The final day of the Toyota USA Track and Field Outdoor and Para National Championships produced an array of head-turning results.
- Noah Lyles pulled up with a cramp in the 200m final.
- Cooper Lutkenhaus added to his incredible teenage story in the 800m.
- Tara Davis-Woodhall appeared to extend her long jump win streak on her last leap, only for it to be ruled a foul many minutes later.
- Cordell Tinch closed the four-day meet in New York City with a photo finish victory in the 110m hurdles.
Lyles, the four-time world champion in the 200m, was expected to cruise to a record-breaking sixth U.S. title in the event at New York City’s Icahn Stadium.
But Lyles pulled up with what he called “somewhat of a cramp” in his hamstring about halfway through the final, which was won by Garrett Kaalund in 20.04 seconds.
“Everything was going fine,” Lyles told NBC Sports’ Lewis Johnson. “I came off the turn, and I just felt the grabbing sensation. I was like, yeah, this is the time to stop. There’s no reason to push this. It was somewhat of a cramp. I’m fine. I just need to be stretched out, get some electrolytes in my system, but I’ll be good.”
Lyles could afford to ease up given this is the only year in the four-year cycle without an Olympics or World Outdoor Championships. He can still race the 100m and 200m at this season’s biggest international meet, the World Athletics Ultimate Championship in Budapest in September.
He’ll be joined there by Melissa Jefferson-Wooden, who won the women’s 200m on Sunday in 21.69, just one hundredth off her winning time from the 2025 Worlds.
Jefferson-Wooden is due for 100m and 200m showdowns at World Ultimates with Olympic 100m gold medalist Julien Alfred of Saint Lucia, plus 2023 World 100m champion Sha’Carri Richardson.
Melissa Jefferson-Wooden’s season’s best of 21.69 seconds yielded her second straight women’s 200m title at the USATF Outdoor National Championships.
Also Sunday, 17-year-old Cooper Lutkenhaus completed a historic last 12 months by winning the U.S. 800m title.
Lutkenhaus, a rising Texas high school senior, won going away in 1:43.48 — his margin of victory of 1.07 seconds over Wes Ferguson was the largest in a U.S. men’s outdoor 800m final since 2014.
“With this being my last race for basically six months until next indoor season, I really want to end it on a bang,” he said.
Cooper Luthenhaus, 17, made it look easy en route to his men’s 800m win in 1:43.48 at the USATF Outdoor National Championships.
Last August, Lutkenhaus was second at nationals and became the youngest American to compete at a World Track and Field Championships.
He followed that by becoming the youngest individual world champion in the sport at March’s World Indoor Championships. Then he beat Olympic gold and silver medalists Emmanuel Wanyonyi of Kenya and Marco Arop of Canada in Diamond League races in June.
Lutkenhaus said nationals is his last meet of this season. Rather than compete at World Ultimates, he’ll go back to Justin, Texas, to start his final year of high school.
He rated his first season as a pro as a 9.5, but wouldn’t divulge what was missing from making it a 10.
“When you run 1:42 at 16 years old (at 2025 Nationals), you’re expecting that there’s going to be a lot of pressure,” Lutkenhaus said. “There’s people thinking you should run this, run that. I’m not really focused on that.”
Olympic gold medalist Tara Davis-Woodhall appeared to extend her long jump win streak to 19 consecutive meets.
But her 7.16-meter last jump — which vaulted her from third place to first place — was later ruled a foul after a protest. That made Alyssa Jones the winner with a 6.96-meter jump, handing Davis-Woodhall her first defeat since the 2023 World Championships.
Davis-Woodhall appealed the foul ruling, but it was unsuccessful.
Tara Davis-Woodhall’s Instagram
Finally, world champion Cordell Tinch earned his first U.S. title by four thousandths of a second. Tinch, who considered skipping the final, rallied in the last stride to outlean Bradley Franklin — 12.993 seconds to 12.997.
“I was just waiting for them to show my name; I knew I won,” Tinch said. “Obviously, it’s a very close race. It’s a photo finish. But there’s some races where you can feel and you know.”
Cordell Tinch (12.993 seconds) beat out Bradley Franklin (12.997) by four thousandths of a second to win the men’s 110m hurdles in a photo finish to cap the USATF Outdoor National Championships.
Read on below for updates on other finals from Icahn Stadium.
