On February 22, 2025, the USA Track and Field team competed against many other teams in the Nanjing Olympic Sports Training Centre Stadium located in Hexi New Town, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China.
USA Track and Field is a competitive national committee for track and field, long-distance running, and race walking for the United States of America. If you place 1st-5th in your event, you could even have the chance to win prize money! 1st place winners earn $6,000, 2nd place gets $4,000, 3rd with $2,500, 4th with $1,500, and, finally, 5th place earning $1,000 dollars. Gold Medalists earn the 1st place title, Silver in 2nd, and Bronze Medals are given to both 3rd and 4th place. These achievements are also included for both indoor and outdoor competitions, since winter track uses the indoor tracks and spring track and field uses the outdoor tracks once the temperature warms up.
Plenty of events take place in Track and Field, and, this year, we have had a ton of winners in a wide variety of categories. 23-year old Claire Bryant was a gold-medalist for the long jump, leaving her season unforgettable. With it being her first international appearance on the USATF Team, she claimed her win with a PB (Personal Best) of 6.96/22-10! In a long jump, athletes aim to leap as far as possible from the line, or take-off point, landing in a sand pit that determines the length they dented in the sand with any part of their body.
A 4×400 is arguably the most exciting race, where you find four contestants handing off a baton to each other after their 400-meter dash (one lap on the outdoor tracks, two laps on the indoor tracks). In this race, the USATF boys Elija Godwin, Brian Faust, Jacory Patterson, and Chris Bailey ran quite incredibly, leading their team to success, with the U.S winning gold in the 4×400 for the first time since 2016.
Do you believe in luck, or skill? Quanera Hayes, Bailey Lear, Rosey Effiong, and Alexis Holmes raced in the women’s 4×400 and definitely showed off their natural athleticism that puts the ranking of skills way higher than simple luck! With yet another gold medal for team U.S., these four ladies proved that they could bring back the excitement of gold medals after the last win, being back in 2018.
Roger Steen and Tripp Piperi both won medals for shot-put. Shot put is an event that involves a spherical weighted ball that a thrower carries to see how far they can throw it. Roger won a silver medal while Tripp won bronze- both such incredible performances!
Outdoor USATF will be taking place July 31-August 3rd, so get ready for more astonishing performances such as these.
