A dominant contingent of current and former Florida athletes will hope to qualify for the World Championships this August.
EUGENE, Ore. – America’s elite track stars will unite in Eugene, Ore. for the 2023 Toyota USATF Outdoor Championships this weekend at Hayward Field.
The four-day event will serve as the qualifying meet for the 2023 World Athletics Championships which is set to be contested in Budapest, Hungary scheduled for Aug. 19-27.
Fifteen athletes from Florida’s 2023 roster as well as nine Gator Greats are scheduled to compete this weekend in search of a spot with Team USA.
The top-three athletes in each event will qualify to the World Championships this summer, so long as they meet the world standard in their respective events.
A number of athletes are eligible for automatic selection by Team USA due to their performances in the 2022 World Championships and 2022 Diamond League.
In the instance one of those athletes make the top three of their events, the fourth-place finisher will be selected.
Gator Great Grant Holloway (110mH), 2022 World Champion and 2022 Diamond League Champion, has his place at this year’s World Championships confirmed.
Holloway will use the USATF Outdoor Championships as a warmup heading into the world meet this August.
Gators
Of the 15 Gators from this year’s roster competing this weekend at the USTATF Outdoor Championships, two of them are looking to represent Team USA at the World Athletics Championships for the second consecutive year.
Jasmine Moore is one of those two Gators to don the Stars & Stripes after becoming the first U.S. woman to qualify to the same World Championships in both the Long Jump and Triple Jump. Moore, a Bowerman finalist, is fresh off setting three collegiate records (Outdoor Triple Jump, Indoor Long Jump and Indoor Triple Jump) and winning three NCAA titles during the 2023 slate. Moore’s outdoor mark of 14.78m in the triple jump leads the country this year, while her 6.88m long jump is fourth best in the U.S.
Talitha Diggs also represented USA at the 2022 World Championships after capturing the U.S. title in the 400 meters. Diggs will look to defend her gold medal in the event this time around, after claiming a 50.35 time, which is tied for seventh best in the country. With a personal best of 49.99, the Saucon Valley, Pa. native is one of six athletes in NCAA history to run under 50 seconds in the event.
Claire Bryant and Jacory Patterson both competed in last year’s USATF Outdoor Championships. Bryant will join Moore in the Long Jump and enters the event with a season best of 6.75m, which is sixth in the U.S. Patterson previously competed in the 200m in 2022, but will race in the 400m this year. The 45.05 Patterson posted at 2023 SEC Indoor Championships is fourth all-time in program history and third-best in the country indoors this year.
Also competing in the 400m is SEC Outdoor Champion and anchor of the 4×400 NCAA Outdoor Champion relay Ryan Willie, who leads all entries this year with a 44.25. Rounding out the male sprinters is Robert Gregory in the 200m, where he holds the sixth fastest time among entries, and Pjai Austin in the 100m with the fourth best time in the entry list at 9.89 which is the best time in program history outdoors.
In the 800m, Sam Austin will compete and comes in with the No. 11 time in the entry list. Kynnedy Flannel (200m – 22.63), Grace Stark (100m hurdles – 12.76) and Vanessa Watson (400m hurdles – 55.59) complete the runners for the individual running events this week.
Jumping for the Gators will be Malcolm Clemons, Sean Dixon-Bodie and Corvell Todd. Clemons’ 8.07m long jump is seventh in program history, which he used to place fourth at the 2023 NCAA Outdoor Championships. Dixon-Bodie’s 16.61m in the triple jump also came in fourth at the 2023 NCAA Outdoor Championships and is the sixth best mark of any Gator. Lastly, Todd qualified with a personal best 2.21m in the high jump and is the eighth best mark on UF’s All-Time List.
Gator Greats
The USATF Outdoor Championships will be chalk full of Gator Greats this weekend as well.
Holloway (110mH) has an automatic berth to the 2023 World Championships after winning the event at the 2022 World Championship and 2022 Diamond League. He will compete in event this weekend as he gears up for his trip to Budapest in August.
Anna Hall, who clinched the third spot at the World Championships last year, will enter this year’s USATF Outdoor Championships as the defending champion. She currently holds the world leading point total in the heptathlon, a personal best of 6,988 points at the World Athletics Combined Events Tour Gold series Hypomeeting in Gotzis in May.
Christian Taylor, a six-time gold medalist across the Olympic Games and World Championships in the Triple Jump, will compete in the event to qualify for his seventh-consecutive World Championships.
Cory McGee will run the 1500 meters this weekend. An All-American at Florida, McGee was an Olympian in the event in 2021.
Marquis Dendy, the 2015 winner of The Bowerman, will compete in the Long Jump this weekend. He was an Olympian in the event in 2021. Dendy has competed at the World Championships four times and is also a three-time medalist at the World Indoor Championships.
Gator Great Will Claye will contest the Triple Jump this weekend in search of a spot at his seventh-consecutive World Championships. Claye was a silver medalist in Doha in 2019, one of nine medals across his career at either the Olympic Games, World Championships and World Indoor Championships.
