ATLANTA, GEORGIA, May 17 — Knowing she had the lead with the wind at her back in the women’s 150m at the adidas Atlanta City Games, Favour Ofili told herself to relax: “Don’t freak out, don’t freak out!”
A new thought took over once Ofili crossed the finish line on the straight, temporary track. “What is the time, what is the time?” she said. “I saw it and I’m like, ‘I don’t think that’s right.’”
Ofili laughed. “But it ended up being right.”
The 22-year-old Nigerian clocked an astounding 15.85, the fastest 150m by a woman in history, with the wind at exactly the legal limit of 2.0m/s in Atlanta’s Piedmont Park.
Ofili slashed 0.38 off the previous world best of 16.23 set by Shaunae Miller-Uibo at the 2018 edition of this meet held in Boston. Tamari Davis ran 16.14 for an American best.
Last year, LSU alum Ofili and Candace Hill both ran 16.30 at the Atlanta City Games, but Hill got the win by 0.006.
This time Ofili pulled away from Davis on the bouncy, elevated track.
“Honestly, I’m not tired at all,” said Ofili, who placed 6th in the 200 at the 2024 Olympics. “When you’re not tired, it means you run good!”
To put the time in perspective, when Florence Griffith-Joyner ran her 200 world record of 21.34 at the ’88 Olympics, she passed 150m (around a bend and with a 1.3 tailwind) in 16.10. Elaine Thompson-Herah ran 16.06 over 150m en route to her gold-medal time of 21.53 at Tokyo 2021.
Alison dos Santos also posted a world best in another non-traditional event, the men’s 200 hurdles — run with the barriers set at 30 inches, 3 inches lower than even the women’s sprint hurdles. The Brazilian ran 21.85, eclipsing the 22.10 by Britain’s Andrew Turner in 2011. Caleb Dean was the runner-up in 22.30, then immediately dropped to perform 10 pushups as part of a losing bet with dos Santos.
History’s third-fastest man in the 400H did not get out well, then drew even with Dean at the fifth hurdle. He called running the ultra-low hurdles over the shorter distance “crazy, crazy. I think it’s low to a point that it’s harder to run like this than normal height for me.”
Although 21.85 is now written on one of his spikes, the 2022 world champ doesn’t plan on retiring the shoes. “I run fast with this one, so I’m going to keep running with it,” said dos Santos, who will compete in his third Grand Slam event in Philadelphia (May 31–June 01). “It’s lucky throughout the season.”
Noah Lyles was expected to be the headliner in the men’s 150, but withdrew earlier in the week as a precaution due to some ankle inflammation. However, he was on hand to sign autographs. That left the rarely run dash for Ferdinand Omanyala to win. The Kenyan sprinted 14.70 with the wind in his face (-1.1) followed by Terrence Jones (14.93) and Matthew Boling (15.15).
World indoor champion Claire Bryant surpassed 7 meters for the first time in the women’s long jump at 23-¾ (7.03), but the leap was wind-aided (2.4). She pulled ahead of Olympic bronze medalist Jasmine Moore on her sixth attempt to win by a centimeter. Moore’s 23-½ was also wind-aided (2.6).
Multi-eventer Anna Hall, who placed 6th, was pleased with her season-best of 20-11¼ (6.38), which is 7¾ (20cm) better than she performed here in her injury-plagued ‘24 season.
Akani Simbine, coming off South Africa’s historic 4 x 100 crown at the World Relays, won the men’s 100 in a wind-aided 9.86. He remains undefeated this season and still has the world lead at 9.90 with a legal wind. Udodi Onwuzurike placed 2nd in 10.05.
The 31-year-old said he’s been working on the first phase of his race, especially his starts. “It was all about how do I get myself in the fight,” Simbine said, “because a lot of my races, I always join the fight a little bit later or too late.”
He was spurred by his 4th-place finish in the 100m in Paris. “Now I’ve put myself in a position where I’m learning again,” Simbine said, “which is for me really exciting because I’m able to teach myself new things.”
Oblique Seville, the only sprinter to best Lyles in a century final last year, was eliminated in the first round of the 100 after placing 3rd in his heat (10.53). Paris 200 4th-placer Erriyon Knighton had entered the event, but was at the practice track when the gun went off for his prelim.
The wind was also just over the limit (2.2) for the men’s 200, where Zharnel Hughes clocked 19.55 to defeat Jereem Richards (19.63) and Wayde van Niekerk (20.03). Lynna Irby-Jackson won the women’s 200m in 22.22.
Van Niekerk, the 400 World Record holder, said just finishing the race “was such a blessing.”
“It’s been extremely frustrating the last few years just to get over the finish line,” said van Niekerk. “I can still feel a lot of work needs to be done.”
He is training again in South Africa, where his wife gave birth to his second son three weeks ago. Van Niekerk, now 32, has not decided if he will concentrate on the 200 or 400 this year, although his next race is a 200 in Rabat. “My biggest goal is just health and peace,” van Niekerk said, “so wherever I can get that, I’m happy.”
