Marshevet Hooker and Torri Edwards stole all the headlines in the early rounds, but Muna Lee stole the gold.
Running out of lane four, Lee beat a loaded final in the women’s 100 meters that included Hooker and Edwards, as well as 2005 world champion Lauryn Williams and two-time world 200m champion Allyson Felix.
“This is the best field I think has ever been put together,” Williams said. “All eight lanes were worthy of a trip to China.”
The three women who were worthiest Saturday to represent the U.S. in Beijing were Lee, Edwards and Williams.
With such a strong field, Lee said her goal coming in wasn’t to win her own U.S. title, but just to make the team.
“I was coming in here just trying to make the team,” she said. “I knew that all of these girls are good, but I knew I had a chance.”
Lee’s winning time, a personal-best 10.85 seconds, punctuated a weekend that saw five women run faster than Felix’s previous 2008 U.S. best of 10.93.
Hooker’s wind-aided quarterfinal time of 10.76 from Friday was the fifth-fastest in history under any conditions and Edwards had the fastest time in the semifinals, a 10.78 that broke her own Hayward Field record of 10.94 that she set earlier this month in the Prefontaine Classic.
While Lee was well back of that with her best preliminary-round time of 10.89, she saved her best for last.
“This comes with experience,” she said. “I felt really well blasting at the beginning and feeling relaxed at the end. This year I really learned how to plan out my races well.”
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