Ealey Breaks Michelle Carter's American Record With 20.76m (68-1.50); Benjamin Pulls Off Big Finish In 400-Meter Hurdles Final (46.39)

By David Woods for DyeStat

Lead photo of Chase Ealey by Marta Gorczynska for Diamond League AG

EUGENE, Ore. – Chase Ealey and Rai Benjamin saved the best for last.

More than that, actually. They made track and field history Saturday, even if Benjamin was dismissive of his own achievement.

“I need to perform when it really matters. That’s at Worlds, at the Olympics,” Benjamin said. “And I haven’t done that yet.”

So Paris is on notice. Ealey did not make the team for the 2021 Olympics at Tokyo, where Benjamin took silver behind Karsten Warholm.

INTERVIEWS | PHOTOS by Tim Healy and Becky Holbrook

At the Prefontaine Classic, Ealey and Benjamin overcame injury-interrupted seasons to win Diamond League trophies meriting more than mention on Wikipedia.

Ticketed attendance at Hayward Field was announced as 12,364. Some sessions at last year’s World Championships didn’t fill this many seats, and this crowd was every bit as engaged (if not more so). The Diamond League concludes Sunday with 17 diamond events up for grabs. 

Ealey, coming off a second World title, had a world-leading shot put of 67-7.50 (20.61m) in the second round. In the third, she set an American record of 68-1.50 (20.76m), breaking the mark of 67-8.25 (20.63m) set by Michelle Carter in winning a gold medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

“That was something really important to me this season, and to do it in the last meet – I held it off, didn’t I? – but I’ve been wanting to do it all season,” Ealey said. “And I told my coach I was going to do it this meet.”

Her distance would have won every Olympic gold medal since 1996 and ranks No. 5 in the world this century, when anti-doping became more rigorous.

Canada’s Sarah Mitton, second at Worlds at Budapest, was runner-up at 65-5 (19.94m). Previous world leader Maggie Ewen was fifth at 65-0.50 (19.82m).

Ealey said an abdominal injury impaired her earlier this season.

“There’s something about this stadium that brings it out of me,” she said. “I love this stadium. It kind of feels good to do it here and bring it home all the time.”

Maybe Hayward did have something to do with it. Warholm suggested as much after the 400-meter hurdles.

“I don’t know if it’s the Hayward Magic all the Americans are talking about, or if it’s just hard-core shape after the World Championships,” the Norwegian said.

Warholm seemed headed to inevitable victory – he had lost one Diamond League race over the past five years, at Zurich on Aug. 31 – until Benjamin gathered steam off the ninth hurdle and sustained momentum over the 10th.

Benjamin finished first in a world-leading 46.39, a Diamond League and Pre record – and No. 4 time ever. He and Warholm (46.53) were virtually in a separate race, distancing themselves from Kyron McMaster (47.31) and Alison dos Santos (47.44).

Before the race, coach Quincy Watts told Benjamin he wanted to see “the old Rai,” the hurdler said. That is, coach wanted athlete to revert to what Benjamin called his “old race model” of restraint at the start and strength at the finish.

“I was a little too restrained because I kind of let him go a little bit there,” Benjamin said. “I’m looking at the field, ‘Dang. Kinda far.’“

Through six hurdles, Warholm led Benjamin by a half-second, 24.10 to 24.61. Warholm finished with a time faster than what won gold in Budapest, where Benjamin took bronze.

Benjamin said he was tired from a long season and persistent quadriceps soreness, and he reiterated a pre-meet assertion that $30,000 was inadequate first-place prize money.

“I had nothing to lose. I was like, ‘Man, I just want to go home,'” he said.

Benjamin set an American record of 46.17 in earning silver at Tokyo and clocked 46.62 at July’s nationals. He has three of the eight fastest times ever, Warholm owns four and dos Santos one.

Coincidentally, the win came on the birthday of Kevin Young, whose 1992 American record of 46.78 was broken by Benjamin at Tokyo.

World champs Richardson, Lyles beaten in 100

In other women’s highlights:

>> Shericka Jackson prefaced a Sunday attempt at a 200-meter world record by winning the 100 in 10.70. The 29-year-old Jamaican easily defeated Marie-Josee' Ta Lou (10.75), Elaine Thompson-Herah (10.79) and world champion Sha’Carri Richardson (10.80).

“What matters is being whole with myself as an athlete, being a great competitor, executing what it is that I know I can after having an amazing season,” Richardson said. “I am not mad at all about the time that I did today.”

>> World champion Winfred Mutile Yavi of Bahrain ran the second-fastest 3,000 steeplechase ever, setting an Asian and Pre record of 8:50.66. Kenya’s Beatrice Chepkoech, whose world record of 8:44.32 has stood since 2018, was second (as she was in Budapest) with a time of 8:51.67 – No. 3 all-time behind her world record and Yavi.

>> Kenya’s Faith Kipyegon continued her epic season with a bid to break her own 1,500 world record. She closed in 59.6 and finished in 3:50.72, compared to her record of 3:49.11. It was her fourth Pre victory and No. 5 time ever – she owns three of the five. Since June 2, Kipyegon has set three world records, won two World championships and the Diamond League trophy. It was one of the fastest mass finishes ever, featuring six women under 3:57, three from Ethiopia. Diribe Welteji was second, 3:53.93; Great Britain’s Laura Muir third, 3:55.16; Freweyni Hailu fourth, 3:55.68; Linden Hall fifth, 3:55.68 (Australian record); Ethiopia’s Birke Haylom sixth, 3:56.98.

>> Katie Moon, who shared Budapest gold, won the pole vault with a Pre record of 15-11.25 (4.86m). Slovenia’s Tina Sutej was second with a PB of 15-9.25 (4.81m) and Sandi Morris third at 15-5.50 (4.71m). Nina Kennedy, the Australian who tied Moon at the World Championships, was fifth at 14-11.50 (4.56m).

>> Venezuelan triple jumper Yulimar Rojas, nearly eliminated in the Budapest final before winning gold on her last attempt, set a Pre record with a world-leading distance of 50-4.50 (15.35m).

In other men’s highlights:

>> Christian Coleman won the 100 in 9.83, equaling the world lead he shared with Noah Lyles, who was second in 9.85. Lyles was two-thousandths ahead of Kenya’s Ferdinand Omanyala, 9.847 to 9.849. Coleman built a big lead over Lyles at 60 meters – 6.36 to 6.48 – and the World champion could not overtake him. “Of course, I want the win, but more importantly is that the crowd got to come out here and I got to be in front of them,” Lyles said. “After a World Championship win, I know that’s what they really wanted to see.”

>> On his final attempt, Sanghyeok Woo tied his own South Korean record of 7-8.50 (2.35m) – set in earning silver here last year – to secure victory in the high jump. He became the first Korean to win a Diamond League title. JuVaughn Harrison, the Budapest silver medalist, was third at 7-7.75 (2.33m).

Contact David Woods at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidWoods007.