Collegiate star Alyssa Wilson will be aiming to transfer her outstanding college season into the next phase of her championship schedule when she takes on some of the world’s best in the women’s Hammer Throw at the 2022 Toyota USATF Outdoor Championships this week.
The US outdoor championships at Hayward Field to select the remaining athletes for next month’s World Athletics Championships at the same venue next month, will run from 23-26 June, with the hammer competition scheduled for 5:00 pm PT on Thursday’s opening day.
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Wilson, who finished a disappointing sixth at the US Olympic Trials last summer after failing to replicate her qualifying performance in the final, enters this year’s championships in even much better form and she will be hoping to build on that momentum heading back to Eugene.
The 23-year-old is the third-best American thrower in the women’s hammer this season with a personal best of 74.78m, set to finish second at the NCAA Championships also at Hayward Field on 9 June.
Embed from Getty ImagesThe graduate student from Texas State who sits only behind current world leader Brooke Andersen and Janee’ Kassanavoid among the top Americans in the event this season, is also ranked No. 7 on the world list.
After a competitive collegiate championships battle with the University of California star and Canadian Olympic finalist Camryn Rogers, Wilson, who ended the collegiate campaign as the 2nd-best collegiate hammer thrower of all time, will seek to extend her peak form at the US Championships when she comes up against what will be a loaded field.
Another Super Strong Field To Battle At USATF Outdoor Championships
Among the leading athletes standing in the way of the all-around gifted thrower are; Olympic finalist Andersen, who leads the world with a personal-best mark of 79.02m, and Kassanavoid, who also threw a PB of 78.00m in May and is ranked No. 3 in the world this year.
Embed from Getty ImagesOlympic finalist Gwendolyn Berry, who finished third last year, Lara Boman, who was fifth a year ago, Janeah Stewart, Autavia Fluker, in addition to the likes of Shelby Moran, Magdalyn Ewen, and Erin Reese are also among the featured athletes slated to contest the women’s hammer throw.
The USA will be able to field four athletes in the event, given that DeAnna Price will enter as the defending world champion. Price, who owns a PB of 80.31m from 2021 and has a season-best of 72.39m, will also compete at the 2022 Toyota USATF Outdoor Championships and she will be attempting to win a fifth national title.
Meanwhile, Alyssa Wilson will also contest the women’s Discus throw, but the hammer is the ideal chance for her to secure a spot on the first senior team of her career.
She enjoyed international success as a junior, having landed a silver medal at the World Junior Championships in the hammer in 2018 and is a bronze medalist in the Shot Put at the 2016 World Juniors.
However, her coach John Frazier confirmed to World-Track and Wilson will no longer focus on the Shot Put, but rather spend most of her time with the Hammer and Discus.
