Abby Steiner wins first World Athletics title with Team USA

It’s been a dominant weekend for former Kentucky track and field stars in Eugene, OR, but all eyes were locked in on Abby Steiner and Team USA on Saturday night.

A one-time Wildcat superstar turned Team USA representative, Steiner won her first World Athletics title as the second leg of the Team USA 4x100m, which won the race in 41.14 and upset the Jamaicans with the fifth fastest time in world history and fastest on American soil. Steiner ran a 9.86 split, the fastest among Team USA athletes, and tied for third-fastest in the race. 

That 4x100m marked Steiner’s 56th race over seven months, including silver at the NCAA Championships in the 4x100m with UKTF. She finished fifth in the 200m dash on Thursday.

WORLD CHAMPIONS!@teamusa wins the women’s 4x100m relay at the #WorldAthleticsChamps! pic.twitter.com/9XjIAJQOcA

— NBC Olympics (@NBCOlympics) July 24, 2022

Fellow former Wildcat runner, Sydney McLaughlin, set another world record while winning gold in the women’s 400-meter hurdles. Competing in the World Athletics Championships final in Oregon, McLaughlin ran a super-human 50.68 in the first-ever recorded time under 51 seconds. She now has four of the five fastest times in world history in the 400m hurdles.

Below is more on how former Kentucky track and field runners fared at the World Athletics Championships, courtesy of UK Athletics. There were a lot of them…

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Volunteer Coach Christian Coleman earned 4x100m silver with Team USA as the first leg. Collectively, the team ran 37.55.

All three UKTF-affiliated athletes in the 100m hurdles qualified for semifinals on Saturday, with Jasmine Camacho-Quinn running the top time of the three (12.52Q), followed by Keni Harrison with the fifth fastest time of the heats (12.60Q) and Devynne Charlton in seventh (12.69Q).

The three Tokyo 2020 finalists in the event, in which Camacho-Quinn won gold and Harrison silver, run in the semifinal at 8:10 p.m. ET and the final at 10 p.m. on Sunday, the final day of competition.

Olympian Dwight St. Hillaire will run in the men’s 4x400m final for Trinidad & Tobago after they qualified with a time of 3:02.75q. The event begins at 10:35 p.m.

Day 7
Steiner finished fifth in the 200-meter dash in her first World Athletics Championships on Thursday evening at Hayward Field.

Steiner earned fifth with a time of 22.26, running her final individual event of her 55-race season.

The reigning Olympic gold medalist, reigning world champion and several other Olympic and world medalists joined Steiner in the talent-packed final that was ultimately won by Jamaica’s Shericka Jackson in near world record time.

Steiner remains the second fastest runner in the world this season with her 21.77 to win the United States 200m title in June.

Day 6
Sydney McLaughlin qualified for the 400m hurdles final with the top time of semifinals, making 52.17 look easy.

Three years ago, 52.17 would have been a world record, and McLaughlin showed signs of easing up towards the end of the race.

Day 5
Steiner qualified for the 200-meter final while McLaughlin punched her ticket to 400m hurdles semifinals at World Athletics Championships on Tuesday evening.

The reigning U.S. 200m champion ran 22.15 in semifinals and placed second in her heat to receive an automatic bid to the final in her first World Championships.

McLaughlin, who broke her own world record to win the U.S. title in June, unsurprisingly qualified for semifinals in the 400m hurdles, cruising with a time of 53.95.

Days 1-4
Kentucky track & field’s Coach Tim Hall coached volunteer coach Coleman to sixth in the World Athletics Championships 100-meter final while Steiner qualified for 200m semifinals in the first four days of competition.

Coleman finished sixth in the 100m with a time of 10.01 as one of four Americans in the event. Indoors, Coleman won the silver medal in the 60m at World Athletics Championships in Serbia during March.

#SteinerSpeed made its World Athletics debut with Steiner running 22.26 in the 200m heats, the third fastest time of the field going into Tuesday’s semifinal. She will compete in the semifinal at 9:50 p.m. ET.

Rising senior for UKTF Moss ran in the 4x400m mixed relay for The Bahamas on the first day of World Athletics Championships while All-American and recent graduate St. Hillaire competed in the 400m for Trinidad & Tobago. Both will compete again on July 23 in the 4x400m relay for their respective countries.

Andrew Evans, UK Class of ‘14 and 2022 U.S. champion, competed in the discus qualifying rounds but was unable to make it through to the final.

Daniel Roberts, the recent U.S. champion in the 110m hurdles, was disqualified after suffering a fall in the 110m hurdles heats.