1500m finals dominate on Day 3 of 2025 Toyota USATF Outdoor and Para National Championships
By Owen Murray, TrackTown USA
Three-time reigning U.S. outdoor 1500-meter champion Nikki Hiltz spent what they called “an hour” talking to their new coach, Juli Benson, about tactics. Then, before they left for the race, Benson told them one more thing.
“Just remember to enjoy it,” Benson told Hiltz. “Because this is what you're really gonna miss when you're on my side of things.”
Hiltz kicked past Sinclaire Johnson on the home stretch to win their sixth-consecutive American indoor or outdoor title in the race. The two escaped a pileup on the bell lap to race each other home, but Hiltz, who trailed Johnson for the first three laps, closed in 58.67.
“These are the moments,” Hiltz said. “A lot of people ask me how I’m going to celebrate…I was like, that last 150m — that was the celebration, doing it and being in the race in the moment.”
The third day of competition at the 2025 Toyota USATF Outdoor and Para National Championships continued with the able-bodied 1500m finals and para sprint finals. Athletes took swings at world records — while long jumper Annie Carey grabbed one for herself — and concluded para competition.
Jonah Koech, 28, was the surprise winner in the men’s 1500m final ahead of reigning Olympic champion Cole Hocker (third place) and Olympic finalists Hobbs Kessler (fourth) and Yared Nuguse (fifth). Both Koech (3:30.17) and silver medalist Ethan Strand (3:30.25) ran personal-best times in the final.
“I’ve been seeing everything these guys are doing,” Koech said. “I’ve been talking to coaches who watch these guys, and they’re friends to me. I’m doing more than them. I rest only on Sunday. I have six days of training in my week, so I was like, ‘Why am I not beating these guys?’”
Susannah Scaroni won the women’s T53/54 1500m final in 3:18.12. The reigning Paralympic bronze medalist in the event, Scaroni is an accomplished multi-time medalist in long-distance and marathon races but said she sees the sprint finish in the 1500m as “almost a mini-5k.”
“I was very satisfied,” Scaroni, who will race the Sydney Marathon on August 31, said. “I was just trying to go as fast as I could — I’ve been faster before, but I feel like on a day like this and with a little bit of a breezy stadium, I’m really happy with it.”
Annie Carey set a new world record (pending international ratification) in the women’s F44 long jump with her 5.19m (17-0 ½) effort on her second jump. Carey also won the T44 women’s 100m crown on Saturday in 13.55 seconds to go with her 200m win on Friday.
Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone made another pass at the American record in the women’s 400m final, where she ran 48.90 — a season-best mark that fell .16 seconds short of the record. McLaughlin-Levrone, who also ran the flat 400m at the 2025 Prefontaine Classic, holds the world record in the 400m hurdles.
“I’ve learned a lot about the 400m,” McLaughlin-Levrone said. “But ultimately, every day it’s stepping on the track and being the best I can be, figuring out a race that is very foreign to me, and taking on new challenges and being comfortable with that.”
“But ultimately, every day it’s stepping on the track and being the best I can be.”
The top-three finishers in the men’s discus were the only three in the field who held the world standard before the meet. Winner Reggie Jagers overcame surgery that he said ailed him through the early summer to throw 66.85m (219-4) on his third attempt, earning his first U.S. title.
“In round five, I started cramping,” Jagers said. “It was kind of nerve-wracking when the guys started throwing further and my body started shutting down…I wanted a further mark but 66 was pretty good.”
American record holder Chase Jackson threw 20.84m (68-4 ½) on her first attempt to win the women’s shot put. Jackson, who said she was throwing off her palm due to a finger injury, cleared the next-closest athlete by 0.9m.
“I went out trying to throw really far,” Jackson, who already had a bye to the World Championships before the meet, said. “I had, I think, the best series of my career on average. I just wanted to go out and not let the bye hamper my ability to win.”
The record books are on watch when 100m T38 world record holder Jaydin Blackwell takes the track — and while he didn’t surpass his 2024 Paralympic record (10.64 seconds) with his win at Hayward Field, he clocked 10.65 en route to the World Championships, where he’ll take another swing.
“I’m a little disappointed in myself that I didn’t break my world record,” Blackwell said. “But it just means that I still need tweaks here and there…If I don’t push myself, who’s going to? The only one who can really push me to my highest level is me.”
Two-time 2024 Paralympic gold medalist Ezra Frech won both the T63 men’s high jump and F63 men’s long jump alongside a silver medal in the T36 men’s 100m final where he said he battled issues with his leg prosthetic. Despite that, he said he wasn’t satisfied with his performance.
“I’m going to dominate at world championships,” Frech said. “I’m unhappy because, to the average person, this weekend was successful — I won a couple national championships…but I hold myself to such a high standard that I just look forward to getting back in the lab and fixing the mistakes. That fires me up.”
Frech, 20, officially signed his first professional contract with Adidas on Friday. His high jump winning mark on Saturday, 1.83m (6-0), was still 0.12m off his world record set in 2023, but was enough for his second medal of the weekend.
“Now I feel like all my competitors are going to doubt me,” Frech said. “I’m thinking, ‘Good. Doubt me.’ That’s exactly what happened in Paris, and the same result will happen this summer.”
A 6.95m (22-9 ¾) first attempt was all Isaac Jean-Paul needed to win the T13 men’s long jump. Jean-Paul competed in the able-bodied USATF Championships 10 years ago, and returned to the stage in 2025 with his partner and 3-year-old daughter. His confidence was as high as ever.
“I’m retraining for the high jump, and I’m trying to make the team for the 2028 Olympics — I’m going to be the first-ever Paralympian to win gold at the Olympic Games. It’s got my stamp of approval. I declare it’s going to happen.”
Able-bodied competition finishes tomorrow at Hayward Field with the sprint, jump, middle-distance and 5000m finals.