Locked In: Valarie Allman Dominates the Discus

2025 USATF Championships

By Mark Cullen

It was hard to focus on the women’s discus today because when Valarie Allman threw it, it traveled so far that it was hard to see.

Literally.

The two-time Olympic champion unleashed a series in which she averaged over 69 meters (226-4) per throw, a meter farther than when she won the 2024 Olympic Trials last year.

 “My fiancé (Coach Zebulon Sion) talks a lot about our averages,” she said.

The higher the averages, the more confidence she has.

“So we talk about that a lot,” she continued. “Our season’s average, our meet average.”

And once she reaches those averages?

“That’s rock solid through all of your throws,” she said, and indeed, each of her six throws would have won the meet.

“I think it’s really critical to open your series with a good throw,” she said. She opened with one of those six winning throws, a solid 67.25 (220-7).  

 Allman threw her farthest in the 4^th round at 71.45 (234-5), “and I really wanted to throw over 71 meters.”

Another mission accomplished.

                                       Valarie Allman

Lawi Tausaga-Collins had only two fair throws, but her third round 64.86 (212-9) counted most as it earned the 2023 World champion not only a place in the final but, ultimately, a place on the team.

“I’m absolutely ecstatic,” she said. “So be ready for me. I’m coming.”

Veronica Fraley and Jordan Ulrich had been separated by only a centimeter going into the last round, 60.31-60.30 for 3^rd and 4^th places, and it appeared that that’s where the excitement would come.

Instead, Gabi Jacobs vaulted over them both with an unexpected 63.33 (207-9) to nab the third place to Worlds.

Why unexpected?

 Of her previous five throws, two were fouls and none of the remaining three was over 60.00m: 59.42, 56.03, and 58.74. Her life-changing throw was 3.89 m – almost seventeen (!) feet farther than her previous best today.

It should be noted, too, that 4^th placer Shelbi Frank 61.11 (200-6) is a likely 4^th qualifier for the United States by virtue of her place in the World Athletics ranking system.

However, this will not be confirmed until midnight on August 24.

Clue that she very likely will be on the team? USATF made sure she went through the qualified athlete protocol today in Eugene.

“It felt good to put together six really good throws,” said a very determined Allman. “It shows I’m locked in. It shows I’m working on the right stuff. And it has me excited just to keep on doing what we’ve been doing. It’s almost as important as throwing one big one.”

 

Allman’s series:

67.25 – 69.66 – 67.33 -71.45 – 70.28 – 68.12

2025 USATF Championships - Day 3

A Day at the Races

By Mark Cullen

“It’s good when you just have fun,” said former University of Oregon shot put star, Jaida Ross. The NCAA champion and US Olympian had just qualified for Worlds even though she finished 4^th. With Chase Jackson having a bye into Worlds as defending champion, the US has four entries instead of the customary three.

First place was decided in the first round with Jackson’s opening 20.84 (68-4½). Maggie Ewen stepped up in the second round with her 19.94 (65-5), which stood up for 2^nd, while Jessica Ramsey’s third round 19.56 (64-2 ½) earned her the third spot to Tokyo.

Jaida Ross took care of business early, as her 2^nd round 19.33 (63-5) withstood the challenge of Jessica Woodard’s season’s best of 19.10 (62-8).

There was much anticipation and pre-event buzz over the possibility of an American record from Jackson today, but it was not to be. She had four fair throws – the first two and last two – and all her legal throws were over 20 meters. Her opening 20.84 was just shy of her American record, which stands at 20.95.

                                     Chase Jackson

photo courtesy USATF

Some thoughts and observations about the day.

First, while the finals understandably get the attention, the prelims and semis have stories of their own. There is no letting up; each semi is a final. Fail to advance and your trip to Worlds is over before it began.

For example, the top three times in the first round of the men’s 110m hurdles were 13.10, 13.13, and 13.15. Hello? The 12:14pm start time left little recovery time from brunch. These are results found in any World or Olympic final.

