EUGENE, Ore. — The state of Oregon is sending another shot putter to the Paris Olympics.
On a night of sparkling 200-meter races, the shot ring was no less compelling at the U.S. Olympic Trials on Saturday at Hayward Field.
Chase Jackson, winner of the past two world championships, climbed from fourth place to first with a distance of 65 feet, 11 ½ inches.
Raven Saunders and Oregon’s Jaida Ross claimed the second and third spots with a throws of 65-3 ½ and 64-3 ¾, respectively.
Ross produced her fifth and sixth throws exceeding 64 feet, completing an unprecedented collegiate season. Ross, of Medford, Ore., set a collegiate record of 65-7 ¾ on May 23.
She joins men’s shot put winner Ryan Crouser of Boring, Ore., on Team USA. Ross said she has met the double Olympic gold medalist only a couple of times.
“He is shot put,” Ross said. “It’s just really great to be able to study him when I was younger. That's just an honor to say I’m on the team with Ryan Crouser.”
Biggest shock of the 200s was failure of Sha’Carri Richardson to finish in the top three. Richardson, world champion and trials winner at 100 meters, finished fourth in 22.14 seconds. Top three make the team.
Gabby Thomas won in 21.81, followed by Brittany Brown and NCAA champion McKenzie Long in 21.90 and 21.91, respectively.
Former Oregon sprinter Jenna Prandini, 31, was seventh in 22.58 and the Ducks’ Jaydn Mays eighth in 22.60.
In the men’s 200, Noah Lyles had to come from behind to beat Kenny Bednarek with a world-leading time of 19.53. Lyles broke the national championships record of 19.66 set at the 1996 Olympics Trials by Michael Johnson, who broke what was then a 17-year-old world record.
Bednarek was ahead of Lyles by .08 at 150 meters but said he tightened up afterward. He was second in 19.58 and Erriyon Knighton third in 19.77. Christian Coleman was fourth, as he was in the 100.
At the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, Bednarek won a silver medal and Lyles bronze. That was the last 200-meter loss for Lyles, who is 25-0 since then.
The 10,000 meters developed into a three-way duel to the finish, won by Weini Kelati in 31:41.07. Florida’s Parker Valby, in a season in which she won five NCAA titles, was second and Karissa Schweizer third, both in 31:41.56. Valby was ahead by four-thousandths of a second.
Olympic gold contender Tara Davis-Woodhall, after two fouls, went on to win the long jump with a wind-aided distance of 22-11 ¾.
In semifinals of the 400 hurdles, world record-holder Sydney McLauglin-Levrone ran a world-leading time of 52.48.
The 10-day trials close Sunday at Hayward Field, featuring McLaughlin-Levrone in the 400 hurdles and former Oregon runners Cole Hocker and Cooper Teare in the 5,000 meters.
Contact KGW correspondent David Woods at dwoods1411@gamil.com. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidWoods007.
