EUGENE, Oregon (June 25) — Report of the first round heats of the men’s and women’s 200 meters on Day 3 at the 2022 USATF Outdoor Championships here at Hayward Field in Oregon, with the likes of Noah Lyles, Erriyon Knighton, Fred Kerley, Gabby Thomas, and Sha’Carri Richardson all making progress into the semi-finals.
World champion Lyles cruised to 19.95 seconds (1.1 m/s) to clock the fastest time in the first round after winning the second of the four heats and even had enough time to dance for the camera. Read more: When is the 2022 Toyota USATF Outdoor Championships and how to watch?
“19.95 because my therapist told me to,” Lyles wrote on Twitter after his comfortable win.
The 2019 World Championships in Doha, Qatar. ran a well-balanced opening half of the race before coasting home down the final straight to finish comfortably ahead of Isiah Young (20.13) who was second.
World U20 record holder Erriyon Knighton, the fastest man in the world this season at 19.49 seconds, ran 20.08 secs to secure first place in heat one and qualified with the second-best time of the first round.
Heat four went to Olympic silver medalist Kenny Bednarek, who ran 20.10 to edge Georgia collegiate star Matthew Boling (20.11) with another college star Javonte’ Harding (20.42) of North Carolina A&T also progressing after he took third place in the heat.
Meanwhile, world 100m champion Christian Coleman captured heat three with a time of 20.13. Coleman took the lead early and then held off the fast-finishing Fred Kerley (20.29) who ran very conservative in the opening 110m.
Kerley, who has a season-best of 19.80 secs for the 200m and has the three fastest 100m times in the world this year, is coming off a victory in the 100m on Friday night.
Abby Steiner eased through; Sha’Carri Richardson advanced
In the women’s 200m heats, NCAA champion and collegiate record holder Abby Steiner of Kentucky paced all the qualifiers heading into the semi-final with her solid time of 22.14 seconds.
Finishing right next to Steiner was the 2021 NCAA sprint double champion Cambrea Sturgis, who clocked a season-best of 22.24 for the third-best time overall in this round.
Olympic bronze medalist Gabby Thomas won her heat comfortably in 22.59 secs, finishing ahead of Sha’Carri Richardson, who was second with a time of 22.69 secs.
Also making progress into the semi-final round were Tamara Clark (22.29), Kayla White (22.38), Olympian Anavia Battle (22.57), Jenna Prandini (22.65), and reigning world champion Brittany Brown (22.90)
