Which US athletes compete today, July 16, at the Oregon22 World Athletics Championships?

The first medals of the 2022 World Athletics Championships in Oregon were awarded on Friday, in the 20km race walk and the mixed 4x400m relay, in which the USA got off the mark with a bronze medal performance behind winners Dominican Republic and silver medalists the Netherlands. Day 2 of the championships, postponed from last year due to the coronavirus pandemic and the subsequent move of the Tokyo Olympics from 2020 to 2021, offers medals in the hammer, 10,000m, shot put, long jump and the men’s 100m. Here we take a look at the pick of the US athletes in action on Saturday 16 July.

In the triple jump Yulimar Rojas is the woman to beat, the Venezuelan two-time defending world champion and Olympic gold medalist having already extended her own personal best this season to 15.74 to add seven centimetres to her own world record. For the USA, Tori Franklin, Jasmine Moore and Keturah Orji, who is ranked seven in the world and has a PB of 14.92, will be in action.

The 3,000m steeplechase heats get underway in the morning session with Courtney Frerichs posing the most significant challenge to favourite Norah Jeruto of Kazakhstan. Frerichs has a PB of 8.57.77, a shade better than Jeruto’s season-best 8.57.97 and could run the Kazakh close. Another racer to watch is Emma Coburn, who has a PB of 9.02.35 but has not come close to matching that yet this season, during which her best time has been 9.10.63.

Cunningham, Allen add spice to 110m hurdles

The men’s 110m hurdles will be fiercely contested by a strong field including number one ranked Olympic champion Hansle Parchment, 2019 world bronze medalist Pascal Martinot-Lagarde, Andrew Pozzi and the US defending world champion Grant Holloway. Also in action for Team USA are Florida State Seminoles sensation Trey Cunningham and Devon Allen, who ran a 12.84 earlier this season, the third-fastest time in history.

The two finals in the morning session will see US record holder Rudy Winkler, Alex Young and Daniel Haugh go up against Olympic champion Wojciech Nowicki and four-time defending world champion Pawel Fajdek as Poland look for a one-two in the hammer throw, while Alicia Monson, Natosha Rogers and Karissa Schweizer carry US hope in the women’s 10,000m.

100m hots up on Saturday

There are three finals in the evening session, with all eyes on the men’s 100m. World-leading Fred Kerley, who clocked 9.76 in Eugene a little under a month ago to become the sixth-fastest man in history, Trayvon Bromell, Christian Coleman and Marvin Bracy are all into the semifinals, along with Marcell Jacobs - who pipped Kerley to the line at the Olympics – Oblique Seville, Olympic bronze medalist Andre De Grasse and veteran Jamaican Yohan Blake.

In the women’s 100m heats, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Shericka Jackson and Elaine Thompson-Herah will spearhead the Jamaican bid for sprint dominance against the challenge of Dina Asher-Smith, Marie-Josée Ta Lou and Mujinga Kambundji with Twanisha Terry and US national champion Aleia Hobbs in action for the host nation after Sha’Carri Richardson failed to qualify.

Marquis Dendy and Steffin McCarter go for the US in the long jump final and Chase Ealey, Jessica Woodard and Maggie Ewen are in the women’s shot-put final. In the women’s 1,500m semis, the US will be represented by Elle St. Pierre, Cory Ann McGee and Sinclaire Johnson.