INDIANAPOLIS -- Michael Norman (Los Angeles, California) became the second man ever to join the sub-10/20/44 club to earn USATF Athlete of the Week, and Mildred “Babe” Didriksen was selected by fans as winner of the 18th USATF Throwback Athlete of the Week award for setting an American record in the women’s 80m hurdles in 1931. In the absence of regular competition during the Covid-19 pandemic, we are taking a weekly look back at some of the great efforts by American track and field athletes through the years. Norman jetted to a 9.86 lifetime best in the 100m at the AP Ranch HP meet in Fort Worth to join South Africa’s Wayde van Niekerk as the only men ever to have broken 10 seconds in the 100m, 20 seconds in the 200m and 44 seconds in the 400m in a career. He lowered his PR in the event by more than .4 seconds as he took over the top spot on the 2020 world list and moved to =8th on the all-time U.S. list, tied with Carl Lewis and Noah Lyles. Twice an Olympic gold medalist, Didriksen is considered one of the greatest female athletes ever, and her performances at the 1931 AAU Championships in Jersey City, New Jersey, on July 26 bolstered that claim. She set an American record of 12.0 in the 80m hurdles and added wins in the long jump and baseball throw, but would likely have added to her gold haul if not for the limit on the number of events she was allowed to participate in. The next year at the 1932 Olympics in Los Angeles, Didriksen won the 80mH and the javelin, setting Olympic records in both, and tied the world record in the high jump in a silver medal-winning effort. She had earlier won four events at the AAU meet, which was one of the greatest individual achievements in U.S. track and field annals. After her brief track and field career ended, Didriksen turned her focus to golf, becoming arguably the best woman ever to play the game. She won 41 LPGA events in her career and also made the cut in three men’s PGA tourneys in 1945. Inducted into the National Track & Field Hall of Fame in 1974, Didriksen is also a member of the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame and the World Golf Hall of Fame. She died at age 45 in 1956. Other historical performances of note from the July 20-26 period in USATF history:
July 20 — Fred Wilt American record in men’s 3,000m, 8:12.2 at Turku, Finland in 1950
July 21 — Willye White American record in women’s long jump, 6.44m/21-1.75 at London, England in 1961
July 22 — Leah Bennett-Ferriss American record in women’s 800m, 2:10.4 at Stanford, California in 1962
July 23 — Edward Gourdin World record in men’s long jump, 7.69m/25-3 at Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1921
July 24 — Jim Bolding World record in men’s 440y hurdles, 48.7 at Turin, Italy in 1974
July 25 — Fred Hansen World record in men’s pole vault, 5.28m/17-4 at Los Angeles, California in 1964
Other notable performances from the past week included:
Noah Lyles zipped to a world-leading 19.94 in the 200m at the Clermont Back to the Track meet in Florida. He also won the 100m final with a wind-aided 9.93.
Karissa Schweizer clocked 4:00.02 at Portland to become the #8 all-time U.S. performer in the women’s 1,500m.
Cory McGee’s 4:21.81 in the mile at the Team Boss event in indiana pushed her to #9 performer on the all-time U.S. women’s mile list.
Rudy Winkler threw the men’s hammer 80.70m/264-9 at Wallkill, New York, to become the #3 all-time U.S. performer.
Sha’Carri Richardson sprinted to a windy 10.79 in the 100m and added a then-U.S.-leading 22.73 in the 200m at the AP Ranch HP II meet in Fort Worth.
Now in its 19th year, USATF’s Athlete of the Week program is designed to recognize outstanding performers at all levels of the sport. USATF names a new honoree each week and features the athlete on USATF.org. Selections are based on top performances and results from the previous week. 2020 Winners: January 9, Miranda Melville; January 16, Paul Perry; January 23, Natosha Rogers; January 30, Tyler Day, February 6, Devin Dixon; February 13, Elle Purrier; February 20, Tori Franklin; February 27, Sandi Morris; March 4, Abdi Abdirahman; March 12 Marielle Hall; March 19, Tim Tollefson; April 2, Louise Ritter; April 9, Francie Larrieu Smith; April 16, Erin Gilreath; April 23, Suzy Powell; April 30, Joe Dial; May 7, Dawn Ellerbe; May 14, Ramona Pagel; May 21, Brian Oldfield; May 28, Jackie Joyner-Kersee; June 4, Jesse Owens; June 11, Mary Decker Slaney; June 18, Leroy Burrell; June 25, Sandra Farmer-Patrick; July 2, Jim Ryun; July 9, Evelyn Ashford; July 16, Wilma Rudolph & Shelby Houlihan; July 23, Pat Daniels & Ryan Crouser; July 30, Michael Norman & Mildred “Babe” Didriksen. We welcome your nominations! To nominate an athlete for USATF Athlete of the Week, please send a detailed email about his/her performance to communications@usatf.org. Fans can follow along with #USATF on Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and Facebook.