Throws Preview, Sunday: 2023 Toyota USATF Outdoor Championships
By Kara Winger
Hey, I’m Kara. Still number one in World Athletics Rankings in the women’s javelin after a 2022 season that saw me become the first ever American javelin thrower to medal at Worlds (in Eugene!!) for the women (I moved from 5th to 2nd in the final round, it was amazing), break the American Record for the second time in my career after not throwing a personal best for twelve full years when I tossed 68.11m in Brussels September 2nd, and then win the Zurich Diamond League Final. I stuck to my guns and retired like I said I was going to, and I have no regrets. And now I get to play fun new roles in the throws universe that I love, and come to the 2023 Toyota USATF Outdoor Championships and The Prefontaine Classic to celebrate my friends, former teammates and competitors, with fellow fans who also love these events.
Here are my takes on the competition in the Sunday throwing events of the 2023 Toyota USATF Outdoor Championships!
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Women’s Hammer
Two former World Champions and another medalist from the same country. One guaranteed team member in the defending World Champ, but four other total superpowers in the event vying for the three other available spots. Wild.
Brooke Anderson is the defending World Champion, showing her maturity and growth on the world stage in a competition in Eugene 2022 Worlds that saw the first North American sweep of the event (US - Canada - US) in history. This Tokyo Olympic finalist and multiple World Championships team member won her first U.S. title last year, and is in great form in 2023, breaking the 80m barrier for the first time in Tucson at the end of May. She is ranked number 1 in World Rankings, and is the distance world leader with that 80.17m PB, plus has put together great results in multiple countries this season. Her Wild Card for Budapest takes the pressure off of this competition,
Janee’ Kassanavoid, Eugene World Championships bronze medalist, has gotten out to 76.60m this season, a very respectable mark in the context of her entire career, and an indication of the shape she’s in and her ability to make this team. She’s been traveling, gathering continued international experience, and I’m excited to see how she follows 2022 up (her second place 76.04m at this meet last year was so fun to see after struggles at 2021 Olympic Trials, and she capitalized on that momentum in a big way).
Returning from significant injury recovery and missing World Championships last year due to illness, American Record Holder Deanna Price made a statement with a 77.25m result in mid-June, and all 5 of her competitions this season are over 74m. This is the venue at which she set the 80.31m AR, and I fully expect that she and Brooke, our only two ever World Champions in this event, could go round for round in trying to further that mark.
Maggie Ewen, Annette Echikunwoke, and Rachel Tanczos all have the 73.80m World standard, and while we can expect both Maggie and Annette to show up spectacularly (Maggie has a 75.10m PB on the season and Annette threw 75.00m in Tucson to approach her overall 75.49m PB from 2021), Rachel could also surprise people. Her Budapest standard and PB of 73.87m happened just a few weeks ago; keeping that momentum could serve her well at this meet!
In an event that has absolutely skyrocketed in the U.S. in the last ten years thanks to trailblazers in this field, there is still some space for a few surprises at the venue just outside Hayward’s main stadium.
Women’s Discus
One familiar, superstar face, with some huge opportunity for new talent.
American Record holder Valarie Allman has thrown 70m out of this ring before (Olympic Trials qualifying two years ago), and she leads the Diamond League standings after three of four regular-season events: She looks to defend her two consecutive Diamond trophies at the Prefontaine Classic in the fall. Val recorded a world-leading mark of 70.25m in San Diego at the beginning of April, has been fairly consistent over 68m on the year, and will look to add a fifth consecutive national title to her very impressive resume. I keep thinking, looking at her early season marks and then the comparatively conservative ones since (I mean, on the scale of Val), that something enormous is coming. At Eugene World Championships, she fouled twice in qualifying before unleashing a 68m, field-leading toss, and then becoming the first ever American women’s world medalist in the event with her bronze in the final. So even when she struggles in this ring, she knows how to turn it around! The Tokyo Olympic Gold medalist also earned a Wild Card to Budapest with her 2022 DL Final victory, so three more World spots are up for grabs…
Two-time World Championships finalist Laulauga Tausaga threw a PB of 64.49m at this meet last year for silver. Starting her 2023 season with a great series - four of six attempts over 63m - tells me that her mixed results since are simply preparation for an excellent rest of the season. While she doesn’t yet have the Budapest standard of 64.20m, her 2022 NACAC Championship (a standard equivalent according to the rules) has her in good shape to make a third career world team at just 25.
