WTW: Will Sumner Is Amazing, World Records Galore In Paris + Tuohy and Wilson Come Up Short
By Robert Johnson and Jonathan GaultThe Week That Was in Running, June 5 – 11, 2023
What an amazing week If three world records in Paris wasn’t enough for you, we also had the NCAA champs last week and much more. We break it down for you below.
Each week, we try to make the sport more fun to follow by putting the prior week’s action in perspective for you. Past editions of our Week That Was weekly recap can be found here. Got a tip, question or comment? Please call us at 844-LETSRUN (538-7786), email us, or post in our forum.
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Last week by the numbers
0 – number of NCAA titles won last weekend by Katelyn Tuohy and Britton Wilson, both of whom were going for auspicious doubles in Austin.
0.01 – # of seconds that Japan’s Ryuji Miura, 21, took off of his own national record to finish second in the men’s steeplechase at the Paris Diamond League in 8:09.91. The good news for Miura is that he PR’d and finished second. The bad news is he was 17.80 seconds off the win.
0.11 – # of seconds that Brit Keely Hodgkinson took off her own national record in the women’s 800 to win her outdoor opener in Paris in 1:55.77. The even better news for Hodgkinson, 21, is that in each of the last two years, she’s run her fastest time of the year in the Olympic (1:55.88) or World Championship (1:56.38) final. She’s starting from a much higher base in 2023. Hodgkinson leads the 2023 women’s 800 list by 2.39 seconds; Ajee’ Wilson’s 2nd place time of 1:58.16 in Paris is #2. Speaking of being way better than everyone in the 800…
1.48 – margin of victory, in seconds, for true freshman Will Sumner of Georgia in the men’s 800 at NCAAs. Sumner’s remarkable time of 1:44.26 was run off a huge negative split of 53.12, 51.15. His margin of victory is the largest in the men’s 800/880y since 1959 when Illinois’ George Kerr won by 1.9 seconds in 1:47.2. 800 races are supposed to be close. In fact, between 1962 and 2023, only two men have won the men’s 800 by more than a second – Sumner and Andrew Wheating, who won the 2010 title by 1.14 seconds in 1:45.69.
*Margin of victory in NCAA races
2 – number of NCAA titles won by Stanford’s Ky Robinson over the weekend as the Aussie used big closes to capture the 10,000 (28:10.96, 54.19 last lap) and 5000 (14:04.77, 55.54 last lap).
2 – number of New York state meet records set by Angelina Napoleon last week. The NC State signee who runs for Allegany-Limestone set meet records in both the 800 (2:03.97) and 2k steeplechase (6:18.41). She also owns a 5-6 pb in the high jump, and qualified for states in that event as well, finishing 14th with a best clearance of 5-3.
3 – number of world records set in the Paris Diamond League on Friday. Read about Jakob Ingebrigtsen’s 7:54.10 2-mile here, Faith Kipyegon’s 14:05.20 5k here and Lamecha Girma’s 7:52.11 steeplechase here.There was an interesting messageboard discussion about which world record was the most impressive – MB: SO WHO’S WORLD RECORD WAS MORE IMPRESSIVE TODAY?? RANK THEM 1-2-3 . According to the World Athletics scoring tables, it’s the 2-mile WR which gets 1304 points, while the steeple record nets 1295 and the women’s 5000 1272.
9.00 – margin of victory, in seconds, for Florida’s Parker Valby in winning her first NCAA title in the 5,000 meters. Valby front-ran a 15:30.57 in the heat of Austin, pretty impressive considering her pb is 15:20.
10 years, 2 days – amount of time that had passed since Anthony Rotich had set a personal best in the men’s steeplechase until he ran 8:16.27 to place 9th in the Paris Diamond League on Friday. The 2013, 2014 and 2015 NCAA steeple champ’s (also won 2014 indoor mile) previous pb had come from the 2013 NCAA champs when he ran 8:21.19 for UTEP. Rotich is now #3 in the US for 2023. *Rotich WCAP bio
34 – number of years that Frith van der Merwe held the “down” record at the Comrades Marathon. Her 5:54:43 from 1989 was obliterated over the weekend by South African marathon record holder Gerda Steyn, who ran 5:44:54 and now holds the up and down Comrades records. In the men’s race, the top 3 all broke David Gatebe’s old down course record of 5:18:19, led by Tete Dijana with his 5:13:58 clocking.
Of course, we’d argue that Dijana is very lucky that his mark is being considered the course record and that he got paid the CR bonus as Comrades was shorter this year than most. Dijana only had to run 87.7 km whereas Gatebe ran 89.2 km when he set the old record in 2016. And Gatebe averaged a faster pace despite running farther.
