Benjamin recovers from quadriceps injury to win fourth consecutive men’s 400 hurdles title, Thomas rebounds from hamstring tear to take second women’s 200 championship in three years; Cranny sweeps women’s 5,000 and 10,000, with Akins, Hoppel, Little, Knighton and Nur also victorious

By David Woods for DyeStat

EUGENE, Ore. – After you have been in the valley, the mountaintop is so much higher.

So it was for Gabby Thomas and Rai Benjamin, perhaps America’s two greatest track and field athletes without individual global gold.

A year ago, it was an ailing Thomas watching from the Hayward Field seats as Shericka Jackson challenged FloJo’s world record in the 200 meters. “I don’t know why I put myself through that,” Thomas said.

Two months ago, it was Benjamin wondering if his injured quadriceps would allow him to race this season. “It was that bad,” he said.

Which made Sunday night so good.

CRASH KAMON PHOTOS | KIM SPIR PHOTOS | CHUCK ARAGON PHOTOS | INTERVIEWS

To close out the Toyota USATF Outdoor Championships, the two closed in on potential gold medals.

Thomas not only fended off Sha’Carri Richardson, she ran 200 meters in 21.60 seconds – into a headwind (-0.4). It was the sixth-fastest time ever, a meet record that was .01 better than her breathtaking run at the 2021 Olympic Trials.

Benjamin won the 400-meter hurdles in 46.62, also a meet record and fifth-fastest ever.

“Once the gun goes off, I’m in a different head space,” he said.

His injury kept him from hurdling throughout May and June. In August’s World Championships, he goes against Norway’s Karsten Warholm. They are the two fastest ever in the 400 hurdles, with Warholm running to a gold medal at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, 45.94 to Benjamin’s 46.17.

Benjamin won his fourth national title, beating breakthrough hurdler CJ Allen (48.18) and 2022 world bronze medalist Trevor Bassitt (48.26). Benjamin conceded he was sore afterward, but credited fall training for sustaining his fitness.

“We did a lot of things I did not like,” he said. “I’m happy I did it because it’s showing now.”

Thomas, coming off a bronze at Tokyo, said it was “devastating” to tear a hamstring before last year’s nationals. She missed out on the worlds at Eugene. She recovered enough to finish second to Jackson at the Diamond League final.

Thomas finished a whopping 0.34 seconds ahead of Richardson, who won the 100-meter title Friday. Richardson had announced she would address the media after the 200, but declined to do so.

Kayla White took third spot on the world team in 22.01. None of the three women from last year’s world team – Abby Steiner, Tamara Clark, Jenna Prandini – made it back.

Steiner was fourth in 22.07 and said afterward she needs season-ending foot surgery as a result of a bone spur.

Thomas didn’t need surgery after the 2022 injury. Yet she had to rebuild body and mind.

“I didn’t have the momentum I had in 2021,” she said. “I had to feel that same type of confidence. So this one means a lot to me.

“Coming off the semifinals, I felt really good. Because I felt it was a good run for me. I felt like myself again. I felt like Gabby Thomas.”

Jackson and Thomas had something of a track tete-de-tete. After Thomas lowered the world lead to 21.86 in a semifinal, Jackson lowered that to 21.71 moments later in the Jamaican trials, which were 3,000 miles away. Then Thomas lowered it again.

Thomas learned before the final that Jackson had bettered her time.

“That’s the way it is with us and the Jamaicans. You want to go back and forth,” Thomas said. “I want to make sure I’m competing with Shericka. She’s such a phenomenal athlete. ‘So I’m going to have to be on my ‘A’ game,’ so that’s what I did.”

Thomas watched Jackson win last year’s world title in 21.45, the closest anyone has come to the world record of 21.34 set by Florence Grffith-Joyner at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. Thomas kept thinking she should have been in the race, could have medaled, wanted another shot.

According to a chart on effects of wind, Thomas’ 21.60 could have been as fast as 21.45 with a legal wind of 2.0. She did not reject the notion of breaking the world record.

“In some really good conditions, in the perfect amount of tailwind, good stadium, good energy,” she said, “I think it’s not out of the question.”

It was a momentous week for the small Texas training group coached by Tonja Buford-Bailey. Besides Thomas, making the world team in relays were Clark in the 4x100 and Lynna Irby-Jackson in the 4x400.

Thomas said she trained for a compressed timetable in which the final was 80 minutes after a semifinal. She ranks fifth in the world (49.68) in the 400 and is aiming at Budapest in the 4x400, in which another world record is plausible.

“She’s one of the best competitors we have in this sport,” Buford-Bailey said.

In other finals on the track:

>> Men’s 200 meters. Erriyon Knighton, 19, became the youngest U.S. men’s champion on the track since Stanley Floyd won the 100 at the 1980 Olympic Trials. Knighton’s time of 19.72 is the No. 3 under-20 time ever behind two of his from last year (19.49 and 19.69). Kenny Bednarek, the Olympic and world silver medalist, was second in 19.82. Texas Tech’s Courtney Lindsey, the NCAA champion from Rock Island, Ill., took third (19.85) by .01 over 100-meter world champion Fred Kerley (19.86). Noah Lyles has a bye to worlds and did not race the 200.

>> Men’s 800 meters. In what Isaiah Harris called “a bloodbath of a race,” Bryce Hoppel proved strongest and won in 1:46.20. Harris was second in 1:46.68, making a world team after not doing so since he was a Penn State collegian in 2017. Clayton Murphy made it – seven years after his Olympic bronze – by finishing third in 1:46.82. NCAA champion Will Sumner closed too late and was fifth in 1:47.41. Some jostling caused an official to wave a yellow flag, but there were no disqualifications.

Men’s 5,000 meters. Somalia-born Abdihamid Nur won by running the final 1,000 in 2:21.62, close to the fastest kilometer run on U.S. soil this year. His time was 13:24.37. Paul Chelimo was second in 13:24.90 and Sean McGorty third in 13:25.98. Woody Kincaid’s customary kick never happened, and the 10,000 winner was ninth in 13:30.84. “I’m a Somali kid at heart,” Nur said. “The U.S. gave me an opportunity to achieve my goals.” Grant Fisher, who last year set American records at 5,000 and 10,000, pulled out because of a stress reaction in his femur.

>> Women’s 400 hurdles. Shamier Little’s persistence paid. The 28-year-old Chicagoan won eight years after capturing world silver and five years after her most recent national title. “I’m not a quitter. I’m going to figure this (stuff) out,” she said after running to a time of 53.34. Dalilah Muhammad, 33, winner of Olympic gold and silver, was second in 53.53, and Anna Cockrell took third in 54.24.

>> Women’s 800 meters. Nia Akins overtook Olympic bronze medalist Raevyn Rogers to win in 1:59.50, with Kaela Edwards taking third in 2:00.52. “This is a dream year so far,” Akins said. NCAA champion Michaela Rose of LSU led at 400 meters (58.67) and finished sixth.  Ajee' Wilson, a two-time world bronze medalist, finished last and will miss a global championship for the first time since 2012. Wilson said she has been coping with an undisclosed issue.

>> Women’s 5,000 meters. Elise Cranny won a third straight title and became the first to win a 5K/10K double since Molly Huddle in 2016. Her time of 14:52.66 met the world standard, followed by Alicia Monson in 14:55.10 and Natosha Rogers in 14:55.39. Cranny, who trains in Eugene with the Bowerman Track Club, can choose to run the 5,000 or 10,000, or both. Rogers secured a world spot in the 5,000 but might also make it into the 10,000 via world ranking.

Contact David Woods at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidWoods007.