McLaughlin, Steiner Win 4x400-Meter Gold to Conclude 2022 World Championships

EUGENE, Ore. — Kentucky track and field alumnae Sydney McLaughlin and Abby Steiner win gold in the 4×400-meter relay to conclude World Athletics Championships on Sunday evening.

The Team USA 4x400m win (3:17.19) gave both Steiner and McLaughlin their second gold medal of the meet. Steiner won gold in the 4x100m while McLaughlin broke her own world record for gold in the 400m hurdles.

McLaughlin ran a blazing split of 47.91 as the anchor leg while Steiner ran 49.99 as the second leg. Steiner got the baton from Talitha Diggs while McLaughlin followed Britton Wilson, with Team USA remaining in first nearly the whole relay.

Steiner is now the first woman to win gold at World Championships in both relays since Allyson Felix did so at 2017 World Championships.

For the second year in a row, McLaughlin has won both her signature 400m hurdles and the 4x400m on the world’s biggest stage.

Steiner concludes her season with 57 races under her belt from December 2021 to July.

UKTF alumna and Olympic champion Jasmine Camacho-Quinn won bronze in the 100m hurdles with a personal best and Puerto Rican national record of 12.23. It was her first World Athletics Championship medal, and her time topped her Olympic record performance in Tokyo a year ago.

Dwight St. Hillaire and the Trinidad & Tobago men’s 4x400m placed fifth in the final with a time of 3:00.03. St. Hillaire ran the first leg with a split of 45.89. It was the Olympian’s highest finish in a meet of world caliber.

Volunteer Coach Devynne Charlton, coached by UKTF Head Coach Lonnie Greene, finished seventh in the 100m hurdles final with a time of 12.53. She broke the Bahamian national record and set a personal best in semifinals, clocking 12.46.

Olympic silver medalist Keni Harrison qualified for finals with a 12.27 season best in semifinals but was disqualified in the final due to a hurdle mishap.

Days 8-9
McLaughlin and Abby Steiner win gold at World Athletics Championships in the 400-Meter hurdles and 4x100m relay, respectively, with McLaughlin’s win being a world record over the weekend.

McLaughlin smashed her own 400m hurdles world record by nearly a second for her first World Athletics gold, clocking 50.68 as the first and only woman to run under 51 seconds in the event.

McLaughlin now has four of the five fastest times in world history in the 400m hurdles.

Steiner earned her first World Athletics title as the second leg of the Team USA 4x100m, which won the race in 41.14 and upset the Jamaicans with the fifth fastest time in world history and fastest ever on American soil. Steiner ran a 9.86 split, the fastest among Team USA athletes and tied for third fastest in the race.

That 4x100m marked Steiner’s 56th race over seven months, including silver at the NCAA Championships in the 4x100m with UKTF.

Volunteer Coach Christian Coleman earned 4x100m silver with Team USA as the first leg. Collectively, the team ran 37.55.

All three UKTF-affiliated athletes in the 100m hurdles qualified for semifinals on Saturday, with Camacho-Quinn running the top time of the three (12.52Q), followed by Harrison with the fifth fastest time of the heats (12.60Q) and Charlton in seventh (12.69Q).

The three Tokyo 2020 finalists in the event, in which Camacho-Quinn won gold and Harrison silver, run in the semifinal at 8:10 p.m. ET and the final at 10 p.m. on Sunday, the final day of competition.

St. Hillaire will run in the men’s 4x400m final for Trinidad & Tobago after they qualified with a time of 3:02.75q. The event begins at 10:35 p.m.

Day 7
Steiner finished fifth in the 200-meter dash in her first World Athletics Championships on Thursday evening at Hayward Field.

Steiner earned fifth with a time of 22.26, running her final individual event of her 55-race season.

The reigning Olympic gold medalist, reigning world champion and several other Olympic and world medalists joined Steiner in the talent-packed final that was ultimately won by Jamaica’s Shericka Jackson in near world record time.

Steiner remains the second fastest runner in the world this season with her 21.77 to win the United States 200m title in June.

Day 6
McLaughlin qualified for the 400m hurdles final with the top time of semifinals, making 52.17 look easy.

Three years ago, 52.17 would have been a world record, and McLaughlin showed signs of easing up towards the end of the race.

Day 5
Steiner qualified for the 200-meter final while McLaughlin punched her ticket to 400m hurdles semifinals at World Athletics Championships on Tuesday evening.

