American Runners Prepared to set their Final Marks of the Season
The USA Track and Field organization is hosting their annual New York City Grand Prix on Jun. 9. It’s the final opportunity for many runners before the U.S. Olympic Trials at the end of month. Many American sprinters will be sitting this one out but Noah Lyles and Sydney Mclaughlin-Levrone headline the event.
The event is hosted and streamed by NBC starting at 11 a.m. ET. Viewers could also tune in on Peacock to stream the races.
Photo credit:Li Ying—Xinhua, Getty Images
Lyles is the runner most viewers will have their eyes on this Sunday in NYC. He will be running his specialty event, the 200m dash and looks to remain undefeated heading into the time trials. The last loss he took was in the Tokyo Olympics in Jul. of 2021.
He is seen by many critics as one of the best sprinters in America and his track record definitely proves it. But the last olympics was a disappointing result for the three time world champion as he finished bronze. This race serves importance as right now he needs to clock a time faster than Olympic Silver medalist Kenny Bednarek who posted a time of 19.67 on May. 10.
On the other side of things headlining the women’s events, Mclaughlin-Levrone will be in a similar position racing the clock. The current world record holder in the 400 meter hurdles is written in for the open 400 meter this weekend. She focused on the 400 meter all throughout the 2023 season before suffering a PCL injury.
She came back and set the world lead in the hurdles late May after 22 months off from the event.
Photo Credit:Kirby Lee, USA Today Sports
Running this 400 meter is the last chance for her coaches, supporters and herself to see the progress she made toward going sub-50 seconds in the hurdles this season. She would become the first woman to do this and currently has the best shot. Her record time is six-tenths of a second off from reaching that mark and a second faster than the next best runner.
There will be an extremely competitive batch this weekend in New York. Olympians and professionals from all over the world will be there.
Athletes like five time olympic gold medalist Elaine Thompson-Herah (Jamaica), 100m hurdles world record holder Tobi Amusan (Nigeria), 2024 world indoor long jump champion Tara Davis-Woodhall, and the Tokyo Olympic 100m silver medalist Fred Kerley.
The field is set and the professional athletes will start getting into their events a quarter till 2 p.m. ET. The younger athletes ranging from ages 9 years old to 18 will be out as early as 11 a.m. ET. Tune in for the last chance to see runners before the Olympic Trials Jun. 21-30 in Eugene, OR.
