It Was Sunshine for the Stars at adidas Atlanta City Games
By the time the fastest athletes in the world stepped onto
the elevated straightaway Saturday afternoon in Piedmont Park, the
early-morning downpours that had delayed both the Youth Mile & Dash and the
Meet of Champions were long gone. Don't let the afternoon umbrellas dotting the
crowd fool you - they were sunshades, not raingear.
For the third consecutive year, fans came out for the adidas
Atlanta City Games, highlighted by world-class sprint action on a specially
built, 230-meter elevated track constructed in the Meadow on which World
Champions and Olympic medalists showed Atlantans how they earned their stripes.
Chief among them were a pair of world beaters.
First came Alison dos Santos. Already undefeated this season
in the 400-meter hurdles and 400-meter flat, the 2022 World Champion from
Brazil added a world's best in the 200-meter hurdles on the straightaway when
he clocked 21.85. The previous best in this rarely contested event was 22.10,
set 14 years ago by Andy Turner of Great Britain.
"I love the time!" said dos Santos in a post-race TV
interview after handing his victory bouquet to a special fan - his girlfriend,
"the queen of Chile, the fastest ever in her country." Indeed, the beaming
flower recipient, Martina Weil, set a 400-meter national record just two weeks
ago.
Next up was 22-year-old Favour Ofili of Nigeria, who ran the
fastest women's 150-meter dash in history with her winning time of 15.85.
"I saw it and I'm like, 'I don't think that's right,'" she
said, elated.
Ofili's time demolished the world's best of 16.23 set at
this event by Shaunae Miller-Uibo in 2018, before the City Games moved to
Atlanta from Boston. As runner-up, American Tamari Davis (16.14) also dipped
under the previous mark.
In the men's 100 meters, not only did Akani Simbine's time
of 9.86 make him a repeat champion, it's also the fastest in the world so far
this year.
"There's no pressure," said the South African, who brought
home a silver medal in the 4x100-meter relay from the Paris Olympics and his
twice finished fourth in the 100. "You get to come out [here] and run the 100
and have no stress and just have fun."
Also having fun was American Cambrea Sturgis, whose
100-meter win in 10.98 was her first sub-11 clocking in three years.
"Finally!" exclaimed the two-time NCAA Champion. "Finally I
got to break it."
Pushing her to the last was McKenzie Long, the 2024 U.S.
Olympian at 200 meters who was awarded the same time.
Winning the women's 100-meter hurdles in 12:30 was Keni
Harrison, who until earlier this month was the American Record-holder and now
ranks #3 on the all-time U.S. list. Finishing behind Harrison was Walton High
School star Tia Jones, #2 on that list, and Tori Amusan, the 2022 World
Champion and reigning World Record-holder.
"It's the fastest I've ever run on this kind of surface,"
she said. "It tells you that this surface is really fast."
In the long jump, American Claire Bryant, the newly minted
World Indoor Champion, bested a deep field with a final jump of 23-0.75. Among
her rivals was Anna Hall, the two-time World Championships heptathlon medalist,
who jumped 20-11.25
"It was a really good step in the right direction for me,
coming off being injured all of last year and still in pain at the Olympics,"
said Hall, who nonetheless finished fifth in Paris. "It's a post-knee surgery
PR."
Competing on the same track as the professionals were some
of the top high school sprinters in Georgia through the Meet of Champions.
Winning the boys' 100 meters was Stephan Mitchell of Chapel Hill High School
(10.53); in the girls' 100 it was Taylor Gullatte of Woodward Academy (11:59),
the GHSA 1A Division 1 state champion.
Among the busiest athletes of the day were state champion
hurdlers Kendrick Joshua (Richmond Hill) and Thomas Fitzgerald (Quicksilver TC).
Both competed in the high school 110-meter and 300-meter hurdle races -
finishing 1-2 in the 300 hurdles - before returning to face the professionals
in the 200-meter hurdles.
To wrap up the day, action moved back to the Midtown High
School track across the street from Piedmont Park for the distance portion of
the Meet of Champions, featuring top Georgia high schoolers and elite
professional fields in the 800 meters, 1500 meters, and mile.
Earlier in the day, the event also featured the Youth Mile
& Dash and the full slate of high school competition through the Meet of
Champions.
A full recap of those events - including standout
performances from the state's top young runners and the evening's professional
distance showdowns - will be published in a separate story.