For the record, Gatebe averaged 5:44.6/mile pace for his run while Dijana averaged 5:45.7/mile pace.Major marathon race directors that are reading this: we don’t think you should have your race be rabbitted or not rabbitted each year. You should consider alternating it each year and have a rabbitted and non-rabbitted course record.
RRW Gerda Steyn and Tete Dijana Break Comrades Course Records
44 – points scored by the Stanford men at NCAAs to finish 3rd overall. Stanford’s scoring “team” consisted of just three guys: Ky Robinson (20 points by finishing 1st in the 5k and 10k), Charles Hicks (11 points by finishing 2nd in the 10k and 6th in the 5k), and Udodi Onwuzurike (13 points by finishing 1st in the 200 and 6th in the 100). The result was Stanford’s best finish since 2000, when they won the team title thanks to 1-2 finishes in the 1500 and 10k and a win in the 5k.
83 – number of points the Texas women scored at NCAAs, the most by a women’s team since 1994. Incredibly, Texas could have scored even higher – the Longhorns had the top-seeded 4×400 relay but were DQ’d from the prelims on Friday. That was the only flat sprint event Texas did not win as Julien Alfred took the 100 and 200, Rhasidat Adeleke won the 400, and those two teamed with Ezzine Abba and Kevona Davis to win the 4×100 relay.
1:04:29 – gold medal-winning time for American Grayson Murphy in the 15km Mountain Classic, which tests one’s uphill and downhill running ability, at the World Mountain & Trail Running Championships in Innsbruck, Austria. Murphy also won a bronze in the vertical race.
2,897 – number of days since Faith Kipyegon had last recorded a 5,000 result before her 14:05.20 world record on Friday. Kipyegon went 7 years, 11 months, and 5 days (her last 5,000 result before Paris came on July 4, 2015) without finishing a 5,000. At first, we were going to say, “Who says practice makes perfect?” But we guess fans of practice will claim she had nearly 3,000 days of practice to get ready.
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Katelyn Tuohy and Britton Wilson Come Up Short But We Love Them For Trying
For the record: we love that Tuohy and Wilson tried for the doubles at NCAAs. Tuohy has already won NCAA titles in indoor track, outdoor track, and cross country and would have been favored to repeat as 5k champion had she elected to contest that event only in Austin. Wilson was in the same situation – she won NCAA outdoors in the 400 hurdles last year and NCAA indoors in the 400 this year and could very easily have shown up to NCAAs, taken her gold medal in the 400 hurdles, and turned pro.
Instead, both tried to do something unprecedented (Villanova’s Sheila Reid won the 1500/5000 at NCAAs in 2011 but unlike this year, the finals were on different days), and while they came up short, you have to respect the effort. Tuohy laid it all on the line in the 1500, while it took the #2 time in NCAA history – 49.20 by Texas’ Rhasidat Adeleke – to deny Wilson the title in the 400m. If anything, last weekend’s results made us appreciate what Wilson did at SECs even more (49.13 NCAA record in the 400, 53.28 #4 NCAA history in the 400 hurdles with 90 minutes in between).
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It’s Hard To Repeat at NCAAs
Katelyn Tuohy and Britton Wilson weren’t the only high-profile stars who failed to win an NCAA title in Austin. The reality is, it’s hard to win an NCAA title – even for people who are already NCAA champions.
Of the 11 women who won an individual NCAA indoor title in 2023 (there are 14 individual events but 3 women – Jasmine Moore, Julien Alfred, and Tuohy — won two titles indoors), just 3 of them won outdoors (27.3%). Of the 14 men who won an NCAA indoor title in Albuquerque three months ago, just 4 (28.6%) won again in Austin.
Here is the list.
