Fast Women: Nia Akins, Elise Cranny win USATF titles
Sinclaire Johnson is headed to Budapest
Issue 246, sponsored by New Balance
This is a bonus issue of Fast Women, covering Sunday’s late events from the USATF Outdoor Championships. This newsletter will now return to its Monday-only schedule.
Nia Akins gets the biggest win of her career
The most interesting thing about the 800m before this year’s USATF Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Oregon, was how wide open it was compared to recent years. Athing Mu had an automatic entry into the 800m at next month’s World Championships in Budapest, so she opted to skip the event at USAs.
Ajee’ Wilson, a four-time winner in this event, had looked really strong in the early season, but at her last race before USAs, in New York City, she had an uncharacteristic off day, running a 2:07 800m. Reigning Olympic bronze medalist Raevyn Rogers had run some solid races, but she hadn’t broken 2:00 yet this year. There were a number of women who had a shot at finishing in the top three and earning a spot on the U.S. team, as long as they could make it to the final. I would have said that Allie Wilson was one of them, but she was the fastest runner not to make it out of the semis.
Nia Akins was flying under the radar coming into USAs. She won her first national title in the 800m indoors, but some of the heavy hitters in the event skipped the indoor meet. Outdoors, Akins made the calculated decision to race only one 800m before USAs, and it was a low-key one. But if you watched her run that race, it was clear she was fit. She won the Stumptown High Performance 800m in 1:59.76, and her closest competitor was more than three seconds back.
As Akins ran each round of the 800m at USAs, it became clear how ready she was. She won her prelim in 1:59.09, the fastest time of the day. The following day, her 25th birthday, she won her semifinal in 2:00.02, and she made it look easy. I wouldn’t have called her a favorite heading into the meet, but by the time she lined up for the final, I couldn’t really imagine anyone else winning.
You can watch how the race played out here. Akins found a way to be where she needed to be, and she was strong at the end. She caught Rogers with about 50m to go and pulled away to win, 1:59.50 to 1:59.83.
For more insight into Akins’ life recently, and her decision to start her season a bit later, she was on the Figureitoutable podcast last month, which is hosted by her college teammate. I also spoke to her about her running and budding music career for this article in 2022.
“After indoor nationals, I wrote down for the first time, ‘I want to win outdoor nationals,’” Akins told reporters after the race. “And at the time it just seemed so crazy. But I think over the course of the season, something started clicking together and I was like, ‘I can do this.’”
Akins’ success is particularly sweet because it comes after a couple tough years at nationals. In 2021, she made the Olympic Trials final and was feeling ready to PR when she went down hard during the first 200m of the final. (The “she almost took out Athing Mu” reaction bugs me to this day, because it made Akins sound expendable.) In 2022, Akins didn’t make it out of the semis at USAs. In 2023, she was on a mission. And she didn’t stop in the mixed zone to talk about it after either of her opening rounds.
With her late start, Akins has structured her season like someone who planned to be running well in late August, so it will be fun to see how far she can go at Worlds. She has very little experience racing overseas, but now she’ll get some.
Rogers hadn’t done anything particularly special leading up to USAs, but she’s known for performing when it counts, and she pulled it off again. In her interviews during the meet, Rogers talked a lot about changing her outlook this season and focusing on having more fun. “I feel like Covid, all these things, have forced us to have to really step it up—Olympics and then Worlds—and it’s taken the joy out of it for me,” she said after the final. “I think that I had to reclaim that in order to have longevity. You’ve gotta enjoy what you’re doing.”
Kaela Edwards put together the biggest race of her career and earned the third spot on the team, running 2:00.52. (Coincidentally, she matched her place and time from this year’s USATF Indoor Championships.) Edwards has struggled with Graves disease over the past couple years, so this was a sweet moment for her. Neither Rogers nor Edwards has hit the world standard yet (1:59.80), but their world rankings are high enough that they should have no problem getting into worlds.
Wilson faded on the last lap, much like she did in New York, and she finished last in 2:05.88. She told reporters that she knew she wasn’t exactly where she needed to be heading into the meet. “I thought that maybe I could kind of just rely on the fitness we’ve built up so far and experience to get me through, and it worked for two rounds,” she said.
