Sydney’s Mission to Sha’Carri’s Redemption: Nationals Preview

^{July 30, 2025 | Edition #162}

👋 Hey, Speedsters!

This is the best time to be a track and field fan! The USA Outdoor Championships 2025 start tomorrow. And the whole of America might be expecting electrifying showdowns! After all, it's do or die for some. Not everyone competing in Eugene this weekend will fly to Tokyo in September. So, who is up against whom? Where and when to watch? All questions answered in this preview edition!

🌟 Track Stories

Track Is Stacked!

In the next 2 minutes, you'll know how electric the track lineups are for the US Nationals!

Women’s 100m:  This one is going to be tight! After all, Sha’Carri Richardson, Melissa Jefferson-Wooden, Jacious Sears, Twanisha Terry, Tamari Davis, and more are going against each other. Richardson, the defending national champion, seems out of form, while Melissa, the current world lead, looks all ready to turn the tables. Watch how Richardson pushed Jefferson off the podium in 2023!

Finals on Friday, 6:36 P.M. PT.

Men’s 100m: Spoiler Alert! Fred Kerley has pulled out at the very last minute for an unknown reason. But it hasn’t affected the field…as despite a bye, Noah Lyles will run his second 100m of the year, testing himself against Trayvon Bromell, Kenny Bednarek, both former 2025 world leads. Also, this might be Coleman's last chance to make his season count, but don't be surprised if the youngsters Maurice Gleaton, Tate Taylor, or Brandon Hicklin snatch the win from the pros!

Finals on Friday, 6:50 P.M. PT.

Women's 200m: Gabby Thomas will face both the athlete who beat her in the last 12 months, Brittany Brown, and Melissa. The reigning Olympic champ will come looking for redemption. But expect more fireworks with Sha'Carri Richardson and McKenzie Long's rematch after the 2024 Trials, where the NCAA phenom defeated Richardson. Amid all this, don’t sleep on Anavia Battle, who is undefeated this year and also already left Shericka Jackson chasing behind!

Finals on Sunday, 2:13 P.M. PT.

Men's 200m: Noah Lyles will come looking for 5th national title. He has already defeated Letisle Tebogo, the then-world leader, so he can do it. But there's also T'mars McCallum, who snatched the world lead from Tebogo in 19.73 seconds. Also, the 2023 USA's 200m winner, Erriyon Knighton, is there too. And with Kenny in the mix too, it’s going to be electric!

Finals on Sunday, 2:22 P.M. PT.

Men’s & Women’s 400m: All eyes will be glued on two names, Quincy Wilson and Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone. Wilson’s got a clear shot to get his first U.S. senior title with Quincy Hall and Michael Norman both injured. Vernon Norwood and Christopher Bailey are there, but Wilson’s form after that 44.10, U18 WR, is undeniable. Meanwhile, Sydney’s season-best places her behind Aaliyah Butler and Isabella Whittaker. Sydney did clock 48.74 in 2023 and is eyeing Sanya Richards-Ross’s American record! So do expect some Sydney Magic…

Men’s finals on Saturday, 1:11 P.M. PT.
Women’s finals on Saturday,1:03 P.M. PT.

Men’s & Women’s Hurdles: Olympic Champion and American Record Holder Masai Russell is the favourite 100m hurdler, but facts are facts. She has had a few recent losses (Monaco, Pre-Classic, Brescia). So will she leave Tia Jones, and others like Alaysha Johnson, the top 10 in the world this year, chasing her? Let’s see. On the men’s side, Grant Holloway is back looking for revenge from Cordell Tinch and Trey Cunningham, both of whom have beaten him this season. So it’s going to be fiery!

Men’s finals on Sunday, 2:54 P.M. PT.
Women’s finals on Saturday, 2:25 P.M. PT.

Others: In the 400m hurdles, there isn’t much buzz this year. After all, Sydney skipped it, but we do have Dalilah Muhammad and Anna Cockrell. On the men’s side, Rai Benjamin’s win is written on the wall. Well, he has won all the US Champs since 2019 and is the current world lead. In the 800m, Athing Mu made a last-minute entry to push for the World qualifying standard. Finally, the men’s 1500m will be a tight battle between Yared Nuguse, Cole Hocker, and Hobbs Kessler!

Women’s 400m hurdles finals on Sunday, 1:54 P.M. PT.
Men’s 400m hurdles on Sunday, 1:43 P.M. PT.
Women’s 800m on Sunday, 1:26 P.M. PT.
Men’s 1500m finals on Saturday, 2:14 P.M. PT.

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📈 Trending News

Field Like Never Before

Coming to the field side of things, here’s what you can expect!

