Capped by an amazing final night in Eugene, Team USA wins most medals ever by a nation at the World Athletics Championships
Published 11:15 am Monday, July 25, 2022
EUGENE — Her USA teammates gathered all around her in their matching blue track suits, 800-meter gold medalist Athing Mu hoisted the world team trophy and then began to dance.
The song “Shout” — an Oregon football favorite — came over the loudspeakers, and nearly all the U.S. athletes began to groove.
There was plenty to shout about Sunday night at Hayward Field on the final day of the 10-day World Athletics Championships, which featured a dizzying array of track and field feats, capped by a pair of USA victories in the 4×400-meter relays and a world record in the pole vault.
USA claimed the most medals ever by a single nation at the world championships with 33 — 13 gold, nine silver and 11 bronze. The Americans won the inaugural world team trophy with 328 points, followed by Jamaica (110) and Ethiopia (106).
Mu, the reigning Olympic champion, won the women’s 800 in 1 minute, 56.30 seconds, to narrowly defeat Keely Hodkinson of Great Britain (1:56.38) and become the first ever American woman to win gold in the 800 at the world championships.
“It very nice to do it at home — 1,000 percent,” said Mu, 20. “The crowd is amazing. It’s insane. I really just wanted to be consistent this year and to continue with the wins that I have been having. Today, it was a little bit harder for me but I wanted to make sure that when I came on the track I just do my best. The next goal is just to continue competing and hopefully to get faster and faster.”
Former University of Oregon star Raevyn Rogers finished a somewhat disappointing sixth in 1:58.26, but she was happy to compliment Mu afterward.
“This was one of those races, when you just take what it is,” Rogers said. “It is still a great moment for America, still a great moment for the team — winning the first world champs for the USA. I think it is a great time to celebrate her. I felt really comfortable about the race. It was a great competition. You need to learn from it even if you are losing. Now, it is time to get back to work.”
The last events of the world championships were the men’s and women’s 4×400 relays, and Team USA did not disappoint. The men won the gold in 2:56.17, and the women won gold in 3:17.79.
Sydney McLaughlin, who two nights earlier shattered her own world record in the 400 hurdles, anchored the women’s 4×400 team to the gold medal over silver-medalist Jamaica (3:20.74).
“It was unreal,” McLaughlin said. “We had such a young (relay) team. All these girls are from teams out of college. It was put together at the last-minute and to see them all come together after such a long collegiate season, I am so grateful to be part of it. I am the oldest on the team. I am so proud. This is the next generation of Team USA stepping up to the plate. No better way to end the meet.”
Or perhaps was there?
After the relays concluded, Swedish pole vaulter Armand Duplantis (Mondo) was preparing for an attempt to break his own world record of 20 feet, 4 inches. With all eyes at Hayward on him, Duplantis cleared the bar at 20-4 1/2, then ran onto the track and performed a front flip in front of the east grandstands.
“Actually, I did not think about the record that much today,” said Duplantis, the Olympic champion in Tokyo. “Usually, it is always somewhere in the back of my mind, but today, I was really focused on the win and I really wanted to win the gold so badly. It was the medal I was missing. So when I was on this height, it was like everything came together and it happened from there. I love jumping in Eugene and it was amazing here.”
U.S. pole vaulter Chris Nilsen won the silver medal with a clearance of 19-5 3/4.
“I got a medal at my home stadium and I have been coming here for years,” Nilsen said. “To get a medal, it makes me really proud. Mondo is going to keep breaking records and I am just going to keep doing my thing.”
Also on Sunday night, American Zachery Ziemek won the bronze medal in the decathlon with a personal best 8,676 points. Ziemek was in the third-place position going into the final event of the decathlon, the 1,500. He hung on to run it in 4:44.97 and take bronze.
Kevin Mayer of France won the gold medal (8,816) and Pierce LePage of Canada took silver (8,701).
Other notable accomplishments by Team USA in Eugene:
• The medal sweep of the men’s 100 and 200 meters was the first time any nation has swept both events at the same world championships.
• American women medaled in every throwing event for the first time ever at a single world championships.
The 2023 World Athletics Championships will be staged in Budapest, Hungary, a year ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympics.
If the world championships in Eugene were any indication, Team USA will be ready.
“Team USA is really like a family,” McLaughlin said. “We are trying to achieve the same thing. We are very gifted. We compete against each other. We can come together and represent our country really well. Anything is possible. We have to continue pushing the boundaries of what we can do. I am grateful for this opportunity. I have become comfortable with the uncomfortable and we have a bright future ahead of us.”