This Week In Track & Field: Disaster At The USATF Half Marathon Championships (What Happens Next?) + USATF Indoor Championships Recap

The CITIUS MAG Podcast | A Running + Track and Field Show

CITIUS MAG

Running, Sports

4.9 • 1.9K Ratings

🗓️ 2 March 2026

⏱️ 125 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Chris Chavez and Preet Majithia break down a chaotic weekend in American track and field headlined by a lead vehicle disaster at the USATF Half Marathon Championships and a slate of big results at the USATF Indoor Championships.

Discussed:

– The 2026 USATF Half Marathon Championships in Atlanta were thrown into chaos when a lead vehicle guided the top women off course in the final mile with Jess McClain holding a big lead at the time. Molly Born, who stayed on course, won in 69:43. McClain, Emma Grace Hurley and Ednah Kurgat all filed appeals immediately after.

– USATF’s jury of appeals acknowledged the course was inadequately marked but said it had “no recourse within the rulebook” to alter the results, which was a ruling that drew widespread backlash. Atlanta Track Club CEO Rich Kenah took full responsibility.

– Because the race served as the selection event for the 2026 World Athletics Road Running Championships in Copenhagen, the wrong turn didn’t just cost the leaders prize money but also potentially cost them spots on Team USA. The selection situation is a tangled mess with no clean fix under current rules.

– Cole Hocker won the men’s 3,000m in a blanket finish in 7:39.25. Young missed the World Indoor team by .01 to Yared Nuguse after drifting off the rail in the home straight.

– Emily Mackay won the women’s 3,000m in a five-second personal best of 8:30.01, outkicking Elle St. Pierre in the final stretch for her first US title.

– Hocker and Yared Nuguse then faded to 5th and 4th in Sunday’s 1500m, won by former UW teammates Nathan Green and Luke Houser.

– 17-year-old Cooper Lutkenhaus went 5-for-5 as a professional, winning the men’s 800m in 1:46.68 with a tactically sharp performance.

– Nikki Hiltz extended their US title streak to eight, winning the women’s 1500m in 4:11.34.

– Jordan Anthony won the men’s 60m in 6.45, beating Trayvon Bromell and Noah Lyles.

Plus: Tokyo Marathon recap, the Louis Hinchcliffe NCAA return and the Iowa State/Seth Clevenger doping investigation.

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Hosts: Chris Chavez | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@chris_j_chavez⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ + Preet Majithia | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@preet_athletics⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Produced by: Jasmine Fehr |⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠@jasminefehr⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

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Transcript

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0:00.0	It is Monday, March 2nd.
0:08.4	I almost didn't realize that it was March, and I had a little bit of a brain fart there.
0:12.4	What a weekend.
0:13.2	We had a lead vehicle drive the top women off course at a national championship with
0:18.5	world championship spots on the line.
0:21.7	USATF's response was met with quite a bit of backlash, so we're going to sort through
0:26.0	that mess and what could happen next.
0:28.9	We've got a teenager going five for five as a pro and winning a national title out on
0:35.1	Staten Island.
0:36.1	Nikki Hiltz extended their winning streak at the U.S. championship.
0:41.0	We had an awesome blanket 3K finish that crushed Nico Young by 100th of a second.
0:48.7	Then the next day after that, an epic conclusion to the men's 1500 and a bunch more races.
0:57.0	A lot to get into.
0:58.1	I'm Chris Chavez.
0:59.3	I'm pretty much, yeah.
1:00.6	And this week in track and field on the Citius Mac podcast, we're going to dive into
1:05.0	all of that.
1:06.3	And I guess, like, I want to start probably with the USATF half marathon championships, which is now I think started to seep into the mainstream news cycle.
1:18.1	I just tweeted out a screenshot of a New York Post headline.
1:24.8	And then also on Preet's side of the world, the Daily Mail has picked it up as well.
1:31.5	The headline on the New York Post Instagram is U.S. Trackstar cost, half marathon national title,
1:39.8	20K prize after mistakenly let off course.
	...

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