Long jump: Let’s start with the fan favorite, Tara Davis-Woodhall. She brings the energy every time, and this year, she may have a special target for the US Nationals. She has won it back-to-back for the past two years, so she will be coming for that three-peat! After all, just look at her season! Three events, all three wins. Her season best jump came at Prefontaine: a massive 7.07m. Missed it? Watch below!

Women’s Long Jump finals on Thursday, 6:00 P.M.. PT

Pole Vault: We’ve got a legend competing here….Sam Kendricks. Silver in Paris 2024, bronze back in Rio 2016, and a two-time world champ (London 2017 and Doha 2019). And now, he is aiming to make another World Championships team! This should be child’s play for him.

Over to the women's side, it will feature two American pros: Katie Moon and Sandi Morris, gripped in a rivalry. Moon took gold at Paris 2024 and the last two Worlds. She also finished second at the London DL, managing 4.73m despite the rain-soaked runway. But Sandi is the Rio silver medalist too, and will make things difficult for Moon!

Women’s Pole Vault finals on Sunday, 12:00 P.M. PT.
Men’s Pole Vault finals on Saturday, 12:50 P.M. PT.

Shot Put: A big name is missing….Ryan Crouser. Yes, the world record holder is out due to an elbow injury. And now, all eyes will be turning to Joe Kovacs, who has three Olympic silvers, two world titles, one of the biggest threats in the sport. Will he have it easy in Crouser's absence? Possibly!

Men’s Shot Put finals on Sunday, 1:40 P.M. PT.

And finally, don’t miss the women’s heptathlon. One of the most exciting all-rounders, Anna Hall, is a clear frontrunner in this event. After her silver in Budapest 2023, she’ll be aiming to go one step higher. So a lot of field action is expected!

Watch: Joe Kovacs Coming Off A Solid Home Win!

📰 Top Stories of Today

🙃 Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone loses a chance to compete! - Full Story 

🤔 Is Elaine Thompson-Herah coming back? - Full Story

🤯 Latest update fuels Sha’Carri’s breakup rumor - Full Story

🤨 This is why Fred Kerley withdrew from USATF nationals - Full Story

🙌 Justin Gatlin makes an unexpected request - Full Story

See what else is trending in the world of track & field - Click Here

😔 Bummer

This Is Unacceptable!

The USA Outdoor Championships are the talk of the town, and for good reason: Stacked lineup, rivalries, high stakes, and so on. But what happens when we do not get to watch this event in one place? And have to keep switching platforms? Or worse, pay for different subscriptions? Complete Chaos!

This year, the 4-day-long USA Outdoors action is split up. Thursday and Friday (July 31 & August 1) will be streamed live only on USATF.TV. For that, fans would need a $12.99 monthly subscription. Yes, there is no NBC broadcast for the first two days. Thus, leaving events like Tara Davis-Woodhall’s long jump final, or the 100m finals with stars like Noah Lyles, Sha’Carri Richardson, Gabby Thomas, etc, untelevised. That’s a big miss. Watch how Noah struggled to get on the podium in the 2023 100m USATF Outdoors! But that’s not it! Things would get more confusing for the last 2 days…

Big finals are lined up for Saturday and Sunday. However, NBC and Peacock would televise and stream the event only between 1:00 PM and 3:00 PM PT. Everything outside this window (other races and field events) would still stream only on USATF.TV. Now that’s confusing! Take the men’s and women’s 200m, for example: Round 1 on Saturday runs on USATF.TV. Semis on Sunday, still on the same platform. But for the Finals, users will have to switch to NBC and Peacock. Frustrating!

That’s why when we rolled out a poll to our readers yesterday, “If you would pay $12.99 for that extra USATF.TV subscription,” we got answers straight from you! For a few, it was a no-brainer: “Why not, it would be worth watching!” But a stark 69.88% of you said they wouldn’t! “Major US sporting championships have always been free. There’s no way I’m going to pay for a couple of ten second races. I’ll wait for the results and wait it on YouTube,” said one. But sadly, this has been happening a lot in track this year. Even the Diamond League dropped key races from its broadcasts. This side of the sport really needs rework!

Watch: How Sydney McLaughlin’s Last USATF Outdoors Race was a hit!

📊 POLL OF THE DAY

Last Poll Result: We asked you, “Given Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce’s Age, Should She Compete in Multiple Diamond League Races With Less Rest Before Worlds?” Well, the question still hangs in the air as we got a 50-50 reply. One half of you said, “Yes” while the other said, “No”. And a comment that caught our attention was, “These races will serve as tune up races for her getting her ready for the worlds.” Thus, it’s wait and watch now…

That’s it for today, folks! We’ll look to knock on your inbox soon with more interesting stories!

💌 FEEDBACK