With the USATF national championships in Eugene, Oregon wrapping up on July 9th, a new team is going to the World Track and Field Championships to represent the US in Budapest later this summer. But, today I will be telling you about three you should watch for.

1. Elise Cranny

Elise Cranny who represents Bowerman Track Club had a fantastic weekend in Eugene. She won the women's distance double by winning the 5000 and 10000 meters. Elise had two very different races, the first of her two races was the 10k and in that race, it was all about racing for the title, which is shown by the somewhat slow time and consistently slow splits. Very early on it was made apparent that a world championship standard would not be run. In the first 800 meters of the race, they ran 2:55.13, a split that is only a couple of seconds under six-minute pace. That slow pace didn’t stay for long due to them taking 13 seconds off their second lap’s split. In this race, the pace was slow for the most part until Elise made her move to go to the front and pushed the pace, and the fact that Elise could hold on and how at the end she could pick up the pace and create a gap of five seconds to win is a great show of her fitness. Her second of the two races was by far a more dominant showing. Elise, who did not have a world championships standard in this event before the race, would need this race to be run a different way than the 10k. Alicia Monson from the OAC took the lead very quickly and led for everything but 1000 meters of the race. The race at the start was very slow, but after only 1600 meters the pace picked up and was back on pace to get world championship standards. Elise did what she did in the 10k and pulled ahead to the front and ran away with it by three seconds. Elise will be a great representative of Team USA in Budapest and I think she could most definitely place top ten, maybe even top seven if she has good races on the days.

2. Abdihamid Nur

Abdihamid who is only ranked 24th in the world in the 5k, just won the Nike Men’s 5k on Sunday evening, his second consecutive World Championship team made (He placed eleventh in the final in 2022). Unlike Elise Cranny, Abdihamid did not run a standard for the world championships in his 5k final. But, lucky for him he already obtained it by running 13:05.17 at the LA Grand Prix earlier this year. Although, Abdihamid doesn’t have one of the fastest times among his peers. He has shown high levels of competitiveness. He’s shown this by beating the fifth-ranked man in the world Paul Chelimo who is no joke. Paul has placed third in the Olympic 5k and is a great person to beat. Abdihamid ran a very strategic race to win the national title, he did this by staying around 8th place until 1000 meters to go, where he decided to take off to win his first national title. But, how well do I think he will perform in Budapest later this summer? Well, the main factor is his lack of Diamond League experience. He has taken a very different approach to his season than other premier distance runners across the world. Abdihamid decided to stay in the American circuit, running two 1500s and one 5k before the US final. What also is very important about him is that he ran his PR of 13:05.17 in his first 5k of the year and got a world champs standard in that race. I think if he can stay competitive amongst the best of the best and the pace is the right pace he could definitely surprise some people and maybe even place in the top ten and maybe even top five. But, as always it depends a lot on the day and how the race pans out.

3. Sydney Mclaughlin-Levrone

Sydney Mclaughlin-Levrone is by far one of the best and most dominant American track and field athletes in the past ten years. Sydney who has won everything from World Championships to Olympics to Diamond League meets to holding the World Wecord and breaking her record multiple times in the 400-meter hurdles. However this year she has decided to switch to the flat 400-meter dash, Sydney is coached by Bob Kersee who pushes his athletes to develop their range, which is something that he is doing with Sydney by putting her in the flat 400, He can do this and she can still run in the 400-meter hurdles world championship due to her being the reigning champion, which gives her an automatic spot. The 400 however is not an unfamiliar event to Sydney, in college at Kentucky she helped her team place highly in the 4x400 relay, the same with the US 4x400 relay, and this year she has already shown great success so far. In 5 races that she has run, she has won all but 1 one of them, and in this year’s National Championship Final, she ran 48.74 and which is .04 seconds from Sanya Richards-Ross’s American record of 48.70. In the US final Sydney showed her dominance in this race leading all 400 meters of it. In this race, she was being pushed by the NCAA record holder in this event and 3rd on the all-time list in the 400-meter hurdles, Britton Wilson. However, Britton was no match for Sydney, Sydney ran away with the title by a little bit more than a second. I do not doubt that Sydney Mclaughlin-Levrone will win this year's women’s 400 meters but it is more a matter of how fast she can run. First off, I think that she can and will break the American Record. But, the bigger question is whether or not she can break the World Record. I think that both records can be broken and I am curious to see what will happen in Budapest in August. I think that if Sydney can break these records and perform well and win the championship, she will put her name up amongst the greats.