Stunning final day of competition at 2025 Toyota USATF Outdoor and Para National Championships features U18 world record, sprint, hurdles doubles
Photo by Howard Lao.
By Owen Murray, TrackTown USA
Donavan Brazier screamed. Cooper Lutkenhaus had both hands on his head. The world watched.
In the men’s 800-meter final at the 2025 Toyota USATF Outdoor and Para National Championships, two stunning finishes dominated. Brazier’s 1:42.16 personal-best was the #3 mark in 2025. Lutkenhaus’ 1:42.27 broke the U18 world record.
“It means a lot,” Lutkenhaus said. “I don’t know if there’s words for it right now.”
The final day of competition at Hayward Field featured the improbable 800m finish, the completion of Melissa Jefferson-Wooden’s sprint double, Noah Lyles’ world-leading 200m time and Cole Hocker’s rebound win in the 5000m.
Photo by Howard Lao.
Reigning 100m Olympic champion Lyles, who scratched from the 100m final after winning his heat, cruised through the initial round of the 200m final with a 19.97-second win. Jefferson-Wooden’s 22.06-second preliminary win earned her top slot after winning the 100m final in a world-leading, personal-best 10.65 on Friday.
Lyles trailed 100m winner Kenny Bednarek on the home stretch, but powered past with a world-leading 19.63-second time while glancing at Bednarek, who also ran a sub-previous-world leading 19.67.
“It was probably one of my hardest 200s ever,” Lyles said. “I put it right behind the Olympic final in 2021. Something needed to happen here.”
Jefferson-Wooden’s win came by 0.29 seconds — her final time, a personal-best 21.84 seconds, completed her sprint double.
“Coming out here and doing it, it’s all about execution for me,” Jefferson-Wooden said. “I feel that, as long as I’m executing my race the way I know I can, the times are going to continue to come.”
Photo by Howard Lao.
Reigning Prefontaine Classic women’s discus winner and American record holder Valarie Allman threw a meet-record 71.45m (234-5) on her fourth attempt. Allman, whose win on Sunday was her seventh-consecutive at the USATF Outdoor Championships, also holds the world-leading mark.
“I've really wanted to throw over 71 meters,” Allman said. “My PB outside of (the Oklahoma throws series) is 71.46m, and I've been wanting to improve on that, so to be right in line with that feels good knowing that the training is going to start to back off and I’m getting into those really competitive situations. I feel really pleased about it.”
Roisin Willis led the women’s 800m field through the first lap before falling as low as fifth on the final back stretch. Amid a cluttered curve, though, the NCAA record holder in the race surged from the inside to a wide kick that pushed her past second-place Maggi Condon and third-place Sage Hurta-Klecker.
“I just have so much freedom out here,” the reigning NCAA champion, who won in 1:59.26, said. “I used to come to meets with so many nerves, and so by the grace of God I’m just running and having fun.”
Brazier ran a personal-best 1:42.16 in a rapid men’s 800m final followed by 16-year-old Lutkenhaus, who kicked past the rest of the field on the final stretch to finish second. The two sat fourth and seventh, respectively, at the bell but surged with 52.54 and 51.61-second finishes to earn their slots.
“I was really happy to do it today,” Brazier said. “It was pure grit in the last 200m.”
Lutkenhaus’ 12.48-second final 100m outpaced the rest of the field as he rose from fifth on the curve to second at the line. His time is a U18 world record, area U20 record and world U20 #2 all-time.
“During the last 100m, it got really loud. The stadium exploded, and everyone was in the race.”
“I just knew that, with 200m to go, that’s my sweet spot,” Lutkenhaus said. “That’s where I make a lot of my moves, and that’s where I started. During the last 100m, it got really loud. The stadium exploded, and everyone was in the race.”
Photo by Howard Lao.
Hocker, who led the men’s 5000m field for the first 4300m before falling back in the field, unlocked another of his trademark kicks on the home stretch to earn his first American championship in the race. The reigning Olympic 1500m champion, who finished third in that final on Saturday, closed his final 400m in 51.76 seconds and his final 100m in 12.63.
“This was the year that I knew, if I just stayed healthy, that I have the strength to not just help my 1500m, but also be a legit 5k contender,” Hocker said. “I’m far enough into my pro career where I can really test myself and not limit myself to one event and be a real threat in multiple events.”
Reigning NCAA 110m champion Ja’Kobe Tharp took the same title at Hayward Field against the American field in the final race of the day. Tharp, who won the collegiate race in 13.05 seconds earlier in 2025, ran a personal-best 13.01 on Sunday.
“In the preliminary, my first half was good, and the end was trash,” Tharp said. “In the semifinal, my first half was bad and the end was better. Now it has to get hard.”
Rai Benjamin doubled up on hurdles wins with a personal-best 110m victory in 13.01 seconds after winning the 400m edition earlier in the day. There, Benjamin dominated with a 46.89-second time that was 1.56 seconds faster than silver medalist Caleb Dean.
“I think the motivation for me this year is staying in the 46s,” Benjamin said. “I think if I can consistently run that, when the time comes, I’ll be fit enough to drop the time that I need to drop.”
Competition is concluded at Hayward Field for the season.