From Thursday 31 July to Sunday 3 August, Oregon’s legendary Hayward Field stadium will play host to the USA’s greatest athletics stars at the 2025 national championships.
For most, the goal is clear: a top-three finish that will see them book a spot in September’s World Athletics Championships in Tokyo – provided they have also met the required standard for their individual event.
For others, including the reigning 2023 world champions whose victories in Budapest earned them byes to this year’s Worlds, the goal is different. These trials are an opportunity to demonstrate their dominance, prove themselves against elite competition or, for some, show they have recovered from injuries that have hampered their seasons thus far.
As usual, the entry list for the 2025 nationals reads like a who’s who of the track & field world, with the likes of Sha’Carri Richardson, Noah Lyles, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, Katie Moon and Grant Holloway all getting ready for the most important national meet of 2025.
But this year, there is a feeling that no victory is certain – even for some of the greatest athletes of this generation, as America’s best prepare for one of the most open track & field national championships in recent memory.
Read on to discover everything you need to know about the USATF Outdoor Championships, including the athletes to watch, full schedule and how to watch live.
Sha’Carri Richardson is entered for the women’s 100m and 200m at the 2025 USATF Outdoor Championships
Top athletes to watch at the USA Track & Field Championships 2025
Track athletes
Let’s get started with the sprints.
While reigning 100m world champion Sha’Carri Richardson has a wild card to this year’s Worlds, that hasn’t stopped her from adding her name to the entry lists for both the 100m and 200m at the 2025 national championships.
This year has been far from easy for the Paris 2024 100m silver medallist, with her time on track severely limited by injury. Of the two races she has competed in, her best time of 11.19 seconds is only the 96th fastest in the world this year.
In her absence in 2025, one name has come to the fore in spectacular fashion, with Richardson’s training partner Melissa Jefferson-Wooden claiming the fastest 100m time this year (10.73 seconds) at the Philadelphia Grand Slam Track meet in June.
Richardson and Jefferson-Wooden will both race in the 100m and 200m, with the latter race also featuring the Paris 2024 Olympic half-lap gold medallist, Gabby Thomas.
One thing’s for sure, with the women’s sprints so wide open in Oregon, you can expect nothing short of fireworks when the starter’s pistol bangs.
If there were question marks over Richardson’s readiness for these trials, the same can also be said of men’s Olympic 100m champion, Noah Lyles.
Like Richardson, Lyles has a bye to the Worlds (in his case in the 100m and 200m) following his impressive golds at Budapest 2023. Similarly to his Paris 2024 teammate, the 2025 season has not been an easy one for Lyles, with an inflamed tendon frustrating him, until recently, during this outdoor season.
But after declaring that he was “ready to run fast” prior to the Monaco Diamond League, before indeed holding off the Olympic 200m champion, Letsile Tebogo, the six-time world champion will be eager to prove he is still number one nationally before attempting to defend his sprint crowns in Tokyo.
Standing in his way is a resurgent Kenny Bednarek, who enjoyed a thrilling start to the outdoor season as he dominated in the Grand Slam Track league. Watch out also for the likes of Trayvon Bromell, Christian Coleman and Fred Kerley, who will each be gunning for national titles.
Perhaps the biggest surprise leading into these championships was the news that 400m hurdles Olympic gold medallist and world record holder Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone would not compete at this year’s trials in the event in which she made her name.
With the Netherlands’ Femke Bol the reigning world champion, McLaughlin-Levrone does not have a wild card to this year’s Worlds, but has chosen to concentrate on the 400m flat in Eugene.
Of course, the four-time Olympic gold medallist is no slouch over the 400m and remains the third-fastest American woman over the distance in history.
If she is to make the team for Tokyo, she will need to finish in the top three within a category that includes rising star Aaliyah Butler, who set a personal best of 49.09 this year in Monaco, as well as Alexis Holmes, who was part of the USA’s Paris 2024 women’s 4x400m relay team, alongside McLaughlin-Levrone and Thomas, that won gold in the Stade de France.
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Moving up the distances, the men’s 400m has been thrown wide open with the news that Olympic champion Quincy Hall will not compete in Oregon. However, one young prodigy who shares the same name will be aiming for a place at the Worlds following an exceptional 2024 in which he became the youngest-ever track & field Olympian in US history at age 16: Quincy Wilson.
A year on from his 4x400m relay gold at Paris 2024, Wilson has once again made headlines, breaking his own all-time world best over one lap with a time of 44.10.
Can he make a second US team in as many years? All will be revealed later this week.
Of course, there are a plethora of other track stars hoping to shine at Hayward Field, including Tokyo 2020 800m gold medallist, Athing Mu-Nikolayev, whose name snuck onto the entry list at the last minute after speculation that she would not compete at the trials.
Others to keep a close eye on include men’s Olympic 1500m gold medallist, Cole Hocker, who will run in the metric mile and 5000m, 110m hurdles supremo Grant Holloway, who is aiming to bounce back to his best after a difficult start to the season, double Paris 2024 bronze medallist Grant Fisher in the 5000m/10,000m, Paris 2024 400m hurdles gold medallist Rai Benjamin, and Olympic champion Masai Russell in the 100m hurdles.
