Fear and Loathing from Eugene, Day 4, The Agony and the Ecstacy of the Olympic Trials, An Imperfect system has honesty and brutality to our sport.
Many will remember the sight of Athing Mu in tears from this night, and that is the brutal honesty found in an ee Cummings poem (P.S. He is from Saint Louis, my hometown).
It is the honesty and brutality of the Trials. I recall Terry Albritton, Stanford shot putter and WR holder, who did not make it through the 1976 Trials. I recall Dan O’Brien staring down the runway of his third pole vault attempt at the New Orleans 1992 Trials, stopping, then starting, pure panic in his eyes. He would not make the 1992 team but would win in 1996 and set WR in the Fall of 1992, but the panic in the stands when the odds on favorite for decathlon gold in Barcelona did not make it.
Women’s High Jump
Charity Hufnagel won the High Jump in 1.94m, a personal best of 6 feet 4.5 inches. Rachel Glen also cleared 1.94m and made the team.
13-time US champion Vashti Cunningham needed a jump-off to guarantee her slot in the Paris team, with a 1.91m, 6 feet 3 .5 inch clearance. Vashi Cunningham, who has cleared 2.02 meters (2021), is gaining fitness.
To be serious about a medal in Paris, these women will have to clear 2 meters.
Men’s Long Jump
Jeremiah Davis leaped 8.20 meters, 26-11, on his third attempt, the winning jump. Malcolm Clemons leaped 8.18 meters on his sixth attempt, moving from sixth (8.05m) to the silver medal, and Jarrion Lawson went from fifth to bronze with his 8.18-meter jump (26-10).
Men’s 1,500 meters
A race for the Ages.
Yarod Nuguse, AR holder in the mile, led at 400 meters in 56 seconds, 800 meters in 1:55.30, and 1,200 meters in 2:51.33, running his third lap in 56.03.
The pace was brutal and honest.
On his shoulder was 21-year-old wunderkind Hobbs Kessler, who was going to make this team, come hell or high water.
So was Cole Hocker.
Cole Hocker, the 2021 Olympic Trials champion at 1,500 meters, took the lead with 250 meters to go in a brilliantly mad sprint to the finish.
He got the jump on everyone, and Hocker set an MR of 3:30.59 in his win, and also a PB.
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