By David Monti, @d9monti
(c) 2025 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved
EUGENE (03-Aug) — Donavan Brazier, the 2019 world champion in the 800m who missed nearly three years of competition battling injuries, completed his return to top form with a sensational victory in the men’s 800m at Hayward Field on the fourth and final day of the Toyota USATF Outdoor Track & Field Championships. The 28 year-old ran a flawless race, clocking a personal best 1:42.16 in a nine-man final where six of the athletes set personal bests and eight athletes broke 1:45 including a 16 year-old.
“Just pure excitement,” said Brazier when asked what his initial reaction was to today’s victory. “I think the last few years have been really rough on me. To finally have a chance at redemption and showcase resilience, like I was really, really happy to do that today.”
The race began as most thought it would. Josh Hoey, the reigning world indoor champion, went straight to the front and set a hot pace. Hoey went through 400m in a scalding 49.3 seconds with Brandon Miller and Bryce Hoppel close behind. Hoey had planned to make it an honest race, but said later that he might have overcooked it.
“I didn’t really see the first 400 (split); I was trying to go off effort,” Hoey told reporters. “I think I probably did go out a little too hard.”
Hoey still had the lead at 600 meters and had no intention of slowing down. Hoppel, Brazier, and Miller were all close behind, while back in seventh position 16 year-old Cooper Lutkenhaus of Justin, Texas, was just trying to stay in contact. Hoey held the lead until the final 100 meters, but began to tie up.
“Probably about 150 to go I realized I was in trouble,” lamented Hoey, who would finish fourth in 1:43.06. “I couldn’t really up-shift like you need to nowadays.”
In the homestretch Brazier came past both Hoppel and Hoey to get the win, his third national outdoor title. He never broke form, but admitted that he was really hurting in those final meters.
“I was just pure grit the last 200 meters,” Brazier said. “I knew Josh would take it out pretty hard, or somebody would at least. So, I knew I had to just put myself in good position and hang on.”
Remarkably, Lutkenhaus ran a sizzling 25.5 seconds for the last 200 meters, 1.1 seconds faster than Brazier. That put the teenager into fifth place with 100 meters to go, and carried him to second by the finish line. His time of 1:42.27 was a world under-18 record. He was the youngest-ever man to make an 800m final at a USATF outdoor championships.
“I’ve always just kind of had a natural spot with 200 to go,” Lutkenhaus told reporters, looking a little stunned. “Ever since middle school it’s been the spot that I’ve really pushed from. Kind of just decided to go back to middle school tactics.”
Hoppel, the 2024 Olympic Trials champion, had to settle for third in a season’s best 1:42.49. He made his seventh straight national team since 2019. Miller, who was an Olympic teammate with Hoppel last August in Paris, was fifth in a personal best 1:43.14.
“I knew it was going to be fast,” said Miller as he thought about the race. He continued: “I was ready for 49, and I thought I had it. I just have some work to do.”
WILLIS IS SURPRISE WINNER IN WOMEN’S 800M
In a thoroughly entertaining women’s 800m final, Roisin Willis of Stanford University (racing for New Balance here) backed-up her NCAA 800m title from June by kicking from fourth to first in the final 100 meters and winning her first USATF title in 1:59.26 off of a slow 61.0-second first half. Willis, the daughter of Irish Olympian Breeda Dennehy-Willis, was as far back as fifth place with 200 meters to go.
“I was just kind of excited to be out there,” Willis told reporters. “A thousand doubts were coming through my head and I said, I’ve just got to run. It’s not life or death, track and field. I just went out there and had a lot of fun doing it.”
Maggi Congdon, who just wrapped up her NCAA career at Northern Arizona University, mounted an incredible sprint in the homestretch, moving from sixth to second to make her first national team in 1:59.39.
“I, honestly, was just shocked,” Congdon told reporters as she recounted the final meters of the race. “I was like, just in a dream. I was definitely believing in myself that this was possible. I didn’t have the expectation, and I think just coming out of college this year I’ve been racing for a year straight. I was just trying to have fun here.”
The battle for third was a nail-biter between Sage Hurta-Klecker and Nia Akins. Akins was the race leader coming into the homestretch, and after being passed by both Willis and Congdon she was fighting to hold off Hurta-Klecker. At the line Hurta-Klecker took the third and final national team spot, 1:59.48 to 1:59.52, before tumbling to the track as she went through the line, falling hard on her chest.
“I kind of knew it was going to be a dog fight until the end,” said an obviously delighted Hurta-Klecker, who made her first national team.
