Gold medal for the 2020 US Olympic Team Trials – Track and Field. The medal features wood from Hayward Field and a silhouette of the tower. Photo by Jake Willard/Tracktown USA.
The 2020 US Olympic Team Trials – Track and Field will be unlike any other US Olympic track and field trials in history.
For one thing, the 2020 trials are being held in 2021.
Since 1896, the Summer Olympics have been held every leap year bar four: 1916, due to World War I; 1940 and 1944 due to World War II; and 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But the odd numbering—the Trials and the Olympics themselves are both billed as the 2020 editions, despite being held in 2021—won’t be the only unusual thing about the COVID-affected meet.
All athletes and facility staff will have to be tested multiple times prior to the meet, and a hotel room has been set aside in case any athlete needs to be quarantined or isolated for contact tracing. Confirmed positive tests could lead to an athlete being removed from the Trials; likewise, a positive test for staff could mean their removal as well.
While fans are allowed into Hayward Field due to Lane County lowering its risk level, Hayward will be separated into vaccinated and unvaccinated sections for the safety of vaccinated fans. Fans who were vaccinated at least two weeks prior to the trials will be allowed to sit in the track-side sections of Hayward and along the back straight and home straight, while unvaccinated fans will be allowed to sit in household pods along the second and third turns. Vaccinated fans will be asked to provide proof of vaccination to enter the stadium, while fans 16 and under will not need to be vaccinated.
Media covering the Olympic Trials will notice some big differences as well—most notably in that they will no longer be able to interview the athletes. Post-event interviews will be conducted via Zoom, and media members in the press box will submit questions via a Zoom chat, while School of Journalism and Communication students taking professor of practice Lori Shontz’s Sports Bureau class will ask the questions from a safe distance, and the media can watch the interviews online and will have transcripts emailed to them.
Fan favorite Devon Allen, BS '17 (business administration) will be hoping to make his second Olympic team at the upcoming Trials. Photo by Damian Foley.
But in this trials-like-no-other, there will be one constant: the field will be filled with outstanding Ducks who are all hoping to represent Team USA in Tokyo in July. For the competitors, the equation is simple: the top three finishers in each event who have also posted an official Olympic Qualifying mark will make the Olympic team. USA Track and Field has a complete list of Trials entrants, but as of June 7, qualified Ducks included:
Women's 100m
Hannah Cunliffe '19
Jenna Prandini, BA '16 (general social science)
English Gardner '16
Men's 100m
Micah Williams, Class of 2024
Women's 200m
Jenna Prandini
Women's 400m
Phyllis Francis, BS '14 (general social science)
Sabrina Southerland, MNM '19 (nonprofit management)
Women's 800m
Raevyn Rogers, BA '19 (art)
Women's 1,500m
Alli Cash, BS '18 (human physiology)
Men's 1,500m
Matt Centrowitz '19
Cooper Teare, Class of 2022
Cole Hocker, Class of 2024
Jack Yearian, BS '20 (business administration)
Women's 5,000m
Alli Cash
Men's 5,000m
Matt Centrowitz
Cooper Teare
Cole Hocker
110m hurdles
Devon Allen, BS '17 (business administration)
Men's pole vault men
Cole Walsh '18
Women's long jump
Jasmine Todd, BED '16 (family and human services)
The athletes who finish in the top three of each event, regardless of whether or not they have set Olympic Qualifying marks, will take home special medals that were announced by Tracktown USA on June 7. The gold, silver, and bronze medals will contain inlays made of wood from the stairs of Hayward Field’s Bowerman Building, while the center of each medal will include a silhouette of the new Hayward Field Tower that stands at the corner of 15th Avenue and Agate Street.
For those Ducks fans unable to return to Hayward for the 2020 US Olympic Team Trials – Track and Field, NBC has you covered. The network will be broadcasting from Hayward every day of the trials, ensuring you won’t miss a moment as the Ducks compete for one of the coveted Team USA spots in Tokyo.