Friday Notebook: If A World Record Comes, It Could Be In The Hurdles; Nikki Hiltz Takes Aim At American Record

By Lori Shontz For DyeStat

John Nepolitan Photo

Masai Russell saw the times from the sprint competitions at the NCAA championships, and she took note. The six collegiate records broken. The seven NCAA championships records that went down. The fifth-fastest time ever in the women’s 100. Ja’Kobe Tharp’s world record in the 110-meter hurdles.

Her reaction, from Friday’s press conference previewing Saturday’s star-studded Prefontaine Classic: “I’m like OK -- that track is hot and it’s ready to go and it’s waiting for me.”

Russell wants the world record in the 100 hurdles, and she’s come close this season with a 12.14 at the Xiamen Diamond league meet, only .02 beyond Nigerian Tobi Amusan’s world record, which she set in the 2022 World Championships at Hayward Field.

Amusan, the No. 2 ranked hurdler, will be in the field Saturday, along with the fourth and fifth ranked hurdlers, Devynne Charlton of the Bahamas, the 60-meter world record holder, and Grace Stark of the United States, the world bronze medalist. The field also features former world record holder Keni Harrison, two-time world champion Danielle Williams and last year’s Diamond League champion, Ackera Nugent.

“People ask after the Olympics what’s my driving factor, and the job’s not done,” Russell said. “This is my first championship that I’ve won, and these women don’t make it easy.”

Tharp, who ran 12.75 in the NCAA semifinals to break Aries Merritt’s 110 hurdles world record, which had stood for 14 years, just left Auburn to go professional with Adidas. In his first pro race, he’ll be facing world champion Cordell Tinch, world silver medalist Orlando Bennett and Jamal Britt, who just ran 12.89 at the Paris Diamond League.

Tharp said he has watched his world record performance “10 or 15 times” in the past couple of weeks, and his analysis is the same as he gave immediately after the record: His start was “just OK,” and his last three hurdles can “definitely be better.”

He added, “I’m gonna take that down again soon.”

Hiltz to make run at U.S. mile record

Nikki Hiltz hasn’t exactly made a secret of their goal for Saturday’s race: regaining the U.S. record in the mile. They’ve been posting about it on Instagram for several weeks.

“I’m putting it out there – that’s scary to say I want to go for the record,” Hiltz said. “I think you put it out there, then you kind of forget about it. What works best for me is just racing and competing."

While the Pre Classic is known for the Bowerman Mile, the women’s mid-distance race has always been 1,500 meters. A year ago, Faith Kipyegon broke the world record with a 3:48.68.

Kipyegon is back for the mile, and she owns the world record in that event, too -- 4:07.64 at the 2023 Monaco Diamond League, which broke the existing record by more than five seconds. Every runner in that race ran a PR, and seven runners set national records, including Hiltz, who ran 4:16.35.

“I think great things happen when you have a great field and Faith leading the charge,” Hiltz said, listing the superlatives from that race. “I wouldn’t be surprised if the finish line looks similar. If we all get in line and run a hard pace, it would be really special.”

Sinclare Johnson eclipsed Hiltz’s record in July 2025, running 4:16.32.

The field also includes last year’s silver and bronze world medalists behind Kipyegon, Dorcus Ewoi and Jess Hull; and 2024 Olympic bronze medalist Georgia Hunter Bell.

“I’m happy to be back here and see what will happen tomorrow,” Kipyegon said.

One record is sure to go down: The Hayward Field record is 38 years old. Mary Decker Slaney ran 4:21.25 in 1988.

American men looking for first Bowerman Mile victory since 2006

Cole Hocker and Yared Nuguse agreed: It has been too long since an American has won the Bowerman Mile. The last American to do so was Bernard Lagat, who won it in 2006.

Nuguse said he generally has come to the Bowerman Mile wanting to run a fast time. “But especially this year, I’ve come close to winning a lot of times, and I’m really, really kind of focused on getting that win to say I did it here at least once.”

Hocker, who took five weeks off after the World Indoor Championships to rest an injury, said his build has been different because of the weeks of cross training. “We were shooting for later in the summer,” he said. “Now it’s later in the summer, and I’m feeling fit.”

Defending champion Niels Laros scratched on Friday afternoon.

Davis-Woodhall expects hurdling to help her long jump

Olympic long jump gold medalist Tara Davis-Woodhall set a personal best of 7.20 meters (23-07.50) a month ago. But it seems like everyone wants to talk about something else she did at the LA Grand Prix – running a 12.47 to finish second in the 100 hurdles, an event she’s run only twice since 2021.

“Hurdles is not even actually on the goal board,” Davis-Woodhall said. “Hurdles is really for fun. After this fun, we’re going to evaluate. … I would love to get under 12.4 at some point and be in the mix with Masai at some point. But as of right now, we’re just having fun.”

She’s having fun in the long jump, too, and looking to push the event forward. In response to a question about whether 7 meters in the standard, she wondered why the standard is so low.

“I want to evolve our sport,” she said. “Why can’t 7.10 be the standard? Why can’t 7.20? We’re still behind in the long jump, the tech and the data behind it. I want to change the game of long jump. I want us to jump 7.50, 7.60. I feel like we are capable of doing that.”

The world record is 7.52m (24-8.75), set by Galina Chistyakova in 1988; the U.S. record is 7.49m (24-07) by Jackie Joyner-Kersee.