Track’s Surprising New Stars

Nigerian hurdler Tobi Amusan shocked fans around the globe last month when she set a new world record in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 12.12 seconds at the World Athletics Championships. Not only did she win Nigeria’s first gold in this event, but her record time was .08 seconds faster than the previous record, which is a huge margin — and a gigantic leap forward — for this event. It was so fast that some people, including legendary American sprinter Michael Johnson, questioned whether or not there were issues with the time clock or wind gauge. Four other runners also logged personal best times in the same heat. In the finals later that day, Amusan won gold with an even faster time, but that performance wasn't counted as a world record because the wind gauge detected a tailwind above the official permissible limit.

Julien Alfred is only the second St. Lucian to win an NCAA championship in the women’s 100-meter race, becoming the outdoor champion in the 100 meters and 4x100-meter relay during her senior season at the University of Texas. She more recently earned silver at the Commonwealth Games this month, surpassed only by 5-time Olympic gold medalist Elaine Thompson-Herah from Jamaica. It was redemption of sorts for Alfred, who a couple weeks earlier was disqualified for a false start in the semifinals of the World Athletics Championships in Oregon. Alfred, 21, has yet to appear in the Olympics. But she seems on her way to winning St. Lucia its first Olympic medal in the 100-meter sprint.

For the past several years, American Sydney McLaughlin has dominated the 400-meter hurdles. But 22-year-old Femke Bol from the Netherlands is coming on strong. Bol earned bronze in the 400 meters at Tokyo last year, the only time a woman from the Netherlands medaled in this event at the Olympic level. Bol, who took home silver at the World Athletics Championships last month, also holds the European record at 52.03 seconds. And earlier this month, with no hurdles, she set a new Dutch record when she earned gold in the 400 meters at a Diamond League event in Silesia, Poland.

At 20 years old, Athing Mu is one of the brightest young track and field stars for the U.S. Just a year after graduating high school, she captured Olympic gold last year at the 4X400-meter relay. She also won an individual gold medal in the women's 800 meters, setting a U.S. record with a time of 1:55.21 and becoming the first U.S. woman to win gold in that event since Madeline Manning in 1968. A few weeks later, Mu broke her own record when she won gold at the 2021 Prefontaine Classic. And she earned gold again at the 2022 World Athletics Championships last month.

Right behind Mu at the Tokyo Olympics was Great Britain’s Keely Hodgkinson, who won silver in the 800 meters. Hodgkinson, now 20, won two more silver medals in the past month — at the World Athletics Championships and Commonwealth Games. And back in February, she set a new British indoor 800-meter record with a time of 1:57.20.

Mary Moraa of Kenya, meanwhile, was a national champion in the 400 meters before making the switch to 800 meters. She failed to reach the 800-meter final at her first Olympic appearance last year, but she’s since put the world on notice. Moraa, now 22, earned bronze at the World Athletics Championships in July and then gold at the Commonwealth Games this month.