Haugh is first male athlete to surpass 26-meter mark in the 35-pound weight throw with 86-5.50 (26.35m) effort; Jones and Holloway produce 60-meter hurdles world records of 7.67 and 7.27 in qualifying heats in Albuquerque

By David Woods for DyeStat

Photos by Crash Kamon and Chuck Aragon

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – After the 116th Millrose Games featured two world records Sunday in New York City, the USATF Indoor Championships added three Friday night in the middle of the New Mexico desert at the Albuquerque Convention Center.

You knew the calendar without checking, right? It is an Olympic year.

Soon after Daniel Haugh broke the world all-time best in the men’s weight throw, Tia Jones and Grant Holloway hit world records in successive heats of the 60-meter hurdles.

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As with other achievements, the records were visualized long before they were realized.

First up was Haugh, who threw the 35-pound weight 86 feet, 5.50 inches (26.35m). That broke the mark of 84-10.25 (25.86m) set by Lance Deal in 1995. Or before the 28-year-old Haugh was born.

“We’ve been talking about 26 (meters) since 2017,” Haugh said. “I knew when I let it go, ‘Man, that’s the throw I’ve been working for.’”

It was 1-2 for Kennesaw State under coach Mike Judge, with Isaiah Rogers finishing second with a personal-best 80-1 (24.41m).

At New York, Jones finished third in a race won by the Bahamas’ Devynne Charlton, whose time of 7.67 seconds broke the world record of 7.68 set by Sweden’s Susanna Kallur in 2008. But after Jones won in 7.72 at Boston on Feb. 4, her coach, Tonja Buford-Bailey, suggested Jones could break Kallur’s record.

Twelve days later, the hurdler did. And she tied Charlton’s five-day-old record.

“It was easier than I thought,” said Jones, a former World Under-20 champion from Marietta, Ga. 

She has been setting records for at least a decade, so it’s easy to forget she is just 23. She went pro out of high school, and now it’s realistic to think ahead to the Paris Olympics. First up: World Indoor Championships, set for March 1-3 at Glasgow, Scotland.

“There’s so much I need to work on,” Jones said. “This isn’t the end.”

She still had a final to run.

After two restarts, she secured her Glasgow spot in 7.68, thus equaling the third-fastest time ever behind the two 7.67s. Jones, running with a taped right ankle, banged off the padding at one end of the Albuquerque Convention Center afterward and tumbled down the track.

USC’s Jasmine Jones was second in 7.78 but will skip Glasgow for NCAAs. That provisionally puts Masai Russell, third in 7.80, on Team USA.

Jones equaled the No. 3 competitor on the all-time collegiate list behind Arkansas’ Ackera Nugent (7.72) and Kentucky’s Russell (7.75).

Holloway has not lost a 60 hurdles race in 10 years.

His time of 7.27 sliced .02 off the record he set in Madrid in 2021 and tied during a semifinal of indoor Worlds in Belgrade in 2022. He scratched from this final, having secured a wild card for Glasgow by winning the 2023 World Indoor Tour.

In Holloway’s absence, Trey Cunningham, the 2022 Bowerman Award winner from Florida State, took his first U.S. title in 7.39. Cameron Murray was surprisingly second in 7.45, so the United States will have three Glasgow entries.

With no live TV coverage, Holloway afterward was pleading on Twitter to see replay:

“Someone find my race. Right now. World (expletive) record baby!”

Holloway and Cunningham rank 1-2 in the world this year, matching their respective finishes in the 110 hurdles at Oregon’s 2022 Worlds.

Albuquerque’s 4,959-foot altitude aided world records in the hurdles but made the two 3,000-meter races tactical.

After a 43-second lap 2 and 800 meters in 2:37, Elle St. Pierre seized control of the women’s race. She ran the closing 1,000 in 2:51.10 to win her second title in three years, clocking 8:54.40.

In between? She had a baby. That was 11 months ago. And she was coming off an American record in the mile 4:16.41 in New York.

“I had to make it a little more honest than just jogging,” said St. Pierre, a silver medalist at 2022 indoor Worlds.

She is scheduled to run Saturday’s 1,500 but hinted she might scratch. She said she would concentrate on the 3,000 for Glasgow.

Josette Andrews was second in 9:03.10 and hopes to make it to Worlds via a global ranking at 5,000.

There was no realistic pathway for Cole Hocker or Cooper Teare to make the Glasgow team in the men’s 3,000, so they withdrew and will race only Saturday’s 1,500.

Yared Nuguse, opting for the 3,000 over the 1,500, ran his closing 400 in 54.39 to win in 7:55.76. Olin Hacker made a big move to take the lead with 500 meters left and held on for second in 7:56.22.

“When he went, I felt really energized,” Nuguse said, “and it was like time to go.”

Hacker, too, does not have a Worlds standard. Abdihamid Nur, who did the pacesetting through 2,400 meters, was fifth in 7:58.65

Contact David Woods at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidWoods007