Track & field world championships Oregon22 Saturday highlights

United States qualifies for men’s 4×400 race

In the first of two men’s 4×400 meter heats Saturday afternoon, the United States blew by the competition.

The team, with the quartet of Vernon Norwood, Elija Godwin, Bryce Deadmon and Trevor Bassitt, finished with a time of 2:58.96, coming in first place. Japan (3:01.53) and Jamaica (3:01.59) also qualified for Sunday night’s final.

Team USA's Elija Godwin hands off the baton to teammate Vernon Norwood in the first round of the men's 4x400 meter relay Saturday, July 23, 2022 at the World Athletics Championships at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore.

Belgium won the second heat as Dylan and Kevin Borlee, Julien Watrin and Jonathan Sacoor recorded a time of 3:01.96. That was ahead of the Czech Republic (3:03.42) and Poland (3:02.51).

Trinidad and Tobago (3:02.75) and France (3:03.13) also earned spots in the final.

— Antwan Staley

Allyson Felix comes out of retirement for 4×400 meter relay

United States finished first in the first heat of the 4×400 race as they recorded a time of 3:23.38. Great Britain and France finished second and third and qualified for Sunday’s final. The Netherlands, which initially finished third, was disqualified after dropping the baton and impeding on another team.

The United States and Great Britain separated from the rest early.

Allyson Felix postponed her retirement to participate in Saturday’s race for the United States. Felix ran in the second leg of the 4×400 after team officials convinced her out of a brief retirement after she helped the mixed relay team win a bronze medal in what was supposed to be Felix’s final major race last week.

USA's Allyson Felix, center, takes the baton from teammate Talitha Diggs for the second leg of the women's 4x400 meter relay on day nine of the World Athletics Championships at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon Saturday July 23, 2022.

Oregon freshman Shana Grebo was a runner on France’s team, participating in the second leg. Grebo is an Oregon record holder in the 400 hurdles with a time of 56.28. On Saturday, she helped France finish with a time of 3:28.89.

Jamaica, Belgium and Canada finished first, second and third in the second 4×400 women’s relay and will participate in Sunday’s finals.

— Antwan Staley

Alaysha Johnson out after 100 hurdle heats

Four United States women were looking to advance to Sunday’s 100-meter hurdle semifinals.

Two did not qualify during Saturday morning’s preliminary heats, including former Oregon Duck standout Alaysha Johnson.

Johnson was disqualified after hitting the first two hurdles during the fourth heat of the day. She is Oregon’s record holder with a time of 12.69 seconds.

Johnson recorded the second-fastest time in the world this year, 12.35 seconds, in finishing as runner-up in the event at the USA Track & Field Outdoor Championships last month at Hayward Field

USA's Alaysha Johnson failed to advance in the women's 100 meter hurdle heats after falling on the first hurdle during day nine of the World Athletics Championships at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon Friday July 22, 2022.

Nia Ali was also looking to defend her world title and advance to the women’s 100-meter hurdles but she crashed and fell on the final hurdle to finish in last place (19.73).

Ali was neck and neck with Anderson until the next-to-last hurdle. As Ali stumbled from the hurdle, she fell on the final hurdle.

Neither Ali nor Johnson interviewed with the media after Saturday’s race.

The United States’ Alia Armstrong and Kendra Harrison — the world record-holder — won the final two hurdle heats and advanced to Sunday’s semifinals.

Leading up to the hurdle heat, the United States had a realistic chance of finishing first, second and third in medaling. Now that Ali and Johnson are both out, that certainly won’t happen.

After Sunday’s heat, Harrison says she felt bad for both Johnson and Ali.

“I wanted the USA to get one, two, three, so we have to represent Team USA the best we can and make it through this round,” Harrison said. “It’s a shame that they didn’t make it through.”

— Antwan Staley

Rogers makes the women’s 800 final

As the third heat of the women’s 800-meter semifinals aired on a nearby TV, Raevyn Rogers casually answered questions from the media with seemingly no interest in what was still happening on the track.

She’ll need to be as unflappable Sunday.

Rogers is the reigning Olympic bronze medalist and 2019 world championships silver medalist. The former Oregon star has the added pressure of being immortalized on the Hayward Tower.

She finished third in her World Athletics Championships semifinal heat Friday night and needed to qualify for the finals on time, which meant the results of the last heat mattered significantly.

As it turned out, Rogers had nothing to worry about.

Raevyn Rogers kicks to third, left, behind Natoya Goule, second and Great Britain's Keely Hodgkinson first in their heat of the women's 800 meters during day eight of the World Athletics Championships at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon Friday July 22, 2022.

Her finish in one minute, 58.77 seconds put her into the eight-women final.

“I knew (my) heat was going to be almost just based on the people that ran it,” said Rogers, who finished behind Olympic silver medalist Keely Hodgkinson (1:58.51) of Great Britain and Jamaica’s Natoya Goule (1:58.73) , who outleaned Rogers at the line to grab the second automatic qualifier.

“I went out there and gave my best for today and can’t ask for anything more,” she said. “I tried to focus on being more aggressive, being more in it. I watched my (preliminary) race yesterday and I just felt like I looked a little sluggish. I realized I wanted to work on having a little more pop.”

Athing Mu certainly had plenty of pop herself. The Olympic champ ran the fastest time out of the three semifinals at 1:58.12. She’s the favorite to win gold Sunday.

“It’s gonna be fast,” Mu said. “We have a super deep field and I don’t know what’s gonna happen, just gonna go run how I usually run and if someone goes out there and sets the pace, I’ll be right there with them.”

Rogers and Mu will be joined by fellow American Ajee Wilson, who won her heat in 1:59.97.

— Chris Hansen

Retiring Winger finally wins world championships medal

After two ACL surgeries and countless close calls at major meets, 36-year-old javelin thrower Kara Winger earned a medal at worlds.

That silver felt like gold.

“Very, very, very cool,” Winger said.

Team USA's Kara Winger celebrates after winning a silver medal in the women's javelin Friday, July 22, 2022 at the World Athletics Championships at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore.

Winger earned it on her final throw Friday night. The long-awaited medal was given in front of basically a home crowd they grew up in Vancouver, Washington. It was the first medal for the US in the event at worlds.

Next up, retirement. But not before a few competitions in Europe — a victory tour, she cracked.

“I actually don’t know when my last throw will be, which maybe is fitting,” Winger said. “It just really helps me treat each (throw) as the last.”

— The Associated Press