U.S. Athletes Were Impressive at World Indoor Track Championships

While much of the nation’s attention was directed at the NCAA basketball tournament’s opening weekend, another significant sports event was quietly going on in Portland, Oregon. The 2016 World Indoor Track Championships were held March 17th-20th, and if the showing by American athletes is any indication, the U.S. should have a good showing down in Rio in August at the Olympics. A few notable performances:

They don’t have the Decathlon in indoors, but they do have the seven event Heptathlon. Ashton Eaton, who is the defending Olympic Decathlon champion, won the Heptathlon at the Indoor Worlds for the third straight time.

Twenty year old Trayvon Bromell won gold in the men’s 60 meter dash, beating Jamaican Olympic veteran Asafa Powell. Of course, a lot of the premier sprinters such as defending 100 meter Olympic gold medalist Usain Bolt didn’t compete, and the 60 meters is not the same as the 100 meters, but Bromell is an up and coming sprinter who bears watching. He won the Bronze medal at the World Track Championships (outdoor) in 2015 in Beijing. If Bromell doesn’t make the Olympic team in the 100 meters, he could still make it as a member of a relay team. At his age, he’s years away from his peak and we could be looking at him in 2020 and 2024.

Barbara Pierre won the women’s 60 meters. Pierre, a native of Haiti who represented that country in the 2008 Olympics, now competes for the U.S.

Speaking of young up and coming competitors, 18 year old Vashti Cunningham won gold in the women’s high jump. She is the daughter of former NFL quarterback Randall Cunningham, and is on a hot streak, having won gold in the 2015 Pan American World Junior Championships and in the 2016 USA Indoor Track and Field Championships earlier this season. U.S. women did well in the field events, also winning gold in the long jump, shot put and pole vault, plus taking silver in the pole vault.

The U.S. won a total of 23 medals, far and away the best showing of any nation. Notable in its absence was Russia, which has been banned from international track competition by track’s governing body, the IAAF, for widespread doping. There is no guarantee the Russians will be cleared to compete in Rio.