Omar Craddock, a two-time NCAA Outdoor Champion and the 2013 USA Outdoor Champion in the Triple Jump, is set to compete in the event for the first time since 2019.
Taylor Manson, a bronze medalist at the 2020 Olympic Games and member of the 2022 Indoor and Outdoor National Championship team, will take part in the 400m this weekend.
Kyra Jefferson, the former-collegiate record holder and NCAA Champion in the 200m, will run in the 200m this weekend.
Broadcast/Streaming Information (All Times Eastern)
* Live Results/Start Lists<https://results.usatf.org/>
* Venue: Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore.
* Watch: CNBC, NBCSports.com/live, the NBC Sports app and Peacock<https://www.peacocktv.com/sports/track-field>
* Thursday: 2:20 p.m.-12:15 a.m. (USATF.TV<https://www.usatf.tv/gprofile.php?do=videos&mgroup_event_id=49&year=2023&mgroup_id=45365&video_id=362742>)
* Friday: 7-9 p.m. (CNBC/Peacock)
* Saturday: 9-11 p.m. (CNBC/Peacock)
* Sunday: 9-11 p.m. (CNBC/Peacock)
All events are subject to change, pending weather this weekend
Thursday, July 6 (All Times ET)
Time
Event: Gators
2:25 p.m.
Heptathlon 100 Meters Hurdles: Anna Hall
3:40 p.m.
Heptathlon High Jump: Anna Hall
5:40 p.m.
Heptathlon Shot Put: Anna Hall
5:52 p.m.
Men’s 800 Meters (First Round): Sam Austin
6:48 p.m.
Heptathlon 200 Meters: Anna Hall
7:30 p.m.
Men’s 100 Meters (First Round): Pjai Austin
7:56 p.m.
Women’s 400 Meters (First Round): Talitha Diggs, Taylor Manson
8:23 p.m.
Men’s 400 Meters (First Round): Jacory Patterson, Ryan Willie
9:00 p.m.
Women’s Triple Jump (Final): Jasmine Moore
10:26 p.m.
Women’s 1500 Meters (First Round): Cory McGee
Friday, July 7 (All Times ET)
Time
Event: Gators
4:45 p.m.
Heptathlon Long Jump: Anna Hall
6:00 p.m.
Heptathlon Javelin Throw: Anna Hall
7:27 p.m.
Women’s 100 Meters Hurdles (First Round): Grace Stark
7:53 p.m.
Heptathlon 800 Meters: Anna Hall
8:24 p.m.
Men’s 100 Meters (Semifinal): TBD
8:39 p.m.
Women’s 400 Meters (Semifinal): TBD
8:55 p.m.
Men’s 400 Meters (Semifinal): TBD
9:00 p.m.
Men’s Triple Jump (Final): William Claye, Sean Dixon-Bodie, Christian Taylor
9:10 p.m.
Men’s 800 Meters (Semifinal): TBD
10:02 p.m.
Men’s 100 Meters (Final): TBD
10:37 p.m.
Women’s 400 Meters Hurdles (First Round): Vanessa Watson
Saturday, July 8 (All Times ET)
Time
Event: Gators
7:43 p.m.
Men’s 200 Meters (First Round): Robert Gregory
8:09 p.m.
Women’s 200 Meters (First Round): Kynnedy Flannel, Kyra Jefferson
8:37 p.m.
Men’s 110 Meters Hurdles (First Round): Grant Holloway
8:40 p.m.
Men’s Long Jump (Final): Malcolm Clemons, Omar Craddock, Marquis Dendy
9:03 p.m.
Women’s 100 Meters Hurdles (Semifinal): TBD
9:19 p.m.
Women’s 400 Meters (Final): TBD
9:26 p.m.
Men’s 400 Meters (Final): TBD
9:34 p.m.
Women’s 400 Meters Hurdles (Semifinal): TBD
10:04 p.m.
Women’s 1500 Meters (Final): TBD
10:55 p.m.
Women’s 100 Meters Hurdles (Final): TBD
Sunday, July 9 (All Times ET)
Time
Event: Gators
8:05 p.m.
Men’s High Jump (Final): Corvell Todd
8:30 p.m.
Men’s 200 Meters (Semifinal): TBD
8:40 p.m.
Women’s Long Jump (Final): Claire Bryant, Jasmine Moore
8:45 p.m.
Women’s 200 Meters (Semifinal): TBD
9:04 p.m.
Men’s 110 Meters Hurdles (Semifinal): TBD
9:27 p.m.
Men’s 800 Meters (Final): TBD
9:35 p.m.
Women’s 400 Meters Hurdles (Final): TBD
10:12 p.m.
Women’s 200 Meters (Final): TBD
10:20 p.m.
Men’s 200 Meters (Final): TBD
10:53 p.m.
Men’s 110 Meters Hurdles (Final): TBD
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