The sun started to peak out from behind the clouds as Day 2 of the Olympic Trials came to a close with the finals of the women’s 100-meter dash and 100-meter hurdles.
Carmelita Jeter and Tianna Madison will be on the U.S. women’s 100-meter team in London. Jeter won the race, running a 10.92.
“When the gun clicked, all I could hear was my coach John Smith telling me ‘Stay patient, stay patient, let the finish line come to you,’” Jeter said. “That’s exactly what I did.”
Madison came in second with a time of 10.96. The race for third between Jeneba Tarmoh and Allyson Felix was determined to be a dead heat.
“In today’s race, the outside camera was inconclusive due to some obscured torsos, and it is the torso that determines both time and place,” a USA Track & Field representative announced.
Returning Olympic Gold Medalist Dawn Harper was the clear leader along with Kellie Wells in the 100-meter hurdles after the third barrier and ended up finishing first and second, respectively. Lolo Jones came up from an inside lane to slide past Virginia Crawford and finish as the third and final runner going to London in the event.
“I know that I’m racing the best in the world,” Harper said. “I had that pressure of ‘Can she do it again?’ when I went to the line and I told myself ‘You are ready — do not psych yourself out.’”
In the men’s 100-meter prelims, Justin Gatlin qualified first with a time of 9.90. He was the only racer to break 10 seconds today, with Tyson Gay qualifying second with a time of 10 seconds flat.
“I just want to establish dominance out here every round and just have a clean race and work on certain techniques and make it to the finals and hopefully get on that team,” Gatlin said.
In the triple jump, Lauryn Newson, the Pac-12 champion from Oregon, qualified in third place with a personal best of 44 feet 4 1/4 inches. She tied Andrea Geubelle.
Elijah Greer from Oregon kicked with 200 meters left in the 800 meter semi-final, putting him in third place in his heat and qualifying him for the final on Monday. Oregon Track Club athletes Tyler Mulder and Nick Symmonds also qualified.
“I need to run my heart out if I’m going to have any shot,” Greer said.
Oregon runner Laura Roesler was two out from qualifying for the 800 finals. In the same heat, Alysia Montano took an early lead and kept it. She qualified first for the finals with a time of 2:00.25.@@checked.@@
In the javelin, Tim Glover placed first in the qualifying round. Oregon’s Sam Crouser and Cyrus Hostetler, an Oregon alumnus, also qualified for the finals on Monday.