Veronica Fraley threw a PB of 63.51m at the USATF NYC Grand Prix June 24, nicely timed after a long collegiate season at Vanderbilt to tell me she’s ready for that 64.20m standard, too! Elena Bruckner has had a bunch of 60m meets this year, and looks to be coming into her own at Cal Berkeley where she trains post-Texas college career. Micaela Hazlewood has my heart: After a personal-best performance at 2021 Olympic Trials to earn silver and an admirable run at World Rankings points to earn a Tokyo spot just to come up a bit short, she then tore her pec in her 2022 season opener and had to have surgery. The season after a big injury is so tough, and I’ve loved her honesty in the journey. Returning to the venue she had that 2021 breakthrough in after all that resilience has me feeling good vibes.
Shelby Frank and Faith Bender have outside shots at moving up the World Rankings and nabbing Budapest team positions!
Notably absent is Tokyo Olympian and Eugene World team member Rachel Dincoff, who is recovering from achilles surgery.
It’s very cool how young this field is (all under 28). Whoever steps up to claim World Championships spots with Val will claim an important building block in her career!
Men’s Shot Put
The two literal best shot-putters in world history are chased by more of the best to have ever done it. The absolute most competitive event in the United States throws, for years, and especially right now. Only 33 men in the whole world have ever thrown 22m, and 5 of them are on this start list.
The story here for me about Ryan Crouser is not just the typical one (that he’s literally the best there has ever been in the event, indoor and out, for years, etc.), but that he chooses to return home to Oregon, to hang out with his family, to be part of the event and represent at national championships, even when he doesn’t have to. USATF decided this year that Wild Card recipients for Budapest World Championships (Ryan, as defending World Champion, has one) do not have to compete at national championships to secure their spots on the team. In an outdoor season where he has already broken his own World Record in spectacular fashion once, my question is how far he might throw at Hayward Field when all the pressure is off: Qualified for Worlds, throwing in the same place he broke the WR for the first time and secured his first outdoor World title? Good thing there isn’t a wall at the end of this sector.
Joe Kovacs’ season opener of 22.69m impressed me - and likely all Dads who pay attention - so much. He has been quoted in his international travel and not-as-far performances as being thrown off by all the rest he gets on the road! Wife and coach Ashley had their twins this winter, and the season opener becomes all the more impressive when you know that Joe accomplished it at Vanderbilt (their home turf), in the first half of the first year of those kiddos’ lives. Clear physical preparation combined with a few months of figuring out how his nervous system responds to the extra rest he gets on the road indicate to me that not only will the defending Diamond League champion make this World team (and look for his 5th career World Championship medal), but he might be better than he has ever been. I was PUMPED to be in the audience when he broke the 23m barrier for the first time in Zurich last year, and like everyone else (including, I’m sure, him), can’t wait to see it again.
I feel super lucky to have been Roger Steen’s teammate when he won NACAC Championships last year and then had a successful run in Europe. Seeing the best shotputter that NCAA DIII universities have ever produced be grateful for each step he has taken when the journey finally brought him a USATF uniform and some international opportunities, then taking full advantage of them, is my absolute favorite part of the sport. Fast forward to this season and he just keeps shining: 22.08m in Tucson at the end of May made him one of 33 men in world history to throw 22 meters, and a handful of other results on the year would have bettered his previous PB as well. Sometimes with a jump in performance comes a different learning curve to get back to it, but Roger’s breakthroughs have happened in Eugene for the past two consecutive seasons, so I’d love to see him grab a spot on his first global championship team.
Personal serious connection to the storylines of Payton Otterdahl and Darrell Hill: These two guys had surgery (hip and pec, respectively) between last season and this one, and are both dropping mid-21m throws and above already, Payton (21.99m PB in LA in May) wanting to join the 22m club that Darrell already belongs to (22.44m PB to become DL Champ in 2017).
Josh Awotunde and Tripp Piperi, both Eugene 2022 World team members, return to seek second consecutive spots. Tripp has been consistent this year and is primed for a breakthrough in a ring he has a lot of career success in. Tunde’s season results are scarce, but the Eugene bronze medalist has played that game before and won spectacularly, biding his time until he knows he’s ready, and performing when it matters.
2023 NCAA Champion Jordan Geist and Nebraska Cornhuskers Jonah Wilson and Maxwell Otterdahl round out the competitors with the World Rankings spots necessary to potentially make this Budapest team, and while it would take a lot, each experience attempting to grab global championships spots builds on itself. I didn’t make the final at my first senior nationals in 2006, but two years later, won Trials and became an Olympian! Gotta show up to see what you’re capable of on the day.
Three spots are up for grabs in this competition (Ryan gets that extra fourth spot), and whoever fills them will put the pressure, per usual, on the rest of the world in Budapest. Could USA men’s shot put sweep the podium again? I believe yes.