Abby Steiner of Kentucky blasted to a new collegiate record to win the women’s 200 meters title with a blistering time of 21.80 seconds (+1.3 m/s)on Saturday’s (11) fourth and final day at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships 2022 at Hayward Field here in Oregon.
Steiner, who already owned the collegiate indoor record after a posting a time of 22.09 at the SEC Championships 2022 in February —added the outdoor milestone to her list of achievements with a smashing run that took down the previous NCAA record of 21.96 secs, set by LSU’s Favour Ofili in April.
Read More: Day 3 results: NCAA outdoor track and field championships
The 22-year-old revealed that she used each competition this season to work on different aspects of her race and was delighted that it all came together at the right time.
“We just took what happened this whole season as a learning experience. Every race is an opportunity to learn from it and fixed certain parts of my 200m so I think it all came together at the right moment,” Steiner, who finished third in the 100m earlier in the day told ESPN.
Steiner also improves 2022 world-leading time
The time is also a world-leading performance for 2022, improving on the 21.87 clocking by Olympic silver medalist Christine Mboma of Namibia in April.
Meanwhile, Ofili bounced back from a disappointing 5th place finish in the 100m final earlier in the day to take second place in the 200m with 22.05 secs, while third place went to Olympian Anavia Battle of Ohio State who ran 22.33.
In Thursday’s semi-final round, Steiner showed that she was in prime shape to attack the collegiate record after clocking 22.02 to match the previous meeting record from 2017, which was set by former Florida national champion Kyra Jefferson.
In the final on Saturday, the Kentucky junior got off to a quick start but still found herself chasing Ofili entering the last 100m.
The standout sprinter managed to sling-shot into the lead at the top of the home straight and kept powering home to hold off Ofili before throwing her hands in the air in celebrations as she crossed the finish line.
As a nice gesture, the LSU star congratulated Steiner with a hug, with several others also took the opportunity to recognize her outstanding performance by giving her hugs as well.
