Brazier, Lutkenhaus 800 at Toyota USA

By Erik Boal

Brazier one of three athletes, along with Houlihan and Muhammad, to win first national championship in six years, clocking 1:42.16 to edge Lutkenhaus (1:42.27) and Hoppel (1:42.49) in deepest 800 ever run on American soil; Allman extends discus dominance to seven, Benjamin secures sixth 400 hurdles crown in a row, Lyles captures fifth 200 title and Morris soars to fifth pole vault triumph, Jefferson-Wooden produces first women’s sprint sweep since 2003, with Tharp and Willis delivering NCAA and U.S. doubles, along with Awotunde, Hocker, Robinson and Wilson all earning first victories in events at Hayward Field.

Championship streaks were extended, all-time title records were tied or surpassed, a pair of collegiate athletes completed impressive doubles at Hayward Field, a trio of individuals ended six-year droughts in between national crowns and a sprint sweep more than 20 years in the making was accomplished.

But all the remarkable achievements that occurred on the final day of competition at the USATF Outdoor Championships continued to orbit around the men’s 800-meter final Sunday in Eugene, Ore.

One year after Bryce Hoppel became just the second male athlete to produce a sub-1:43 effort in a U.S. national final, the adidas professional athlete had to run even faster than that just to make the podium, as a result of the return to the championship spotlight for 28-year-old Donavan Brazier and the fastest Under-18 competitor in global history Cooper Lutkenhaus from Justin Northwest High in Texas.

Brazier ran a lifetime-best 1:42.16 to elevate to the No. 3 all-time U.S. competitor, capturing his first outdoor 800 title since 2019 and his third overall, leading the deepest race ever showcased on American soil with five athletes running 1:43:14 or faster.

Lutkenhaus, 16, was runner-up in 1:42.27, not only smashing his own national all-time prep mark by more than three seconds, but he eclipsed the previous World-18 record by more than a second and achieved the No. 2 performance in World-20 history, trailing only the 1:41.73 produced by Botswana’s Nijel Amos at age 18 in 2012.

Lutkenhaus, who will join Brazier and third-place Hoppel (1:42.49) on the U.S. national team roster Sept. 13-21 at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, Japan, also ascended to the No. 4 all-time American competitor after taking down the World U-18 standard of 1:43.37 established in 2011 by 17-year-old Mohammed Aman of Ethiopia.

For the complete meet recap go here: