USATF Outdoor Championships 2026: Noah Lyles (9.79) & Sha'Carri Richardson (10.77) Win 100m Titles in New York
At the 2026 USATF Outdoor Championships at Icahn Stadium in New York City, Noah Lyles matched his personal best with a world-leading 9.79 seconds while Sha'Carri Richardson captured her third national 100m title in 10.77 seconds.
· 7 min read · Athletics News
Nine men broke 10.10 in one 100m final. Four went sub-10. And Noah Lyles crossed the line first at 9.79 seconds - matching the personal best he ran to win Olympic gold - at a venue where Jesse Owens once qualified for the 1936 Berlin Olympics.
The 2026 Toyota USATF Outdoor Championships brought the US national meet back to New York City for the first time since 1991, staging it at Icahn Stadium on Randall's Island. On Friday night under the lights, Lyles and Sha'Carri Richardson swept the 100m titles, both locking up strong ranking positions ahead of the inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championship in Budapest this September.
Lyles runs 9.79 and nobody behind him was slow
The men's 100m final was ridiculous. Not just because Lyles won, but because the depth of the field behind him was genuinely unusual for a national championship.
Lyles got out cleanly, built through his drive phase, and by 60 metres had visibly separated from the rest of the field. His closing speed over the final 40 metres - that gear he hits where he seems to float above the track rather than push through it - was the difference. He crossed the line in 9.79 seconds, exactly matching the time he ran to beat Kishane Thompson by five thousandths of a second at the [Paris 2024 Olympics](/blog/fastest-man-100m).
Behind him, it was chaos. Ronnie Baker and Kenny Bednarek both ran 9.88, separated by five thousandths of a second themselves - Baker clocking 9.875 to Bednarek's 9.880. Christian Coleman, a former world champion who knows what it feels like to win this race, took fourth in 9.93. Courtney Lindsey ran 9.97 to round out a field where five men broke 10 seconds.
That sort of depth doesn't happen often, even at the US Championships.
Men's 100m Final Results
| Place | Athlete | Time | Notes | |-------|---------|------|-------| | 1st | Noah Lyles | **9.79** | Matches PB / World Lead | | 2nd | Ronnie Baker | **9.88** | 9.875 | | 3rd | Kenny Bednarek | **9.88** | 9.880 | | 4th | Christian Coleman | **9.93** | | | 5th | Courtney Lindsey | **9.97** | | | 6th | Brandon Hicklin | **10.00** | | | 7th | Lawrence Johnson | **10.03** | | | 8th | ZaChaeus Beard | **10.03** | | | 9th | Maximilian Thomas | **10.10** | |
The 9.79 is the world-leading time for the 2026 outdoor season. It seals Lyles' third US outdoor 100m title (after 2018 and 2024), and it gives him the kind of momentum that makes him the man to beat at the World Athletics Ultimate Championship in Budapest this September.
After the race, it was hard not to think about what happened just weeks earlier in Ostrava, where Lyles [smashed the 150m world best in 14.67 seconds](/blog/noah-lyles-150m-world-best) and looked like he was running within himself even then. The form is peaking at the right time.
Richardson answers a difficult 2025 with authority
After a 2025 season that would have broken most athletes' confidence - an early injury, a disrupted build-up, and a fifth-place finish at the 2025 World Championships in 10.94 - Sha'Carri Richardson needed a statement at this meet. She got one.
Richardson's start was clean and controlled from the middle lane. She didn't panic, didn't rush the transition phase, and by 50 metres she was clearly ahead. Over the final 30 metres she pulled away comfortably, crossing the line in 10.77 seconds to claim her third consecutive USATF outdoor 100m title.
That 10.77 matches the time she ran at the [Star Athletics Sprint Series in Florida last month](/blog/shacarri-richardson-1077-florida-2026), when she posted her fastest legal 100m since the 2024 Olympic Trials. Running it again at a national championship, with selection pressure and a packed stadium, is a different level of validation. She's not just hitting fast times at small domestic meets. She's reproducing them when it counts.
Kayla White ran 10.90 for second, with Tamari Davis clocking 11.00 flat for third. The top three earned automatic selection for the World Athletics Ultimate Championship.
Women's 100m Final Results
| Place | Athlete | Time | |-------|---------|------| | 1st | Sha'Carri Richardson | **10.77** | | 2nd | Kayla White | **10.90** | | 3rd | Tamari Davis | **11.00** | | 4th | Anavia Battle | **11.02** | | 5th | Jaslyn Gardner | **11.03** | | 6th | Nayla Harris | **11.06** | | 7th | Kaila Jackson | **11.11** | | 8th | Jassani Carter | **11.15** | | 9th | Melicia Mouzzon | **11.18** |
The gap between Richardson's 10.77 and the rest of the field tells the story. She won by 0.13 seconds - a margin that is huge at this level. For context, [Adaejah Hodge ran 10.63 at the NCAA Championships](/blog/adaejah-hodge-10-63-ncaa-5th-fastest-woman) earlier this season, so the global 100m picture for US-based sprinters is the most competitive it's been in years.