Cambrea Sturgis, who won an NCAA sprint double for North Carolina A&T back in ’21, dipped under 11 seconds in the women’s 100 for the first time in nearly 2 years. Her winning time was 10.98, just 0.006 ahead of McKenzie Long, who also clocked 10.98.
“Finally!” Sturgis said, noting that the early part of this season has been rough. “The time hasn’t been there,” she said, “but the mechanics and speed have been there.”
Former World Record holder Keni Harrison was encouraged by her 12.30 in the 100H, a considerable drop from the 12.40 she posted two weeks earlier at the Grand Slam in Miramar, Florida.
Harrison surged at the finish to overtake Tia Jones and Grace Stark, who both ran 12.36.
“I knew if I run clean, I can be in the mix, too,” Harrison said. “In the prelim (12.44), I hit a couple, so I cleaned it up and I’m just grateful to come out there and run against such a stacked field and win.”
Trey Cunningham ran 13.16 to win the 110H, with Freddie Crittenden second in 13.33. “It was a lot faster than I thought it was going to be,” said Cunningham, who equaled his PR of 13.00 at the last Grand Slam — combined with a PB of 10.17 in the 100.
Erstwhile Arkansas standout Carey McLeod won the long men’s long jump, pulling into the lead on his fourth attempt to defeat Mattia Furlani, the world indoor champ, 27-4 (8.33) to 27-2 (8.28). Matt Ludwig won the men’s pole vault with a season best of 19-1½ (5.83).
— ATLANTA CITY GAMES RESULTS —
(sprint & hurdle events run on straight track in Piedmont Park)
100(2.3): 1. Akani Simbine (SA) 9.86w; 2. Udodi Onwuzurike (Ngr) 10.05w; 3. Deandre Daley (Jam) 10.12w; 4. Jaylen Slade (US) 10.13w.
150(-1.1): 1. Ferdinand Omanyala (Ken) 14.70; 2. Terrence Jones (Bah) 14.93 ; 3. Matthew Boling (US) 15.15.
200(2.2): 1. Zharnel Hughes (GB) 19.55w; 2. Jereem Richards (Tri) 19.63w; 3. Wayde van Niekerk (SA) 20.03w; 4. Bryan Levell (Jam) 20.06w.
800(HS track): 1. Luciano Fiore (US) 1:46.41; 2. Sean Dolan (US) 1:46.49; 3. Alex Amankwah (Gha) 1:46.65; 4. Luke Houser (US) 1:46.66 PR.
1500(HS track): 1. Isaac Basten (US) 3:37.61; 2. Eric Holt (US) 3:37.91; 3. Nick Foster (US) 3:37.97 PR; 4. Christian Noble (US) 3:38.82.
110H(0.3): 1. Trey Cunningham (US) 13.16; 2. Freddie Crittenden (US) 13.33; 3. Orlando Bennett (Jam) 13.55.
200H(1.5): 1. Alison dos Santos (Bra) 21.85; 2. Caleb Dean (US) 22.30; 3. Sean Burrell (US) 23.00. (30-inch hurdles)
PV: 1. Matt Ludwig (US) 19-1½ (out AL) (5.83); 2. Austin Miller (US) 18-5½ (5.63); 3. KC Lightfoot (US) 18-½ (5.50).
LJ: 1. Carey McLeod (Jam) 27-4 (8.33); 2. Mattia Furlani (Ita) 27-2 (8.28); 3. Emanuel Archibald (Guy) 26-11¾ (8.22) NR; 4. Nikaoli Williams (Jam) 26-8¼ (8.13) PR.
Women’s Events
100(1.2): 1. Cambrea Sturgis (US) 10.98; 2. McKenzie Long (US) 10.98; 3. Celera Barnes (US) 11.01; 4. Gina Lückenkemper (Ger) 11.07; 5. Audrey Leduc (Can) 11.09.
150(2.0): 1. Favour Ofili (Ngr) 15.85 “WR” (old WR—16.23 Shaunae Miller-Uibo [Bah] ’18);
2. Tamari Davis (US) 16.14; 3. Ashanti Moore (Jam) 16.50; 4. Kennedy Blackmon (US) 16.68; 5. Kennedy Simon (US) 16.92.
200(1.7): 1. Lynna Irby-Jackson (US) 22.22; 2. Tamara Clark (US) 22.71; 3. Talitha Diggs (US) 22.79.
800(HS track): 1. Emily Richards (US) 2:00.22; 2. Rachel Gearing (US) 2:00.75.
1500(HS track): 1. Laurie Barton (US) 4:06.71 PR; 2. Yolanda Ngarambe (Swe) 4:07.92; 3. Kate Current (Can) 4:08.07; 4. Gabrielle Wilkinson (US) 4:09.28 PR.
100H(2.1): 1. Kendra Harrison (US) 12.30w; 2. Tia Jones (US) 12.36w; 3. Grace Stark (US) 12.36w.
LJ: 1. Claire Bryant (US) 23-¾w (7.03) (22-9/6.93 [=PR]); 2. Jasmine Moore (US) 23-½w (7.02); 3. Quanesha Burks (US) 22-3¾ (6.80); 4. Ese Brume (Ngr) 21-11¾ (6.70).