Wilson declined to specify what she’s been dealing with but said it’s something she’s battled over the years. “I felt like I had it handled, but not so much,” she said. The timing is unfortunate for Wilson. The way she was running up until about a month ago, I think she would have easily made this team. It will be interesting to see if she continues to race or if she calls it a season.
Sage Hurta-Klecker, who finished fourth in 2:01.19, expressed frustration with not making the team. NCAA champion Michaela Rose, who is only 20, finished sixth in 2:01.47. She gained some valuable experience running three rounds, which should serve her well in the future. She told reporters that she is definitely planning to run for LSU for another year and said she would see after that. (All results from the USATF Outdoor Championships)
Full post-race interviews from this meet can be found on LetsRun, Citius Mag, and FloTrack’s YouTube pages.
Elise Cranny pulls off the 5,000m/10,000m double
It initially looked like the 5,000m final would start off slowly (relatively speaking), but Alicia Monson wasn’t having it, and she moved to the lead. After two 74-second laps, Monson dropped a 72, before settling into the 70–71 second range. With a little over a mile to go, there were still seven runners in contention: Monson, Natosha Rogers, Josette Andrews, Elise Cranny, Elly Henes, Whittni Orton Morgan, and Weini Kelati.
Over the next lap, Monson, Cranny, and Rogers—the top three runners from the 10,000m—opened a gap on the field, with Andrews in fourth. With around 700m to go, Rogers felt the pace slowing and she took a look back. She didn’t like how close the chase pack was, and she knew there were some big kickers behind her. So she moved around Monson and Cranny, into the lead, and picked up the pace.
Cranny immediately covered every big move in this race and was just biding her time. And with 300m to go, she took off. She kicked to a comfortable 14:52.66 win and got the world championships standard (14:57.00) in the process. The race between Monson and Rogers was closer this time, but the outcome was the same, with Monson taking second (14:55:10) and Rogers finishing third (14:55.39). They dipped under the world standard, too, but they both already had it.
Andrews finished fourth (15:01.80), and Henes was fifth (15:08.66). It was a good race, but it resulted in no one new making the world championships team, assuming Rogers gets into the 10,000m based on her world ranking. But even if she doesn’t, Rogers secured her spot on the 5,000m team.
It was interesting to hear what each of them had to say about potentially doubling in Budapest, where the 10,000m final is on the first day of competition, and the 5,000m heats are four days later. Cranny said she was leaning toward going into the 5,000m fresh, because that’s where her heart is, but she wanted to talk to coach Jerry Schumacher before making the final call.
Monson seemed genuinely unsure of which event she’d fare better in and said she needed to talk to Dathan Ritzenhein, her coach, before making a decision. Rogers seemed most interested in potentially doubling, if she gets into the 10,000m, but she, too, said she needed to talk to her coaches.
If anyone opts out of the 10,000m, assuming Rogers is in, Weini Kelati would be next in line based on USAs finish place. She is currently sitting only one spot behind Rogers in the rankings, so Kelati getting in isn’t out of the question. Should neither of them get in, or if anyone else gives up their spot, Karissa Schweizer, who does have the world standard, would make the team. Schweizer opted to scratch from the 5,000m at USAs, but her post suggested that she’s doing well enough to continue racing this season.
Should any spots open up in the 5,000m, Andrews, and then Henes, will be the next in line, and they both have the world standard. (Highlight video from the 5,000m)
Additional Winners
Gabby Thomas’ win in the 200m was one of the big highlights of the final day of competition at the USAs. She ran 21.60 seconds, a world lead, meet record, and personal best. After being injured last year, it’s great to see Thomas running better than ever. (And I was happy to see our shared hometown newspaper consistently covering the Gabby Thomas beat this past week.)
Shamier Little and Dalilah Muhammad had a great battle in the 400m hurdles. They were together going over the final hurdle, but Little edged away to win, 53.34 to 53.53. Little also won national titles in this event in 2015 and 2018, and it was great to see her do it again five years later.
Tara Davis-Woodhall is such a gift to track and field. She put on a show for the crowd while winning the long jump with a mark of 6.87 meters. And then, for fun, she did her post-race interviews wearing a duck mask, a nod to the Oregon crowds.
Katie Moon won the pole vault, clearing a world-leading 4.90m. Recent high school graduate Hana Moll finished third with an American U20 record of 4.61m. Moll doesn’t have the world standard, so she’ll have to hope her world ranking gets her to worlds.
