HILTZ, NUGUSE TAKE HOME USATF 1500M TITLES
By David Monti, @d9monti
(c) 2023 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved – Used with permission.
EUGENE (08-Jul) — With fast finishes, Nikki Hiltz and Yared Nuguse took home the national 1500m titles tonight on the penultimate day of the 2023 Toyota USATF Outdoor Championships at Hayward Field at the University of Oregon. Hiltz, 25, who represents lululemon and trains in Flagstaff, Ariz., used a final burst of speed to win their first outdoor national title in 4:03.10. Nuguse, 24, who trains with the On Athletics Club in Boulder, Colo., had to come from behind in the homestretch to win his first national title in 3:34.90. Both athletes earned spots on Team USATF for the World Athletics Championships in Budapest next month.
While Nuguse, the North American record holder for 1500m, was the favorite to win, Hiltz was just one of eight women who had a good chance to win tonight including defending champion Sinclaire Johnson, reigning world and Olympic 800m champion Athing Mu, and 2021 Olympians Cory McGee and Heather MacLean. With so much firepower in the field, Hiltz had to use a patient strategy and time their moves just right because simply overwhelming the field wasn’t possible.
“It was kind of like, staying calm in the beginning and then making big moves at the end,” Hiltz told reporters.
Hiltz did not react when Laurie Barton of the Brooks Beasts Track Club jumped to a three-meter lead from the gun. Instead, Hiltz kept an eye on Mu, who was running in second place at 400 meters, and stayed with McGee, Johnson, teenager Addy Wiley, and MacLean. Barton was still leading at 800 meters (2:12.29) but by the time the field hit the top of the backstretch everyone was together again. The pace was strong, but not too fast so Hiltz knew that there would be a big group left at the end.
“Obviously, everyone in there is like a class act and has done incredible things,” Hiltz told reporters. “But I know that I’m a great runner, too, and I just had to believe in myself.”
At the bell, Wiley took the lead with Mu, and McGee, Hiltz and Johnson followed. Everyone else was out of it at that point. That group of five came around the final bend, and the final wind-up began. Wiley didn’t have the top-end speed of the others and had to settle for fifth in 4:04.25. Just ahead of her, Johnson, Hiltz, Mu and McGee were barreling for the tape.
“At that point it’s just bodies,” Hiltz said.
Johnson ran to exhaustion,…
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