Noah Lyles ran world leading time in the men’s 100m and Sha’Carri Richardson dominated the women’s 100m as both roared to national titles on the second day of action at the USATF Outdoor Championships in New York on Friday.
Eight finals were decided at Icahn Stadium, with Lyles making a definitive statment as he bolted to a 9.79 win as he pulled away in the last 50 meters for his third national title in the event which also served as this year’s world lead.
Ronnie Baker took second in 9.88 while Kenny Bednarek was third with a 9.88.
“Last Thursday, in practice, I ran a hand-timed 9.6,” Lyles said. “So, yeah, I knew that 9-7 was coming soon.”
But the win was far from guaranteed in a field that also included Christian Coleman, who has had sold performances during this outdoor season and a strong qualifying round a day earlier.
“Technically, I think it was the best race I’ve had so far,” Lyles said. “You know, Christian was on it. You know, he was starting to look like 2019 Christian out there. And I was like, hey, just put your hand in the pocket and don’t let them go. And whenever you take the first two steps, then I was like, yep, my hand is right in that pocket. I was like, yeah, this is my race to win.”
In the women’s 100m final, Richardson captured the title in commanding season best 10.77 that also drew a roar from the crowd as she grabbed her third national championship over Kayla White (10.90) and Tamari Davis (11.00).
Other national titles were on the line on Friday and Annette Echikunwoke need just her first attempt in the women’s hammer throw to get a comfortable 75.47m lead that would be the difference maker has she took the win over Rachel Richeson
Unattached (73.02m) and Erin Reese (72.94m).
Garrett Scantling held on to win the men’s decathlon with 8526 points despite a ninth place finish in the 1,500m, the final event of the two-day competition. Kyle Garland was second with 8431 points and Hakim McMorris’ 8312 points gave him the bronze.
In the men’s high jump Tyus Wilson secured the win with a 2.29m height on his sixth attempt in a close victory over Scottie Vines (2.26m) and Shelby McEwen (2.20m), as Euphenie Andre took the women’s triple jump on her final try as her 13.94m leap pushed her ahead of Kayla Woods (13.75m) and Kayla Pinkard (13.48m) for the title.
Both half marathon race walks closed out the second day of competition as Nick Christie won the men’s tile in 1:31:57 in an impress margin over Jordan Crawford (1:36:17) and Michael Mannozzi (1:50:52) while Lauren Harris made a statement in the women’s event with 1:38:35 win that was over nine minutes faster than Maria Michta-Coffey (1:47:44) as Angelica Harris took third in 1:49:03.
Day three of competition begins early on Saturday with the final Para events staring at 10 a.m., with the afternoon session kicking off at 1 p.m.