Valarie Allman won her fifth-consecutive national title in the discus with a 67.66m throw.
Brooke Andersen won the hammer with a throw of 78.65m.
Other Notes from USAs
Sinclaire Johnson announced on Monday that she’s headed to Budapest. She said that thanks to Athing Mu scratching from the 1500m, she now has a spot on the team.
NC State’s Katelyn Tuohy finished seventh in the 5,000m in 15:15.26. She was in 12th place at halfway but rallied at the end. She said it wasn’t quite what she was hoping for but called it a step in the right direction. Tuohy said she wasn’t feeling like herself at NCAAs last month, where she placed seventh in the 1500m and scratched from the 5,000m, and mentioned dealing with a lot of stress. And it was interesting to hear her say that as of now, she plans to return to NC State for the cross country season, and she didn’t rule out going pro after that.
The last time Taliyah Brooks was at Hayward Field, she left via ambulance. She is suing USATF for holding the heptathlon at the 2021 Olympic Trials in extreme heat (Runner’s World link). Brooks is trying to put all that behind her, and she bounced back well this year to finish second to Anna Hall in this year’s heptathlon.
It was interesting to hear Natosha Rogers say in her post-race interview that Pascal Dobert has moved over to Puma Elite, where he’s working as the team’s strength coach. For years, Dobert worked with the Bowerman Track Club, but Rogers said he’s been with Puma Elite since May.
Pros announce new sponsors
USAs is a big time for athletes signing sponsor deals. Some of the announcements from the past week include:
Brenna Detra, Madie Boreman, Carmen Graves, and Melissa Tanaka signed with Oiselle. Women of color are underrepresented in the distance events, so it was powerful to see a brand announce they’d signed four at once.
Kayley DeLay has joined the Brooks Beasts, and Anna Gibson, who plans to race on both the track and trails, signed with Brooks. DeLay is a Yale graduate, but the two were teammates at the University of Washington this past year.
Boston College graduate Kate Mitchell, who is a 2:01.73 800m runner, joined New Balance Boston. You can read more about her here.
University of New Mexico graduate Abbe Goldstein, a 4:10.32 1500m runner, joined UA Mission Run Baltimore Distance.
And in the non-distance events, after competing in an Arkansas uniform at USAs, Britton Wilson announced on Monday that she has signed with Adidas. Her teammate on the 400m team, Talitha Diggs, announced the same earlier in the meet. And Jasmine Moore signed with Puma.
Podcast Highlights
I enjoyed hearing Keira D’Amato discuss her half marathon American record, her approach to training and racing, her regret over telling Des Linden she wanted to drop out of the 2022 NYC Marathon, and much more on For The Kudos. (She comes on at the 30:40 mark.)
It was good to hear more from Dot McMahan, who just qualified for her fifth-consecutive U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials, on A to Z Running, and it didn’t overlap too much with the feature on her I shared last week. (She comes on at the 10:45 mark.)
BYU coach Diljeet Taylor has a powerful story and she tells it well. She was on The Jimmy Rex Show last week.
Additional Episodes: Courtney Dauwalter on I’ll Have Another | Kara Goucher on The Ali on the Run Show (They preview USAs, so that’s out of date now, but listeners might be interested in some of the non-USAs discussion.) | New OAC coach Kelsey Quinn on the Citius Mag podcast | Molly Huddle on the Project Purple Podcast | Sika Henry talked about struggling through the Comrades Marathon on Women’s Running Stories | Marathoner Philly Bowden on A Runner’s Life | Olivia Markezich on The Running Effect | Makenna Myler on The Drop (She said she’s running the McKirdy Micro Marathon in October and pointed out she isn’t qualified for the Olympic Marathon Trials yet.)
As mentioned, Fast Women will now return to its regular once-a-week schedule. Thanks to New Balance for sponsoring this newsletter and to all of you who help keep it going with your contributions on Patreon and Venmo.
Thanks, also, to Sarah Lorge Butler for editing this after a busy weekend of covering USAs and to Gregorio Denny for the many wonderful photos. (Side note: The comments on this photo he took of Courtney Wayment made me laugh. Has anyone ever looked better mid-race?)
Enjoy the rest of your week!
Alison