Bold = Won NCAA indoors and outdoors
| Women’s Event | 2023 Indoor Champion | NCAA Outdoor 2023 Result |
| 60m | Julien Alfred – Texas | 1st 100m, 200m, 4x100m |
| 60m Hurdles | Ackera Nugent – Arkansas | 1st 100m Hurdles |
| 200m | Julien Alfred – Texas | 1st 100m, 200m, 4x100m |
| 400m | Britton Wilson – Arkansas | 2nd 400m, 7th 400mH |
| 800m | Roisin Willis – Stanford | 4th 800m |
| Mile | Olivia Howell – Illinois | 8th 1500m |
| 3,000m | Katelyn Tuohy – NC State | 7th 1500m, DNS 5000m |
| 5,000m | Katelyn Tuohy – NC State | 7th 1500m, DNS 5000m |
| Long Jump | Jasmine Moore – Florida | 1st Triple Jump, 3rd Long Jump |
| High Jump | Lamara Distin – Texas A&M | 2nd High Jump |
| Triple Jump | Jasmine Moore – Florida | 1st TJ, 3rd Long Jump |
| Shot Put | Adelaide Aquilla – Ohio State | DNC – No eligibility |
| Weight Throw | Jalani Davis – Ole Miss | DNQ in SP or HT |
| Pole Vault | Amanda Fassold – Arkansas | No Height |
| Men’s Event | Champion | NCAA Outdoor 2023 Result |
| 60m | Terrence Jones – Texas Tech | 3rd 200m, Did not make 100m Final |
| 60m Hurdles | Giano Roberts – Clemson | 5th 110mH |
| 200m | Matthew Boling – Georgia | Did not make 200m Final |
| 400m | Elija Godwin – Florida | 2nd 400m |
| 800m | Yusuf Bizimana – Texas | 2nd 800m |
| Mile | Luke Houser – Washington | 10th 1500m |
| 3,000m | Fouad Messaoudi – OK State | 9th 1500m |
| 5,000m | Dylan Jacobs – Tennessee | 14th 10,000m, DNS 5,000m |
| Long Jump | Carey McLeod – Arkansas | 1st Long Jump, 11th Triple Jump |
| High Jump | Romaine Beckford – USF | 1st High Jump |
| Triple Jump | Jaydon Hibbert – Arkansas | 1st Triple Jump |
| Shot Put | Jordan Geist – Arizona | 1st Shot Put, 3rd Hammer Throw |
| Weight Throw | Isaiah Rogers – Kennesaw State | 22nd Shot Put, 11th Hammer Throw |
| Pole Vault | Sondre Guttormsen – Princeton | 6th Pole Vault |
If you look at the returning outdoor champions from 2022, the results are similar. Of the 10 NCAA women’s champions from 2022 who returned for 2023, only three (30%) of them won an NCAA title in 2022. For the men, seven NCAA outdoor champions tried to defend their titles in 2023 and zero of them were successful.
| Women | 2022 NCAA Outdoor Champ | 2023 NCAA Outdoor Result |
| 100m | Julien Alfred – Texas | 1st 100m, 200m, 4x100m |
| 110mH | Alia Armstrong – LSU | 3rd 100mH |
| 200m | Abby Steiner – Kentucky | Professional for Puma |
| 400m | Talitha Diggs – Florida | 7th 200m, 5th 400m |
| 400mH | Britton Wilson – Arkansas | 2nd 400m, 7th 400mH |
| 800m | Kristie Schoffield – Boise State | Professional for NB |
| 1500m | Sinta Vissa – Ole Miss | Professional for On |
| 3,000mSC | Courtney Wayment – BYU | Professional for On |
| 5,000m | Katelyn Tuohy – NC State | 7th 1500m, DNS 5000m |
| 10,000m | Mercy Chelangat – Alabama | 3rd 10,000m |
| Hammer Throw | Camryn Rogers – California | Professional; No Eligibility |
| Javelin | Ashton Riner – BYU | 16th Javelin |
| Pole Vault | Gabriela Leon – Louisville | Professional for Puma |
| Shot Put | Adelaide Aquilla – Ohio State | No Eligibility |
| Long Jump | Jasmine Moore – Florida | 1st Triple Jump, 3rd Long Jump |
| High Jump | Lamara Distin – Texas A&M | 2nd High Jump |
| Triple Jump | Jasmine Moore – Florida | 1st Triple Jump, 3rd Long Jump |
| Discus | Jorinde Van Klinken – ASU | 1st Discus, 2nd Shot Put |
| Men | 2022 Outdoor Champion | 2023 NCAA Outdoor Result |
| 100m | Joseph Fahnbulleh – Florida | Professional for Asics |
| 110mH | Trey Cunningham – FSU | Professional for Adidas |
| 200m | Joseph Fahnbulleh – Florida | Professional for Asics |
| 400m | Randolph Ross – NC A&T | Professional; Whereabouts Failure/Tampering |
| 400mH | Sean Burrell – LSU | Did not make 400mH Final |
| 800m | Moad Zahafi – Texas Tech | Professional |
| 1500m | Joe Waskom – Washington | 2nd 1500m |
| 3,000mSC | Ahmed Jaziri | Professional for UA |
| 5,000m | Olin Hacker – Wisconsin | Professional for HOKA |
| 10,000m | Dylan Jacobs – Notre Dame | 14th 10,000m, DNS 5,000m |
| Hammer Throw | Logan Blomquist – SE Missouri | Not in NCAA anymore |
| Javelin | Marc Minichello – UPenn | 4th Javelin |
| Pole Vault | Sondre Guttormsen – Princeton | 6th Pole Vault |
| Shot Put | Adrian Piperi – Texas | Professional |
| Long Jump | Wayne Pinnock – Tennessee | 2nd Long Jump |
| High Jump | Tejaswin Shankar – Kansas St | Not in NCAA anymore |
| Triple Jump | Chengetayi Mapaya – TCU | Not in NCAA anymore |
| Discus | Claudio Romero – Virginia | 4th Discus |
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How much does age matter? Not that much at the 2023 NCAAs
In our recap of the 2022 NCAA meet, we noted that the distance events were dominated by older athletes – seven of the 10 winners were 23 or older, with five of them 24 or older. Given that a number of athletes who earned a sixth year due to COVID are still on NCAA rosters, we expected that trend to continue in 2023.
