moments after winning her trials semifinal on June 23, she alluded to her limited preparation.

“We missed a little bit of training,” Mu told reporters. “But we picked it up and here we are back.”

In that same post-race interview, Mu was asked about another crash involving another rider right at the finish line of her semifinal. She acknowledged being bumped and tripped throughout her first two runs in the trials, blaming it all on the close-competition style of the race.

At 41, Lolo Jones shows what's possible

The last time Jones, an accomplished Summer and Winter Olympian, competed in track and field trials, the U.S. team was preparing for another Olympics in Europe.

It was 2012. London was the host city. She eventually qualified for those Olympics in the 100-meter hurdles event, but ultimately finished fourth, missing out on a medal.

At this year's trials, her first in 12 years, Jones' goals were a little different. This time, she simply wanted to be an example to young Olympic hopefuls of what is possible for them.

“Sometimes it feels like the world is over at 20 if you’re not on a team,” Jones said. “I hope to show them that you can still be in your 40s and be good enough to qualify for the Olympic trials.”

“And I hope someone after me is good enough to start at 40. Sports science is improving.”

Lolo Jones competed in the women's 100-meter hurdles at the age of 41. Patrick Smith/Getty Images

After a series of meets in March and April, Jones qualified for the Olympic track and field trials at the Drake Relays in Iowa.

A month after earning her spot in Eugene with a time of 13.10 seconds, Jones suffered an injury. Both of her hamstrings were strained and lingered until the day before her heat.

The pain was so intense that she was only able to complete one of the ten obstacles in her path during training the day before.

“It was a miracle, kind of like the Red Sea,” Jones said after finishing in 14.86 seconds in his first heat. “What are you waiting for? I’m almost 42.”

“But look, what I ran was one of my slowest times of the year. I’ve run faster. I don’t want people to think that’s what a 40-year-old can do. I was in the 13s and I was about to run 12 seconds, and I just got hurt. And it’s not an old-age injury. It’s an injury I get all the time as a hurdler.”

Jones said she had overcome two Grade 2 hamstring tears and a severe cramp in the two weeks leading up to the trials.

“I’m just so grateful for everyone who cheered me on,” said Jones, who began to cry as she recalled a standing ovation during the introductions. “It’s been so long that I thought people had forgotten. It means the world to me that people remember my name or yell my name because I was terrified on the starting line.”

“For me, just crossing the start line and getting through the 10 obstacles was a huge victory.”

In the semi-final a day later, Jones ran 14.50 seconds, failing to qualify for the final.

Olympic expectations end in disappointment

Victories and qualifications have eluded several athletes who were expected to be Olympic medallists in Paris.

Among them were Christian Coleman, the world's top-ranked 100-meter sprinter, Nia Ali, pole vaulter and veteran KC Lightfoot. Ali and Lightfoot have competed in the Olympics before, and Coleman has won gold medals at the world championships.

Lightfoot, the American record holder, failed to make it past the first round.

For Ali, a fourth-place finish in the 100-meter hurdles final sealed her fate. She finished just 0.06 seconds behind Olympic-training hurdlers Alaysha Johnson and Grace Stark. Both finished behind race winner Masai Russell, who ran the race in 12.25 seconds.

As for Coleman, he left Eugene empty-handed in his individual events, a testament to the depth of talent among American sprinters. He was fourth fastest in both the men's 100 and 200-meter finals.

The first three qualify for Paris.

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