Full event highlights from Icahn Stadium
The 100m finals were the centrepiece, but the wider programme delivered across the board.
In the men's 10,000m, Woody Kincaid unleashed a blistering final lap to hold off Grant Fisher in a tactical race decided by less than a second - 30:13.66 to 30:14.46. On the women's side, Sydney Vaught controlled the 25-lap final from start to finish, winning in 33:30.60 ahead of Katie Izzo.
Rudy Winkler topped the men's hammer throw at 77.05 metres. Garrett Scantling ground out 8,526 points across two gruelling days to win the decathlon, while Erin Marsh took the women's heptathlon with 6,059 points.
Key results summary
| Event | Winner | Winning Mark | |-------|--------|--------------| | Men's 10,000m | Woody Kincaid | **30:13.66** | | Women's 10,000m | Sydney Vaught | **33:30.60** | | Men's Decathlon | Garrett Scantling | **8,526 pts** | | Women's Heptathlon | Erin Marsh | **6,059 pts** | | Men's Hammer Throw | Rudy Winkler | **77.05 m** | | Women's Javelin | Madison Wiltrout | **61.53 m** | | Men's High Jump | Tyus Wilson | **2.29 m** | | Men's Long Jump | Isaac Grimes | **8.18 m** | | Women's Triple Jump | Euphenie Andre | **13.94 m** |
Why this matters for everyday runners
You're never going to run 9.79. Neither am I. But two things from Friday night's 100m finals are directly applicable to your running, whatever distance you race.
Relaxation at speed is a skill, not a talent
Watch any footage of Lyles in the final 30 metres and his face is completely calm. Jaw loose, shoulders dropped, hands open. He's generating more power than almost any human alive, and he looks like he's out for a jog. That's not an accident - it's trained.
Tension in the upper body is the single biggest energy leak for distance runners in the final kilometres of a race. Your shoulders creep toward your ears, your fists clench, your jaw tightens, and suddenly you're fighting yourself instead of the clock. Next time you're struggling through the last 2K of a 10K, actively drop your shoulders and unclench your hands. It works better than you'd expect.
The best finishers start conservatively
Richardson's race was a textbook negative split at compressed timescales. She didn't chase the field in the first 30 metres. She ran her own race, trusted her speed endurance, and closed hard. The result was a comfortable win over a strong field.
The same principle applies at every distance. Negative splitting - running the second half of a race faster than the first - is the most common characteristic of personal best performances. If you're building toward a goal race, plan your target splits with our [race splits calculator](/tools/splits) or set your overall pace target using our [pace calculator](/tools/pace-calculator). Going out controlled and finishing strong beats the alternative almost every time.
If you're training for something specific and want a plan that builds race-day composure into the structure, try our [AI run planner](/run-planner).
The venue: Icahn Stadium's sprint history
Icahn Stadium on Randall's Island sits on the site of the former Downing Stadium, which opened in 1936 specifically to host the US Olympic Track and Field Trials. Jesse Owens qualified for the Berlin Olympics on that track before going on to win four gold medals. The modern facility opened in 2005 with a Mondo track surface - the same material used at world championships and Olympics - and has hosted records from Usain Bolt and Meseret Defar.
Bringing the USATF Outdoor Championships back to New York for the first time in 35 years generated a vocal home-straight crowd that added real energy to the evening session. Icahn's compact 5,000-seat layout keeps spectators close to the action, and it showed.
Related coverage
- [Noah Lyles smashes 150m world best in Ostrava](/blog/noah-lyles-150m-world-best) - what his mid-season form tells us - [Sha'Carri Richardson runs 10.77 in Florida](/blog/shacarri-richardson-1077-florida-2026) - her comeback race one month before nationals - [Adaejah Hodge runs 10.63 at NCAA Championships](/blog/adaejah-hodge-10-63-ncaa-5th-fastest-woman) - the 19-year-old who sits above Richardson on the 2026 world list - [Fastest man in the world: 100m world record holders](/blog/fastest-man-100m) - where 9.79 ranks in history - [Lamont Marcell Jacobs' wind-aided 9.67](/blog/lamont-marcell-jacobs-9-67-100m) - the second-fastest 100m time ever recorded
**Find races:** Browse [marathons and road races in New York](/races/united-states/new-york) on Your Run Guide to discover local events, compare course profiles, and plan your next race weekend.