Same in the women’s 100m hurdles semis - at 12:40 pm - with the top three at 12.25, 12.34, and 12.39. Not long ago, 12.20 was the world record.

These crazy start times are what happens when we try to do in 4 days at nationals what we did in 9 days during last year’s Olympic Trials.

Second, in ‘announcing collectibles’ we have this unavoidable gem, as it had everything to do with qualifying for Worlds in the women’s steeplechase - and the surprise, on many levels, silver medalist:

“Fortunately, Napoleon has met the championship qualifying standard.”

Does Russia know? Are they good with that?

This refers to surprise second-placer Angelina Napoleon of North Carolia State. She actually has run fractionally faster than she did today, 7:10.72 at the Paris Diamond League Meet last month. We should have seen her coming!

Still, she was 3^rd at the outdoor NCAA championships this June and not on most form charts to make the team.

Finally, I have new technology – that is, a new laptop complete with software intended for use in this century.

It’s off to a shaky start.

Today it auto-corrected Sebastian Coe to Sebastian Cullen.

I accept.

Winkler Wins As a Star Is Born

Men’s Hammer Throw

2025 USATF Championships

By Mark Cullen

Rudy Winkler left no doubt as to who the 2025 USATF Men’s hammer champion is. He led from first throw to last and had a stellar series that included four throws over the benchmark 80m (262-5).

The parallels with DeAnna Price’s historic championship performance are striking. Each had one of the greatest six-throw series in US history, and each had five throws that would have won the competition.

Winkler’s winning 81.47 (267-3) came in the second round, and he was never headed.

Veteran Daniel Haugh threw 77.28 (253-6) in the 4^th round for what appeared to be a secure 2^nd place finish at the time.

Not so fast.

While Trey Knight had hair-raising fouls on his first two attempts, he launched himself into a competition-saving top 8 with his 3^rd round 74.56 (244-7). This allowed him three more throws in the final; he took full advantage of the opportunity.

Knight shocked the entire field with his 78.76 (258-5) in the 6^th and final round. This dropped Haugh into third place from second, but he kept a spot on the World Championships team.

In this competition, Knight’s season twice came down to one last throw. 

Twice he succeeded: first to make finals, then to make Worlds.

And with that last throw, to record a personal best.

Nice timing.

Tanner Berg, who ultimately finished 4^th, threw a personal best 76.93 m (252-4) and led the competition at the end of the first round. But that lasted only until Winkler’s winning second-round toss.

In a remarkably deep competition, 7 threw over 76.00 m (249-4) and 14 over 70.00 m (229-8).

Rudy Winkler

2025 USATF Hammer Champion

Photo courtesy USATF

Winkler attributed his success to “being happy in my life. I’m really in the groove with my coach, with my wife (they are recently married), and everything is just really coming together. I feel bold and complete, which is, I think, contributing to me just throwing far and being comfortable in the ring.”

Haugh felt as though he was not in the zone – that he had not had his best day. Nonetheless, he drew on the experience of having made two Olympic teams to get him through the competition successfully.

“You make every (World and Olympic) team since 2019,” he said, “you get older, you get more experienced. You know how to kind of work through it mentally, how to work through the attempts.”

“It was weird at the start (of the season)," Winkler said, "because I went to Drake Relays at the end of April/early May… then I had a trip to Europe for two weeks and then I came back. Normally when I do that, (I have) 2-3 weeks to get ready for nationals.”

Instead, “I got back from Europe and (it was) almost two months until nationals, so it’s been nice in a way... I can extend my mid-season training.”

He thinks that’s part of the reason he’s throwing well.

“I think that the break helped me get into a place where I could do it every day. It’s just been like every day of the same. I can stay in that training mode as long as I can and that’s awesome. So, for me it’s great.”

