Heading into yesterday’s U.S. 100-meter finals, Kenny Bednarek and Melissa Jefferson-Wooden were already among the best in the world at what they do.

And then they got better. Both Bednarek and Jefferson-Wooden are Olympic medalists and U.S. leaders in the sprint events, and both athletes have been running fast all year. In the 100m finals, however, they ascended to a new level, one everyone knew they were capable of, but was still fantastically impressive to watch come to fruition.

Bednarek picked up the first U.S. title of his career — despite being a two-time Olympic medalist, he’s heretofore always been overshadowed by the Noah Lyleses and Christian Colemans of the world. But not today: Today was Kenny’s day. He decisively dispatched an extraordinarily strong field and clocked the first wind-legal sub-9.80 of his career with a 9.79 victory, leading a field where the top five finishers ran under 9.90.

Jefferson-Wooden continued doing what she’s done all year: win. But despite consistently beating the competition, Melissa has been plagued by unhelpful winds all year — either over the legal limit for a tailwind, or blowing in her face and slowing her down. Finally, she got favorable race conditions at just the right time, and the results were astonishing: a 10.65 victory, the fifth fastest in history, tying the likes of Shericka Jackson, Marion Jones, and Sha’Carri Richardson on the all-time list.

Everywhere you looked, really great athletes were outperforming the past versions of themselves. Eugene may be 50 miles or so from the Pacific Ocean, but Hayward still felt like it was feeling the effects of rising tide in the sport, with Americans in all disciplines are forced to step up their game to new levels just to have a shot at competing with the rest of the world.

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Hosts: ⁠⁠Chris Chavez⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Eric Jenkins⁠⁠, Aisha Praught-Leer, ⁠Paul Hof-Mahoney⁠⁠ & ⁠⁠Anderson Emerole⁠⁠

Produced by: ⁠⁠Mac Fleet⁠⁠ & ⁠⁠Jasmine Fehr⁠⁠

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