Instead, youth was served. Of the 10 distance winners in Austin, seven were 21 or younger, including true freshman Will Sumner in the men’s 800 and true sophomores Michaela Rose and Nathan Green in the 800 and men’s 1500.
| Athlete | Age | Event |
| Will Sumner | 19 | Men’s 800 |
| Nathan Green | 20 | Men’s 1500 |
| Kenneth Rooks | 23 | Men’s steeple |
| Ky Robinson | 21 | Men’s 5,000 |
| Ky Robinson | 21 | Men’s 10,000 |
| Michaela Rose | 19 | Women’s 800 |
| Maia Ramsden | 21 | Women’s 1500 |
| Olivia Markezich | 22 | Women’s steeple |
| Parker Valby | 20/21* | Women’s 5,000 |
| Everlyn Kemboi | ???*** | Women’s 10,000 |
*Valby’s birth date isn’t listed online, but she was part of the high school class of 2020 so she’s probably 21 or 22
**Kemboi’s birth date isn’t listed online, but she enrolled at El Paso Community College in 2018 so she is likely 23 or older by now
It’s also interesting to think about who would still be in college if they had not turned pro early. Hobbs Kessler, who ran 3:32 last month, is 20 (one month older than Nathan Green) and would have just finished his second year of college. Athing Mu just turned 21 last week and would be finishing her third season at Texas A&M. Cole Hocker just turned 22 and would be finishing up his fourth year at Oregon. And Sha’Carri Richardson, who ran 10.75 to win NCAAs the last time it was in Austin in 2019, would have just finished up her redshirt senior year at LSU had she elected to stick around for five years.
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The men’s sprints at NCAA were nuts
If you go strictly by times, the men’s 100 meters at the 2023 NCAA championships was one of the deepest competitions in history. In Wednesday’s prelims, it took a time of 10.04 seconds just to make the final – compare that to the 2022 Worlds, where 10.06 got you into the final (even though NCAAs was a nine-man final and Worlds was an eight-man final). Friday’s final lived up to the billing as it took 9.91 just to get on the podium and the top seven all broke 10.00 – tied with the 2022 USA final for the most ever in a single race (the 2012 Olympic final also had seven but Tyson Gay’s 9.80 was later nullified due to his doping conviction).
There were also some massive breakthroughs. In the prelims, Florida’s PJ Austin, who was only 8th at SECs, took .20 off his pb to run 9.89 and lead all qualifiers. In the final, Texas Tech’s Courtney Lindsay, whose previous pb was 10.02, made a similar improvement, skipping the 9.9s entirely to run 9.89 for the win.
Those times were jarring considering many of the world’s top sprinters have been struggling to break 10 in Europe recently. The three Diamond League 100s this year have been won in 9.94, 9.94, and 9.97, and no more than two men broke 10 in any of those races. Austin and Lindsay are now tied for #3 in the world in 2023, behind only Ferdinand Omanyala (whose 9.84 came at elevation in Nairobi) and reigning world champ Fred Kerley (9.88). What is going on?
Two things: location and timing.
Most year NCAAs are hosted at Hayward Field and while it is not a slow track, the weather in Eugene in early June can be hit or miss. Austin, however, is reliably hot and humid – great weather for sprinting – and the NCAA men’s all-time list reflects that. Just look at how many of the top NCAA marks were set in Austin despite Austin hosting NCAAs just twice in the last 19 years.
