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≡ GRAND SLAM TRACK II ≡
The second of four legs of the debut season of Grand Slam Track was at the Ansin Sports Complex in Miramar, Florida, with warm, 82-degree (F) temperatures and the racing was predictably fast … really fast, with three world leads:
● Men/200 m: 19.86, Jereem Richards (TTO) and Alexander Ogando (DOM)
● Women/5,000 m: 14:25.80, Agnes Ngetich (KEN)
● Women/100 m hurdles: 12.17, Masai Russell (USA) ~ American Record
Here’s what happened in the races:
● Women/100 m hurdles (short hurdles):
The weather was warm at 82 F at the start, but this race was historically hot!
The Olympic silver medalist, Cyrena Samba-Mayela (FRA) couldn’t go, so Olympic champ Masai Russell of the U.S. had an open lane to her right. Off the gun, Russell in four and fellow American Tia Jones in lane one – the world leader at 12.49 – were both terrific and in rhythm.
They edged ahead of the field and were clear of all others by the eighth hurdle, but kept close and Russell only gained a definitive edge off the final hurdle and crossed in a brilliant 12.17, with legal wind of 2.0 m/s!
It’s the no. 2 performance of all time and an American Record, taking down Keni Harrison’s 12.20 from 2016; Harrison was in the race as a Challenger and was fourth in 12.40.
Jones was a sensational second in 12.19, the no. 3 performance all-time and now no. 2 all-time U.S. Jamaica’s Ackera Nugent was third in 12.34. Wow.
● Men/1,500 m (short distance):
The 800 m runners embarrassed the milers in the first Slam in Kingston, but made sure they were going to be at or near the front in Miramar.
Olympic 1,500 m bronze medalist Yared Nuguse of the U.S. had the lead, with Britain’s 2023 World Champion Josh Kerr on his shoulder and Canadian Olympic 800 m silver winner Marco Arop and Olympic 1,500 m champ Cole Hocker (USA) in fourth. The pace was reasonable – 60.96 and 1:58.03 – but no one was getting away.
At the bell, Nuguse still led with Kerr close, but Arop came hard on the outside to challenge for the lead with 200 m to go. Coming into the final straight, Nuguse barely had a lead over Hocker coming on hard the inside, but Kerr was flying in lane two with Arop chasing.
Finally, Kerr had too much for everyone else and got to the line in 3:34.51, ahead of Nuguse (3:34.65), who held off Hocker (3:34.79). Arop faded to seventh in 3:35.95.
● Men/400 m hurdles (long hurdles):
Everyone expected Brazil’s 2022 World Champion, Alison dos Santos, to win and he did.
But he was behind NCAA champ Caleb Dean of the U.S., who was rolling in the lead through hurdle seven, but then clubbed the eighth hurdle and dos Santos took a clear lead and won in 47.97, just behind his 47.61 in the Kingston Slam.
Dean clobbered the 10th hurdle and veered into an adjacent and Chris Robinson – the 400 m world leader at 44.15 and the 2023 NCAA winner – came up for second at 48.92, with Malik James-King (JAM: 49.43) in third. Dean lost stride and ended up fifth in 49.90.
That’s two in a row for dos Santos, who won the Slam in Kingston
● Women/5,000 m (long distances):
Kenya’s Agnes Ngetich, the 10 km road world-record holder, had the lead through the first 1,000 m, ahead of Medina Eisa (ETH), and after 1,400 m, Ngetich and Eisa had broken away with a 25 m lead by seven laps left.
Ethiopia’s Hirut Meshesha moved up to within 15 m as the pace slowed at 3,000 m. With three laps left, Ngetich and Eisa were comfortably ahead and although Ngetich asked Eisa to share some of the leading effort, but Eisa was completely uninterested.
They were 1-2 right into the final straight and Eisa went to a full sprint, but Ngetich was having none of it, pumping her arms furiously and getting to the line a well-deserved win in a lifetime best of 14:25.80, the world leader in 2025.