The reigning U.S. 200m champion ran 22.15 in semifinals and placed second in her heat to receive an automatic bid to the final in her first World Championships.

McLaughlin, who broke her own world record to win the U.S. title in June, unsurprisingly qualified for semifinals in the 400m hurdles, cruising with a time of 53.95.

Days 1-4
Kentucky track & field’s Coach Tim Hall coached volunteer coach Coleman to sixth in the World Athletics Championships 100-meter final while Steiner qualified for 200m semifinals in the first four days of competition.

Coleman finished sixth in the 100m with a time of 10.01 as one of four Americans in the event. Indoors, Coleman won the silver medal in the 60m at World Athletics Championships in Serbia during March.

#SteinerSpeed made its World Athletics debut with Steiner running 22.26 in the 200m heats, the third fastest time of the field going into Tuesday’s semifinal. She will compete in the semifinal at 9:50 p.m. ET.

Rising senior for UKTF Moss ran in the 4x400m mixed relay for The Bahamas on the first day of World Athletics Championships while All-American and recent graduate St. Hillaire competed in the 400m for Trinidad & Tobago. Both will compete again on July 23 in the 4x400m relay for their respective countries.

Andrew Evans, UK Class of ‘14 and 2022 U.S. champion, competed in the discus qualifying rounds but was unable to make it through to the final.

Daniel Roberts, the recent U.S. champion in the 110m hurdles, was disqualified after suffering a fall in the 110m hurdles heats.

USATF Outdoor Championships
In late June, Steiner found success in her first USATF Outdoor Championships by winning the 200m with a personal best time of 21.77, a new all-dates collegiate best, sixth fastest in American history and 17th fastest in world history.

“(This means) Everything. Coming off a collegiate season, a lot of people want to put limitations on you, that you’re going to be burnt out, but me and my coach just trusted the process and I couldn’t be more excited,” Steiner said right after the race.

McLaughlin clocked 51.41 to become the U.S. Champion once again in the 400m hurdles, breaking her own world record by .05 seconds.

Olympic silver medalist Harrison won her fifth U.S. title in a row in the 100m hurdles, running a world-leading and season best 12.34. She will face another UK alumna, Camacho-Quinn at the World Athletics Championships.

Roberts, a 2020 Tokyo Olympian, won the 110m hurdles title with a season best 13.03 to officially qualify for Team USA. It was his second U.S. title in the event after winning in 2019.

Evans, a Rio 2016 Olympian and UK Class of 2014 graduate, placed first in the discus and will compete for Team USA at the World Athletics Championships.

Coleman did not start in the 200m semifinal or final. He is already qualified for World Athletics Championships in the 100m due to being the 2019 world champion in the event.

St. Hillaire was crowned the champion of the 400m with a time of 45.46 at the Trinidad & Tobago National Championships on Saturday afternoon, setting a commonwealth record and automatically qualifying for World Championships in July.

Internationally, Charlton ran a new personal best and Bahamian national record of 12.60.

In total, six Wildcats won U.S. Championships this weekend: Evans (discus), Harrison (100m hurdles), McLaughlin (400m hurdles), Jordan Anthony (U20 200m), Steiner (200m) and Roberts (110m hurdles). St. Hillaire won the 400m at the Trinidad & Tobago Championships and Charlton won the 100m hurdles at the Bahamas National Championships.

Masai Russell placed sixth in the 400m hurdles final with a time of 55.66 after running a personal best 55.02 in semifinals. It was her first USATF Outdoor Championships final and she was only .004 away from making a second final in the 100m hurdles. At NCAA Championships, Russell placed third in the 100m hurdles and fourth in the 400m hurdles.

Javianne Oliver, Olympic silver medalist in the 4x100m, placed seventh in the 100m final with a season best 10.94 after running 10.95 in the semifinal a couple hours earlier.

Keaton Daniel placed 10th in pole vault with a height of 18’0.5”/5.50m.

Olivia Gruver placed sixth in pole vault with a height of 14’9”/4.50m and Celera Barnes finished sixth in the 100m final (10.86w).

Josh Sobota competed in his first USATF Outdoor Championships and finished 13th in shot put (64’6”/19.66m).

Sha’Keela Saunders placed sixth in the long jump with a season best 21’4.25”/6.51m jump.

Jade Gates was not able to record a mark in the hammer throw.

Alexis Holmes ran the 400m in 52.68 in prelims.

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All times below are in Eastern Daylight Time. Competitors are in Pacific Daylight Time.