Lyles, Kenny Bednarek, Fred Kerley Take Top Three Spots In Men's 100 Meters, Leaving Coleman The Odd Man Out; Kendall Ellis Runs Another Lifetime Best To Win Women's 400 Meters

By David Woods for DyeStat

John Nepolitan photos

EUGENE, Ore. – Diehards might lament it, but U.S. track and field hasn’t had a crossover star since Carl Lewis. He retired 28 years ago.

Noah Lyles has tried to change that narrative. He is into fashion, social media, celebrity, documentary. He arrived at Hayward Field wearing a Gucci suit, accompanied by Snoop Dogg holding his briefcase.

None of it means anything unless there are results. Lyles has the results, and the receipts. 

Much like Lewis, who said the hardest part of his four gold medals at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics was the opening 100 meters, the hardest part of the Olympic Trials for Lyles is past.

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After winning Sunday night against a field featuring two other World champions, and equaling his fastest time ever, he said he has more confidence than ever. In fact, he is feeling in the 100 what he has felt in the 200.

“Which is something I’ve been wanting to feel for a long time,” Lyles said.

He won the 100 meters in 9.83 seconds, matching his time from the 2023 World Championships at Budapest, Hungary, where he claimed three golds.

He aims for four at the Paris Olympics: 100, 200, 4x100, 4x400.

The pre-race atmosphere there could not exceed the tension, or the quiet, before this showdown. There was such silence that Lyles said he heard one fan shout, “Let’s go Noah, let’s go Kenny, let’s go Fred.”

The fan nailed it.

“It was definitely electric,” Lyles said. “It was responsive. I think they all needed a jolt.”

Lyles gave them one.

Kenny Bednarek, heretofore known as a 200-meter specialist, was second in 9.87. Fred Kerley, the 2022 World champion on this track, was third in 9.88.

Christian Coleman, the 2019 World champion and March’s World indoor champion at 60 meters, bolted into his customary fast start but was overtaken by the three Olympians. Florida high school sensation Christian Miller was fifth in 9.98.

Kerley has had an unconventional build-up, including changes in sponsor, shoe and coach. He was tearing up the track before his 2022 World title, but there was not a lot to suggest he could recapture that form in 2024.

“I feel like everything comes to an end,” Kerley said. “Everything comes to a beginning. And this is my beginning.”

In the other featured final on the track, three women broke 50 seconds in the 400 meters for the first time in history of the Trials.

Kendall Ellis, 28, who went six years between PBs, was first in 49.46. Georgia’s Aaliyah Butler, after failing to reach the final of the NCAA Division 1 Championships, was second in 49.71. Alexis Holmes, sixth through 300 meters, was third in 49.78.

Butler, fourth in the SEC, beat Arkansas freshman Kaylyn Brown for the first time. Brown, the NCAA runner-up ranked fifth in the world at 49.13, was fourth in the final in 50.07.

Ellis, a former NCAA indoor 400 champion for USC, finished fourth in the 2021 Trials. She was confined to the mixed 4x400 relay at Tokyo.

“I remember a lot of tears. I remember being so heartbroken,” she said. “I would have rather been fifth or sixth. I did not want to be fourth place and so close.

“I reminded myself I didn’t want that feeling again.”

The only trouble she encountered the past two days was getting accidentally locked in a porta-potty for 10 minutes on Saturday before the semifinal round and shouting for help until someone heard her and let her out. 

Through four events of the heptathlon, Anna Hall, coming off January knee surgery, is first with 3,884 points. Top three are separated by 23 points. Hall earned a silver medal at last year’s Worlds despite injury.

Chari Hawkins is second with 3,874 and Taliyah Brooks third with 3,861. Michelle Atherly clocked 12.73 in the 100 hurdles, but is seventh with 3,735.

Projected top three are Hall, Brooks and Erica Bougard, who is eighth with 3,690.

In semifinals:

>> Men’s 400 meters. Quincy Wilson of Gaithersburg, Md. (Bullis School MD), again lowered the under-18 world record and national high school records, finishing third in the fastest of three semifinals in 44.59. (He won a heat in 44.66 Friday.) Bryce Deadmon won that semifinal in 44.44, followed by Vernon Norwood, 44.50, and Wilson. World bronze medalist Quincy Hall won another semi in 44.42 and 2022 World champion Michael Norman the last semi in 45.30.

>> Women’s 800 meters. Athing Mu, who until Friday’s heats hadn’t raced since setting an American record at last September’s Prefontaine Classic, had the fastest semifinal of 1:58.84. She and Kate Grace (1:58.97) overtook front-runner Michaela Rose of LSU (1:59.00). Ajee' Wilson, 30, a five-time global medalist, was third in a semifinal in 2:01.25 and eliminated.

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