NCAA all-time men’s 100m list
| Athlete | School | Time | Location | Year |
| Christian Coleman | Tennessee | 9.82 | Eugene | 2017 |
| Divine Oduduru | Texas Tech | 9.86 | Austin | 2019 |
| Micah Williams | Oregon | 9.86 | Fayetteville | 2022 |
| Courtney Lindsay | Texas Tech | 9.89 | Austin | 2023 |
| PJ Austin | Florida | 9.89 | Austin | 2023 |
| Ngoni Makusha | Florida State | 9.89 | Des Moines | 2011 |
NCAA all-time men’s 200m list
| Athlete | School | Time | Location | Year |
| Walter Dix | Florida State | 19.69 | Gainesville | 2007 |
| Divine Oduduru | Texas Tech | 19.73 | Austin | 2019 |
| Udodi Onwuzurike | Stanford | 19.76 | Austin | 2023 |
| Terrance Laird | LSU | 19.81 | Austin | 2021 |
| Joe Fahnbulleh | Florida | 19.83 | Eugene | 2022 |
The women’s all-time lists aren’t as Austin-heavy, but Sha’Carri Richardson’s 10.75 collegiate record was set there in 2019 and Julien Alfred’s winning times last weekend (10.72, +2.7 and 21.73, +2.5) were both faster than the collegiate records but aided by wind.
The other reason why the NCAA times are so fast compared to the Diamond League times is that most collegiate sprinters build their seasons around peaking at NCAAs. The top pros are trying to peak in late August so it’s not surprising they’re not running their fastest times in May and June.
The pros were clearly paying attention to the fast times, with 2021 Diamond League 400 champ Michael Cherry suggesting Austin should host USAs. We’d love to see that someday. Hayward Field is one of the best track stadiums in the world, but attendance there recently hasn’t been amazing. Austin is easier to get to for most people and it’s a bigger, more exciting city than Eugene so there is more lodging and more options for food/drink. All it needs is a local organizing committee willing to bid for USAs.
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Gjert Ingebrigtsen has a new 1500 talent
Pop quiz: who is the fastest Norwegian 1500-meter runner of the 2023 outdoor season?
We’ll give you a hint: he’s from the town of Sandnes and coached by a guy named Ingebrigtsen.
If you said Jakob Ingebrigtsen, good guess, but he’s only #2 on the 2023 Norwegian list. The answer is 24-year-old Narve Gilje Nordas, who ran a big pb of 3:32.39 to win at the On Track Nights Paris meet on Saturday.
A few years ago, Nordas was running 10ks and half marathons (he was the runner-up in the Norwegian 10,000 champs three straight years from 2019-21) but tested the waters in the 1500 last year, running a pb of 3:36.23 in Huelva. This year, he’s been fully-focused on the event and has PR’d in all four of his races this outdoor season: 3:35.91, 3:34.70, and 3:32.39 in the 1500 and 7:43.94 in the 3000. His coach is Gjert Ingebrigtsen, who of course also coached Jakob before a split at the start of 2022 that the Ingebrigtsens have been reluctant to discuss in detail.
“I’ve been coaching [Nordas] since he was 15, but having my own boys, it was difficult putting enough effort into his training,” Gjert Ingebrigtsen told Citius Mag.
Lifetime, Jakob Ingebrigtsen is 11-0 against Nordas according to Tilastopaja. They will race again on Thursday at the Bislett Games in Oslo, where Nordas has said he is trying to beat Ingebrigtsen’s 1500 pb – that is Henrik Ingebrigtsen’s pb of 3:31.46.
There were two notable results from Paris from an American perspective. One came in the women’s 5,000 meters where American Weini Kelati ran a personal best of 14:53.41. Kelati was 5th in the 10,000 and 4th in the 5,000 at USAs last year, but it may be smart for her to go all-in on the 5,000 this year considering the events are just three days apart (last year they were held at separate meets) and she does not have the 30:40 Worlds standard. While Kelati is currently ranked 24th in the world in the 10,000, she will have a tough time making it to Worlds as she may be blocked by the eight athletes in line to qualify via their world cross country ranking (although we are wondering if the countries will actually send all of those xc athletes). Now that she has the 14:57 Worlds standard in the 5,000, Kelati at least knows she will be on the team if she finishes top 3 at USAs in that event. It’s still TBD which event Kelati chooses to run, but her coach Stephen Haas said the double is still a possibility at USAs.
In the women’s mile, Nikki Hiltz’s fine 2023 continued as Hiltz dominated, winning in 4:22.07 – a 2023 world leader. Uganda’s Janat Chemusto, who turned heads by winning the 1500 in Nairobi, ran 4:23.65 for 2nd.
From 4:14 to 4:01 in One Season — How Janat Chemusto Emerged as Uganda’s New Female Distance Star
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