EUGENE, Ore. — It’s official. Melissa Jefferson-Wooden is here. And she’s a big problem.
She completed the double at the U.S. championships on Sunday, smoking a field featuring reigning Olympic champion Gabby Thomas, Olympic bronze medalist Brittany Brown, and rising star McKenzie Long.
After cruising to gold in the 100-meter on Friday, Jefferson-Wooden ran a personal-best time of 21.84 seconds to win the 200 gold.
The 24-year-old leaves this weekend and heads to the 2025 world championships in Tokyo looking like she might be America’s best in both.
“Oh, I’m getting me a big bowl of fries,” she said when asked how she’d celebrate her double, “and really just chill out and hang out with my family.”
She exploded at the start of the race, taking the lead immediately. She came out of the turn in Lane 7 with a considerable cushion. With her top-end speed, it was curtains for the field.
Anavia Battle was a surprise in second place (22.13) and set up an intense battle for the third-and-final U.S. qualifying spot for Tokyo. Thanks to a late surge and a lean, Gabby Thomas took the third spot in a photo finish at 22.20 seconds.
Thomas, who didn’t look strong in the first round, ran the final 50 meters in 5.52 seconds, the best in the field. It put her in a too-close-to-call finish with Brown and Long. Video concluded Thomas edged Brown by one-thousandth of a second. Long was one-thousandth of a second behind Brown.
That shows the depth of this 200-meter field, and it’s their best event. Not so for Jefferson-Wooden.
“Obviously,” she said, “the 100 is my preferred event and it’s also my favorite. But also I’ve spent so much time in my career shying away from how good I can be in the 200. And now I’m just starting to embrace that because I know that the more my times get faster in the 200, the more it’s going to help my 100.”
When she won bronze in Paris in the 100-meter, she said it felt like a gold medal because of all she went through to make it there. It was her first Olympics and proof that she can compete with the elite.
Now she is establishing herself as a superstar to be dealt with in women’s sprinting. She can beat the elite.
The global field is intense, so Jefferson-Wooden is about to feel the pressure of the expectations in the elite realm.
Not only do Sha’Carri Richardson — who missed the 200 final but will compete in the 100 in Tokyo — and Thomas figure to be better at worlds, but Julien Alfred of St. Lucia is strong in both events, and England’s Dina Asher-Smith is always formidable.
But it’s clear Jefferson-Wooden belongs among them. And she’s only getting better.
Men’s 800-meter
One of the most riveting races of the day featured two unlikely figures running the race of their lives: Donavan Brazier and high-schooler Cooper Lutkenhaus in the men’s 800-meter.
Brazier ran a personal best 1:42.16, the third-best time in the world this season, to win his first U.S. championship. He’d stepped away from racing for three years, but he’s returned to put his name back on the map in 2025.
Brazier won the U.S. championship in the 800-meter in 2019, then went on to win gold at the world championships — punctuating his Texas A&M career. He failed to make the Olympics in 2021, finishing eighth in the trials. He faded from view thanks to recurring injuries.
Sunday, he ran the final 100 meters in 13.12 seconds to turn a bronze into gold. The only better close on Sunday was from Lutkenhaus, the 16-year-old from Northwest High School in Texas.
His stunning surge down the stretch secured him second place. His time of 1:42.27 was a world record for the 18-and-under category. He was the only one to post sub-13-second times in each of his final two 100-meter splits, including 12.48 seconds over the final 100 meters.
“The last 100 got really loud,” Cooper said. “The stadium exploded. … It was crazy.”
Bryce Hoppel, ranked No. 4 in the world, took third (1:42.49), Josh Hoey, ranked No. 6 in the world, missed out on a medal (1:43.06).
Women’s discus
On her fourth throw of the women’s discus final, Valarie Allman — the two-time defending Olympic gold medalist — launched a throw of 71.45 meters Sunday. It was more than enough to capture her seventh consecutive U.S. championship.
She has now won 26 straight meets. Her last loss came at the last world championships. In August 2023, she took silver behind fellow American Laulauga Tausaga. She’ll head to Tokyo in search of the one thing missing from her resume: world championship gold.
Valarie Allman
Valarie Allman, a two-time Olympic gold medalist, celebrates her win Sunday in the women’s discus at the U.S. championships.
400-meter hurdles
Rai Benjamin, ranked No. 1 in the world, cruised to the gold in the 400-meter hurdles in 46.89 seconds — nearly two seconds ahead of second place.
Last month, Benjamin lost in the Prefontaine Classic to Brazilian Alison Dos Santos. Those two, and Norwegian Karsten Warholm, are the class of the event and figure to make a riveting competition at worlds next month.
Women’s 800-meter
Addison Wiley, ranked No. 6 in the world in the women’s 800-meter, nearly fell and finished last, missing out on her first national championship. Nia Akins, the two-time defending U.S. champion, jumped out front and led for 700 meters. But she ran out of gas and finished fourth.
Roisin Willis, the 20-year-old Stanford star, took advantage with a strong kick to finish in 1:59.26 for her first U.S. championship. Maggi Congdon had an even faster close, jumping from sixth to silver with a time of 1:59.39. Veteran Sage Hurta-Klecker, ranked No. 18 in the world, edged out Akins for third in 1:59.48.
5,000-meter
Cole Hocker did his patented breathtaking kick again.
He was in seventh with 200 meters to go in the men’s 5,000-meter and found another gear, running the final two 100-meter splits in 13.06 and 12.64 seconds. It was enough to squeeze ahead of another surging star, Grant Fisher, who looked strong after taking over second place with a lap to go.
Hocker took the gold in 13:26.45, pinching his ticket to Tokyo and making up for the slight upset he endured in the 1,500 meters, where he finished third.
Fisher finished in 13:26.75, shy of his bronze-winning effort in the Olympics but enough to earn a spot in Tokyo.
Nico Young, who made his move over the last two laps and led going into the final 100, faded into third at 13:27.05.
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