How Are The Olympic Trials Affecting Top Athletes?
Alexa Efraimson, the top seed in the 1500m, says that if everything goes according to plan and she makes both the IAAF World U-20 team for Poland AND the Olympic team, she will compete at both events as she believes the USATF Juniors, Olympic Trials, IAAF World U-20 Championships and the Olympic Games are perfectly spaced out to perform.
The 19-year-old Nike pro won her section of the 1500m tonight in 4:31.49. She ranks No. 4 on the USATF descending order list for the Olympic Trials with her PR of 4:03.39, set last year at the Prefonatine Classic.
Kate Murphy, an Olympic Trials qualifier in the 1500m, will race the 3K tomorrow night. If she makes the 3K team, she will not race the 1500m final on Sunday
Noah Lyles will not race the 200m against Michael Norman after the winning the 100m today in order to prepare for the Olympic Trials. The Florida commit predicts that Norman will break the national high school record of 20.13 tomorrow, but -- "I'll beat him at the Trials!"
With her 54.46 national high school record in the 400m hurdles last weekend, Sydney McLaughlin is starting to look like a strong candidate to make the U.S. Olympic team next week as she ranks No. 4 amongst all American women this year. After winning her prelim in 56.62 tonight, the Union Catholic, N.J. junior said she's taking her competitions one meet at a time. So she's not thinking much about the Trials yet. And, no, she is not thinking about going pro right now. (But... you were wondering, right?)