When noted that it’s possibly an epic moment when he throws over 80m four times while in mid-season training, Winkler said with emphasis, “Yeah, no, I’m in good shape, and I think if you were to see my training and then see how I’m competing, you’d be like, ”Oh, that makes sense.’ ”

“So, training has been great and it’s just between now and Worlds.”

“It’s all about just keeping it consistent.”

It had been a rocky year for Knight, who had an abrupt end to his collegiate season with three fouls in the NCAA Western Regional. He bounced back with a 78.15 (256-4) personal best at the Portland Track Festival in June, a harbinger of greater things to come.

The soft-spoken Ridgefield (WA) High School graduate said, “I think it worked out well. I had time after regionals to take a break, to renew, coach, and have some really good talks about ‘what do we want?’”

“It was a good little stretch of time of us figuring it out… us getting on the same page… figuring out why we are doing this? What’s our mission here?”

“And to do it in a healthy way.”

The 22-year-old Knight wants his success to be measured beyond winning and losing, and to be mindful of the role this entire experience will play for him as he goes through life.

He does not want it all to be about winning, or that a loss is equated with failure. 

“We don’t want that,” he said.

"I’m just trying to be the best thrower I can be.”

***

For the statistically inclined, here is Winkler’s series:

77.15 – 81.47 – 80.85 – 80.41 – 79.24 – 80.78

Two World Hammer Champions Return to Tokyo

Women’s Hammer Throw

2025 USATF Championships 

By Mark Cullen

In one of the finest series in US history, 2019 World Champion DeAnna Price dominated the field to win the USATF title and lead a deep US hammer squad to Tokyo’s World Championships. She averaged over 77 meters (252-7) for each of her throws in a six-throw series.

Price opened at 78.33 (257-0) and was never headed. Five of her six throws would have won the competition. She saved her best for last with the farthest of the day, a magnificently elegant, arcing 78.53 (257-7).

 “It's wonderful,” said Price of her remarkable series. “It’s right up there, right next to the Olympic Trials in 2021,” when she averaged over 78 meters per throw with five fair throws.

DeAnna Price

2025 USATF Champion

Photo credit: Mark Cullen

The excitement of a close competition took place behind her when 2023 World champion Brooke Andersen jumped from 4^th to second in the third round. At that point, the top four places were settled.

But not by much.

Rachel Richeson and Janee Kassanavoid were separated by only two centimeters after the first round in the battle for third, and try as she might, two-time World medalist Kassanavoid could not bridge the crucial gap.

Richeson, 4^th in last year’s Olympic Trials, recorded fair throws only twice, her first and last ones. She was in second place at 74.57(244-8) when Andersen’s 75.14(246-6) bumped her back into third.

But good enough, still, to qualify for her first major meet squad.

Said the twenty-five-year-old of her three-part, multi-year path to Worlds, “I didn’t start throwing hammer until college. My coach was the first one to see talent in me and develop me through my years at Notre Dame.”

The next step came when she graduated from Notre Dame and began working with coach AG Kruger.

“I’ve improved by 10 and a half meters in three seasons,” said Richeson. “It’s just a testament to how great a coach AG is.”

Her third component of success is “lots of people believing in me and seeing things maybe I didn’t see first.”

In spite of her silver medal performance today, Andersen said that she felt sluggish in the ring. “I was trying to throw outside of myself a little bit,” the 2022 World champion said.

She reminded herself to “trust the process, and doing so got me to 75.14 today, but hopefully I’ll get to the 70s, 80s in September.”

 “I feel like 80m was in the tank today,” said Price. Her next opportunity to reveal an 80m throw comes with a trip to Tokyo to take on Olympic champion  Camryn Rogers (Can) - as well as her talented teammates - for the World title in September.  

 We’ll leave the last words to Richeson.

 “Hammer,” she noted with insight and caution, “is a tricky thing to get ahold of and figure out.”

***                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

For the statistically minded among you – and if you’ve read this far, you are statistically minded! – here is Price’s series:

78.33 – 75.83 - 74.74 - 76.88 - 77.77 - 78.53