Field athletes
Away from the track, the US nationals will once again see a smorgasbord of sensational athletes competing in the field events.
The women’s pole vault will reignite the friendly rivalry between Katie Moon, who won gold at Paris 2024 as well as the past two world championships, and Sandi Morris, the Rio 2016 silver medallist.
The men’s pole vault event also features one of the greatest in the world, with Sam Kendricks (silver at Paris 2024, bronze at Rio 2016) seeking to make another World Championships team after winning two gold medals at London 2017 and Doha 2019.
In the women’s long jump, keep a close eye on Tara Davis-Woodhall, who sprang to victory at Paris 2024 after winning silver at the Budapest 2023 Worlds.
Ryan Crouser is one of the most notable absentees, with the shot put world record holder struggling with an elbow injury in 2025. His injury leaves the door open for the likes of Joe Kovacs, whose three Olympic silver medals and two world titles continue to make him one of the biggest names in the sport.
The women’s heptathlon will feature another of the most exciting athletes of recent years, with Anna Hall hoping to put herself in a position to go one better than the silver she achieved at Budapest 2023.
Other top field athletes competing in Eugene include Chase Jackson, who won world shot put titles in both 2022 and 2023, as well as another star who needs little introduction – Valarie Allman, the two-time Olympic discus champion.
2025 USATF Outdoor Championships schedule
All events are listed in Pacific Time (CEST -9)
Day 1 – Thursday 31 July
10:30: Men’s decathlon 100m
11:00: Women’s heptathlon 100m hurdles
11:20: Men’s decathlon long jump
12:15: Women’s heptathlon high jump
12:20: Men’s decathlon shot put
13:20: Men’s javelin throw final
13:30: Women’s hammer throw final
14:55: Men’s 800m 1st round
15:21: Women’s 800m 1st round
15:30: Women’s javelin throw final
15:47: Women’s 100m 1st round
16:13: Men’s 100m 1st round
16:30: Men’s hammer throw final
16:39: Women’s 400m 1st round
17:05: Men’s 400m 1st round
17:31: Women’s 3000m steeplechase 1st round
18:00: Women’s long jump final
18:00: Men’s decathlon high jump
18:03: Men’s 3000m steeplechase 1st round
18:20: Women’s heptathlon shot put
18:33: Men’s 1500m 1st round
18:54: Women’s 1500m 1st round
19:15: Women’s heptathlon 200m
19:30: Men’s decathlon 400m
19:45: Women’s 10,000m final
20:30: Men’s 10,000m final
Day 2 – Friday 1 August
11:00: Men’s decathlon 110m hurdles
12:00: Men’s decathlon discus throw
13:20: Men’s decathlon pole vault
14:00: Women’s heptathlon long jump
14:36: Women’s 100m hurdles 1st round
15:30: Men’s 400m hurdles first round
15:30: Women’s heptathlon javelin throw
15:31: Women’s 400m hurdles 1st round
15:58: Men’s 100m semifinals
16:05: Women’s high jump final
16:10: Men’s long jump final
16:20: Women’s 100m semifinal
16:42: Men’s 800m semifinal
17:00: Men’s decathlon javelin throw
17:04: Women’s 800m semifinal
17:26: Women’s heptathlon 800m
17:41: Men’s 400m semifinal
18:03: Women’s 400m semifinal
18:25: Men’s decathlon 1500m
18:36: Women’s 100m final
18:50: Men’s 100m final
Day 3 – Saturday 2 August
6:30: Women’s 20km race walk final
6:31: Men’s 20km race walk final
11:20: Men’s discus throw final
11:22: Men’s 200m 1st round
11:48: Women’s 200m first round
12:14: Men’s 110m hurdles first round
12:40: Women’s triple jump final
12:40: Women’s 100m hurdles semifinal
12:45: Women’s shot put final
12:50: Men’s pole vault final
13:03: Women’s 400m final
13:11: Men’s 400m final
13:19: Women’s 400m hurdles semifinal
13:41: Men’s 400m hurdles semifinal
14:03: Women’s 1500m final
14:14: Men’s 1500m final
14:25: Women’s 100m hurdles final
14:49: Men’s 3000m steeplechase final
15:04: Women’s 3000m steeplechase final
Day 4 – Sunday 3 August
12:00: Women’s pole vault final
12:00: Women’s discus throw final
12:05: Men’s 200m semifinal
12:32: Women’s 200m semifinal
12:50: Men’s high jump final
12:55: Men’s 110m hurdles semifinal
13:18: Women’s 800m final
13:20: Men’s triple jump final
13:26: Men’s 800m final
13:34: Women’s 400m hurdles final
13:40: Men’s shot put final
13:43: Men’s 400m hurdles final
13:52: Men’s 5000m final
14:13: Women’s 200m final
14:22: Men’s 200m final
14:31: Women’s 5000m final
14:54: Men’s 110m hurdles final
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How to watch the USA Track and Field Championships 2025
The championships will be shown live and on demand by NBC in the USA, with on-demand access also available through USATF.TV.
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