Eisa, the 2024 Olympic finalist, was second in 14:25.92, then Meshesha well back in third (14:40.46); American Elise Cranny was eighth in 15:15.31.
● Men/200 m (long sprints):
Off the gun, it was Dominican star Alexander Ogando who stormed to the lead on the turn, but was challenged on the straight by Jereem Richards (TTO), and they were rolling to the line together.
Maybe Richards had a tiny edge in the final 3 m, but Ogando came back and they were both timed in a world-leading 19.86 (+1.7), with Ogando equaling his national record. Richards was awarded the win.
Zambia’s Muzala Samukonga came up for third in 20.23 and Tokyo Olympic 400 m champ Steven Gardiner, a new Racer, got fourth at 20.37.
● Women/100 m (short sprints):
A strong field, with Melissa Jefferson-Wooden, the Kingston Slam winner, and she was out well with Tamari Davis, the 2023 Worlds finalist, following close. Jefferson-Wooden was exceptional in the middle of the race and got away from everyone except Davis by 70 m.
Jefferson-Wooden got to the line is a sizzling in 10.75, with an over-the-allowable 2.4 m/s wind, with Davis at 10.79w, then Favour Ofili (NGR) at 10.94w.
Olympic 200 m champ Gabby Thomas of the U.S. came down to the short sprints and had a poor start, but came up for fourth in 10.97w, ahead of Jacious Sears (USA: 10.98w).
● Men/3,000 m (long distance):
Kenyan Ronald Kwemoi went right to the front, with George Mills (GBR) close, but the pace slowed that kept everyone in contention with three laps to go.
Sam Atkin (GBR) got going with two laps to go to try and break the race up, with Mills and American star Grant Fisher moving up. Mills took the bell with Fisher chasing now and fellow American Cooper Teare third.
Fisher pulled past Mills in a dead sprint on the final straight, but it was Ireland’s Paris 1,500 m Olympian Andrew Coscoran who had the most speed and got to the line first in a slow 8:17.56 (25.78 last 200 m), moving up from fourth with 80 m left. Fisher got second in 8:17.60, Mills ended up third in 8:17.77 and Teare was fourth in 8:18.08.
● Women/400 m (long sprints):
The field was strong, with world leader Salwa Eid Naser (BRN) and Olympic champion Marileidy Paulino (DOM) back and World Indoor Champion Amber Anning (GBR) and NCAA champ Bella Whittaker of the U.S.
Off the gun, Naser was out like a shot and had a definite lead at 200 m in lane seven. But Paulino had her in full view in lane six and was marking Naser on the final turn. Into the straight, they were even and Paulino had the momentum and got to the tape with the win in 49.21, with Naser in 49.33.
American Alexis Holmes was a solid third in 50.36 with Whittaker fourth at 50.38.
An exciting end to a strong first day, with two more to go.
Unfortunately, 2022 men’s 100 m champion Fred Kerley, a Racer, was arrested on Thursday in Dania Beach, Florida, on battery charges against U.S. hurdles star Alaysha Johnson; he was released on bond. Johnson ran Friday and was sixth in the women’s 100 m hurdles. Kerley will now not be running in the Miramar Slam in the short sprints.
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Scoring in each event group (two races) is 12-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 and the placers in each group will win $100,000-50,000-30,000-25,000-20,000-15,000-12,500-10,000.
Saturday’s meet is also from 5-8 p.m. Eastern time on Saturday (on The CW and Peacock) and earlier on Sunday, 3-6 p.m., also on The CW and Peacock.
Off the track, the crowd at the 5,000-capacity facility was mostly full on the home straight and maybe 1,000 folks on the backstraight.
The broadcast changed analysts with Citius Magazine founder Chris Chavez replacing Matthew Centrowitz, with Chavez having plenty to say on everything, where Centrowitz limited his comments to the distance races.
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