2016 US Olympic Track and Field Trials: What to Watch for on Day 3
The third day of the U.S. Olympic Track and Field trials features finals in six different events, including the marquee races to determine qualifiers for the 2016 Summer Olympics in the men's and women's 100-meter dash.
Those sprints will cap off eight hours of action at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, where along the way we'll also get qualifiers in the men's and women's 400-meter race as well as the men's long jump and women's high jump. Also on the docket are five events in the men's decathlon, three on the field side as well and two track events.
Here's a look at some of the most notable storylines to track on Sunday at the trials, which begin at 1 p.m. ET:
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The battle to be fastest
When you think of track and field the first thing that comes to mind are the sprints, and the U.S. will have its entrants for Rio decided in the Olympics' quickest race on Sunday. The men's and women's 100-meter dash will each qualify the top three finishers, all of whom hope to vie for a medal next month.
That means Justin Gatlin will get another chance to prove he's capable of beating Jamaica's Usain Bolt. First the 34-year-old has to get through the semifinals and finals after winning his preliminary heat Saturday in 10.03 seconds. Trayvon Bromell's 9.94 was the top time, with Christian Coleman timing at 9.96 and Tyson Gay at 9.97.
Gatlin finished second to Bolt at the 2015 World Championships, falling by 0.01 seconds, and Bolt's hamstring injury, suffered during the Jamaican Olympic Trials, puts his status for Rio up in the air.
"At this point, I'm just worried about the semis and the finals here," Gatlin said, per Jim Caple of ESPN.com.
In the women's race, Jenna Prandini heads into the semifinals having posted the fastest time so far at 10.81 seconds.
There's roughly a 90-minute break between the semifinals and finals, just enough for runners to recuperate before giving it their all in that last push to make Rio.
One lap, all out
The 400-meter race is a mix of speed and endurance, the extreme end of the spectrum for sprinters but not long enough to constitute being a distance race. It takes a certain kind of runner to excel in this discipline, and Sunday's finals are set up to be great.
The women's semifinals saw Francena McCorory edge Allyson Felix by 0.03 seconds for the top qualifying time, with Courtney Okolo only six hundredths of a second behind Felix.
"I haven't really raced this year so each race, each round, I'm getting a little sharper," said Felix, who won gold in the 2012 Olympics in the 200-meter dash but is trying to pull the double this time, per USATF.org.
Tony McQuay had the fastest time in the men's semifinals, his 44.24-second time a personal best and the fourth-fastest in the world this year. Gil Roberts was second best, at 44.67 seconds, while LaShawn Merritt won his heat at 45.05 seconds.
McQuay improved his time by 1.7 seconds from the preliminaries.
"It was fast, but I wasn't thinking about time," he told USATF.org. "It's about place. It was windy down the backstretch, but I stayed composed and executed my plan."
Halfway there
The first five events of the men's decathlon were held Saturday, and with the remaining five on tap for Sunday it's an athlete with plenty of experience at Hayward Field leading the charge. Ashton Eaton, the defending Olympic gold medalist and an Oregon alum, holds an 83-point lead on Jeremy Taiwo.
Eaton grabbed that edge thanks to a first-place finish in the 400 meters, vaulting him from second place. A quadriceps injury that slowed him in recent weeks didn't have too much of an effect on Saturday, but it could be a problem in the final event Sunday when the decathletes compete in the 1,500-meter run.
"I suppose that's what happens when you're a 28-year-old decathlete," he told Pete Martini of the Statesman Journal.
Follow Brian J. Pedersen on Twitter at @realBJP.
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