After winning the silver medal at each of the last two Summer Olympics in the 200-meter dash, American sprinter Kenny Bednarek finished first in the 100-meter dash on Day 2 of the USA Track and Field Outdoor Championships Friday in Eugene, Ore.
Bednarek sped to a personal-best of 9.79 seconds in the 100m, narrowly edging out Courtney Lindsey (9.82), and T’Mars McCallum (9.83).
“I would say it’s about damn time,” Bednarek said after the race. “I’ve been second for a very long time. I always knew that I had the ability to win it but I just had to believe in myself. And this year I really started living up to my expectations.”
It’s the first U.S. title for Bednarek. He finished seventh in the 100m in last year’s Olympics and second in last year’s U.S. Olympic Trials behind Noah Lyles, who won gold in the 100m and bronze in the 200m in Paris.
Lyles won his preliminary 100m heat at this year’s meet, but elected to pull out of his semifinal to focus on his 200m race, which will be contested on Sunday.
In the women’s 100m, Melissa Jefferson-Wooden ran away with the national title behind a personal-best time of 10.65. Kayla White (10.84) finished second while Aleia Hobbs (10.92) finished third.
Isaac Grimes won the men’s long jump on Friday, launching 26 feet, 9 inches on his sixth and final jump to edge out William Williams (26-8 1/2) in second and Jarrion Lawson (26-7 3/4) in third.
In the women’s high jump, Vashti Cunningham cleared 6-5 1/2 to win the national championship ahead of Sanaa Barnes (6-4 1/2), who failed each of her three attempts at 6-5 1/2.
In the men’s decathlon, Kyle Garland convincingly won the championship behind a personal-best score of 8,869. Garland finished first in long jump, shot put, high jump, 110-meter hurdles, discus throw and javelin throw. Heath Baldwin (8,407) finished second and Harrison Williams (8,223) rounded out the podium in third.
Anna Hall won the final event of the women’s heptathlon, the 800-meter dash, to claim the national title with a final tally of 6,899 points. Hall won five of the seven events and finished no worse than third in any of them to beat second-place finisher Taliyah Brooks (6,526) and Allie Jones (6,164) in third.
–Field Level Media
