Noah Lyles didn't have to run the 200m at the USATF Outdoor Championships, but did anyway.
Noah Lyles didn't have to race at the Toyota USA Track and Field Outdoor Championships, but he did and made some history anyway.
Lyles, the Olympic 100m gold medalist, won a record-tying fifth U.S. men's 200m title, clocking 19.63 seconds, the world's best time in 2025, in Eugene, Oregon.
Lyles tied the record number of U.S. men's 200m titles shared by Michael Johnson (1990-92, '95-96) and Ralph Metcalfe (1932-36). His last defeat in a U.S. 200m final was at the 2016 Olympic Trials when he was 18 years old.
Athletes competing at nationals are vying for spots on September's World Championships team. But Lyles already had a bye onto the team for worlds in Tokyo in both the 100m and 200m as the defending world champion in each event.
USATF OUTDOORS: Results
Lyles will be joined on the 100m and 200m team at worlds by 200m runner-up Bednarek, who won the 100m at nationals on Friday in Lyles' absence.
In the 200m final, Lyles overtook Bednarek in the final strides by four hundredths and looked over at Bednarek as he crossed the finish line. Bednarek then shoved Lyles in the back before they came to a stop. The two men then had a short chat and shook hands.
"I'm not going to say it out here, but we've got something to do and talk about," Bednarek told Lewis Johnson on NBC Sports when asked about the look and shove.
Bednarek is 2-13 all-time against Lyles in the 200m, though the two were the last two Olympic finals where Bednarek took silver and Lyles bronze.
Also Sunday, Melissa Jefferson-Wooden became the first woman to sweep the 100m and 200m national titles since 2003 (Torri Edwards).
Jefferson-Wooden, who ran a personal best 21.84, was followed by Anavia Battle (22.13) and Olympic 200m gold medalist Gabby Thomas. Thomas, who said she had a few setbacks this season, made the world team by one thousandth of a second over Olympic bronze medalist Brittany Brown.
The 2019 World champion Donavan Brazier completed a comeback from nearly three years away from competition to win the 800m in a personal best 1:42.19.
"I always pictured this happening, but I don't know if it'd come true," Brazier told Johnson on NBC Sports.
Brazier was followed by 16-year-old Cooper Lutkenhaus, who ran 1:42.27, a U18 world record by 1.1 seconds.
The rising Texas high school junior is set to become the youngest American to compete at a World Track and Field Championships, according to Olympic sports historian Bill Mallon of the OlyMADMen. Mary Cain (2013) and Allyson Felix (2003) previously raced at age 17.
Olympic 1500m gold medalist Cole Hocker won the 5000m, one day after placing third in the 1500m, to hit his goal of making the world team in both events.
Hocker is joined by Olympic 5000m bronze medalist Grant Fisher and American record holder Nico Young. Hocker would be the first American to race both the 1500m and 5000m at worlds since Bernard Lagat in 2009.
In the 400m hurdles, 2016 Olympic gold medalist Dalilah Muhammad earned her fifth national title — and first since breaking the world record in 2019 — in what she has said will be her last season before retiring.
Muhammad will lead the U.S. women's 400m hurdles team at worlds, along with Olympic silver medalist Anna Cockrell.
Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, the two-time Olympic gold medalist and current world record holder in the event, chose to race the flat 400m instead this summer.
Olympic gold medalist Rai Benjamin won a sixth U.S. title in the men's 400m hurdles, breaking a record he shared with Edwin Moses, among others.
Two-time Olympic gold medalist Valarie Allman threw 71.45 meters for a record seventh U.S. discus title and a 27th consecutive victory overall dating to 2023.
Allman, who would have won Sunday's title with any of her six throws, will now bid to win a world title for the first time after previous silver and bronze medals.
Roisin Willis made her first senior world team by winning the 800m, adding to her 2022 World Junior and 2025 NCAA titles in the event. Tokyo Olympic champion Athing Mu-Nikolayev previously missed the nine-woman final by one spot.
Category: General Sports
