Nine false starts rile up the Hayward fans, steeplechase and discus champions crowned

Mason Finley (center), Reggie Jagers (left), and Sam Mattis (right) stand atop the podium as freshly minted Olympians after the shot put finals on Friday. Photo by Adam Eberhardt

By Caela Fenton and Kate Walkup

EUGENE, Ore. – In the first of two finals on Friday, Mason Finley (63.07m), Reggie Jagers (62.61m) and Sam Mattis (62.51m) topped the podium in the men’s discus to kick off the sixth day of competition at the 2020 Track and Field Olympic Trials at Hayward Field. 

“My warmups weren’t going great, my first three throws weren’t going great, and then I just stopped trying to tweak things and said, ‘you’ve just got to make this team, you gotta go,’” Finley said. “I settled into my technique and turned a bad day into an ok day.” 

In the first round of the men’s 110m hurdles, Grant Holloway (13.11), Daniel Roberts (13.22), former Duck Devon Allen (13.26) and Jaylan McConico (13.35) took heat wins to lead the qualifiers into Saturday’s semifinal. The fourth heat witnessed four false starts before getting off smoothly.

McConico said that four call-backs was the most he’s ever heard of in a race. “I’ve seen maybe three, tops,” he explained, “but you have to expect anything in championship season.” He says the key to making it through is to “just stay focused and be able to dial back in.”

The top eight women in the 800m semifinal advanced to Saturday’s final. Athing Mu (1:59.31) and Ajee’ Wilson (1:59.49) won their respective heats. 

Athing Mu was the top qualifier on to the women’s 800m final, clocking 1:59.31 in the semis. Photo by Otto Horiuchi

“I haven’t raced an 800 in awhile, besides yesterday,” Mu said. “April is the last time I got to see how my gears work in the race, so being able to do it in the semi definitely makes me feel so much better going into the final.”

Sydney McLaughlin (54.07), Shamier Little (55.22), Cassandra Tate (56.11) and world record holder Dalilah Muhammad (55.51) took away heat wins to lead the top 16 women in the 400m hurdles to Saturday’s semifinal. The first heat saw multiple call-backs, similar to the men’s 110m hurdles. By the third false start call for the women, the Hayward crowd started voicing its displeasure.

In the men’s 1,500m semifinal, Craig Engels led the first heat to the fastest Trials semifinal ever, clocking 3:38.56. Matthew Centrowitz won the second semifinal in 3:42.96—the former Duck crossed the line with current University of Oregon freshman Cole Hocker. The top 12 qualifiers advanced to the final that will be contested on Sunday. 

Former Duck Jenna Prandini sprinted to a personal record of 21.99 and Gabby Thomas also ran a personal record, clocking 21.94, to win their heats in the women’s 200m semifinal. The top eight sprinters—including five-time Olympian Allyson Felix—advanced to the final scheduled for Saturday.

To close out day six of the Olympic Trials, Hillary Bor (8:21.34), Benard Keter (8:21.81) and Mason Ferlic (8:22.05) raced their way onto the U.S. men’s 3,000m steeplechase team. 

“It was just to come in, execute my race and it was tough, but it's one of the best accomplishments I’ve met,” Bor said. “I wanted to make sure 2016 was not a fluke.”

Erriyon Knighton (far right) runs s a new U.S. high school 200m record, 20.04, taking down Noah Lyles' record set at the 2016 Olympic Trials. Photo by Jay Bendlin

Maggie Malone threw 59.62m to lead the top 12 women in the javelin to Saturday’s final. 

The men’s qualifying round of the long jump saw an 8.12m jump by Jarrion Lawson to lead the qualifying field of 12 to the final on Sunday.

Kenny Selmon (48.51) and Rai Benjamin (48.61) took heat wins to lead the eight fastest hurdlers to the final of the men’s 400m hurdles scheduled for Saturday. 

Erriyon Knighton (20.04), Isiah Young (20.21), Terrance Laird (20.44) and Andrew Hudson (20.40) won their respective heats of the men’s 200m first round. The semifinal will be contested on Saturday.

Six athletes cleared 2.19m in the men’s high jump qualifying round. The top 12 jumpers advanced to the final will be contested on Sunday. 

Bill Dellinger was honoured as the 2021 Legendary Coach, receiving a standing ovation from Hayward Field.