SLOW 5000M RACES SHOWCASED THE BEST KICKERS
Both the men’s and women’s 5000m races –which were straight finals and the last distance events of these championships– were tactical affairs. The men’s race featured a rematch of the three top finishers from Thursday’s 10,000m –Nico Young, Grant Fisher, and Graham Blanks– but with a twist. Reigning Olympic 1500m champion Cole Hocker decided to double-back after finishing third in the 1500m yesterday, and he immediately asserted himself by taking the lead just 200 meters into the race. His pace was slow and steady, at around 67 seconds per lap, and he stayed on the lead through 4200 meters.
“I was leading the entire race pretty much,” Hocker told about 20 reporters pressing against the barrier in the mixed zone to hear him. “We weren’t setting any records today, and I was fine with that. That was right in my wheelhouse.”
Young surged to the front just before the bell, and Hocker slipped back to seventh place. He took a few meters to gather his strength and waited until the final bend to unleash the kick that brought him Olympic glory nearly a year ago. Running on the inside, Hocker went from seventh to first in the final 200 meters to win in 13:26.45. Fisher, who finished second in the 10,000m on Thursday, could do little to stop Hocker from sweeping past and had to settle for second in 13:26.75.
“I was on the outside because I was on Nico’s shoulder,” Fisher told reporters. “So, there was nothing I could do to slam the door on him (Hocker), or anything. It was just going to be a foot race. Cole’s the Olympic champion in the 1500, so he’s a tough guy to beat in that last hundred.”
Young was rewarded with his second team berth after winning the 10,000m. He was nearly caught by Drew Hunter in the final meters, but crossed the line slightly ahead of his rival to take third, 13:27.05 to 13:27.16.
Shelby Houlihan, who returned to competition last February after serving a four-year drug ban, won the women’s 5000m title on the strength of a 61.9-second final lap in 15:13.61. Houlihan, 32, who remains unsponsored, loved how the race was setting up in the final laps after four kilometers where not a single athlete broke three minutes. She was one of five women who got away on the backstretch of the final lap where Bailey Hertenstein made a big surge to break up the race. Hertenstein, 25, said she had to try to do something to win.
“I’ve got to give it a try, and if I go down swinging I can say at least I did,” said Hertenstein, who finished third in the 2024 NCAA Championships at 5000m. “It didn’t pan out the way I hoped.”
That’s because Hertenstein tied-up on the final 150 meters and finished fifth in 15:16.54 just behind a tiring Weini Kelati (15:15.89). In front of those two women Houlihan won the drag race ahead of Elise Cranny and Josette Andrews who finished second and third in 15:14.26 and 15:15.01, respectively.
Houlihan, who has always maintained that she was innocent of any doping activity, was emotional as she spoke to reporters.
“All of the emotions, right?” said Houlihan. “I feel like my outdoor season so far has kind of been a little bumpy, not competing as well as I have wanted to, just not feeling good.” She continued: “I felt really good today, really relaxed. I’m really happy with how the race played out.”
Cranny, who finished second in Thursday’s 10,000m, was happy to get second and claim another team spot. She told reporters she was likely to double in both events in Tokyo.
“Still deciding, but I think so,” said Cranny when asked about doubling. “I feel like the schedule there is a good amount of time. I’m feeling pretty good now.”
Andrews, who led most of the final kilometer before falling back then recovering in the final sprint, was overjoyed to make her first national team (her husband Robby was actually crying, she said). Andrews only finished 11th at the 2024 Olympic Trials, but was fourth at the 2023 national championships where she missed a team berth by just one place.
“I was confident that I could get Baily in that last hundred,” Andrews told Race Results Weekly. “I’m just really grateful to be on the team. Like, the hardest part is getting on the team. Now that I’m on it, anything is possible.”
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The 20th edition of the World Athletics Championships will be held at National Stadium in Tokyo from September 13 to 21. USA Track & Field will not announce their final team until the conclusion of the global qualifying period, which ends on August 24th. Athletes who finished in the top three of their events here have earned provisional team spots, but some are not yet qualified, either through their event’s entry standard of the World Athletics Rankings. Also, some athletes have automatic team spots by virtue of winning the world title in 2023, and the 2025 Wanda Diamond League event winners will also get a bye for Tokyo. There will definitely be changes over the next several weeks.
PHOTO: Shelby Houlihan winning the 5000m at the 2025 Toyota USATF Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Eugene, Oregon (Photo by Jane Monti for Race Results Weekly)
PHOTO: Donavan Brazier winning the 800m at the 2025 Toyota USATF Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Eugene, Oregon (Photo by Jane Monti for Race Results Weekly)
PHOTO: Cole Hocker winning the 5000m at the 2025 Toyota USATF Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Eugene, Oregon (Photo by Jane Monti for Race Results Weekly)
PHOTO: Roisin Willis winning the 800m at the 2025 Toyota USATF Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Eugene, Oregon (Photo by Jane Monti for Race Results Weekly)
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