The annual USA Track and Field Indoor Championships kicks off at 4:00 p.m. CST Friday with berths on Team USA for the World Indoor Championships at stake. The 2-day meet is being held again at Albuquerque's Convention Center in New Mexico, one of the more popular and busy indoor facilities in the country.
The Top-2 finishers in each event will qualify for Team USA For the biennial World Indoor Championships, March 1-3 in Glasgow, Scottland. The World Indoor meet is held in even years (2024, 2026, etc.), the same years as the Summer Olympics and two years after, when there is no outdoor global championship, like the Olympics and the World Outdoor Championships, which are held in odd years.
Some athletes ignore the indoor season to focus on the outdoor season and the goal of making an Olympic team, while others have a full schedule planned, competing from January through September.
More than a few Missourians are scheduled to compete in Albuquerque and the 4,991' elevation at the Convention Center, while a few are favorites to make Team USA. The Combined Events Championships were held last week, with the men's Heptathlon and women's Pentathlon contested at the renovated Indiana State Fairgrounds' Fall Creek Pavilion in Indianapolis. That facility will host next year's NCAA Division II Championships.
2024 USA Track and Field Indoor Championships
Schedule
Live Results
Status of Entries
TV: Saturday 3-5 p.m. CST NBC, Peacock, NBC Sports, NBC Sports App
Friday-Saturday on USATF.TV with subscription, except for Sat 3-5 pm.
The qualifying period for this year's US Indoor Championships was January 1, 2023, through February 11. While the USA Championships used to often be held the same week as most college conference meets or the week after, the meet has moved up earlier on the calendar, and schools and college athletes are taking advantage.
Though the World Championships this year are the week before the NCAA championship meets, so don't expect many top-2 finishers who are in college to make the trip to Europe the week before competing at NCAAs if they qualify. However, it's plausible some do both, especially in the less taxing events like the horizontal jumps or throws, where the number of attempts is limited.
Athletes finishing in the top 2 at USAs would also need to meet the World Indoors qualifying standards or be high enough in the working rankings to be accepted.
Three Missouri pole vaulters will compete, along with two hurdlers, a long jumper, a triple jumper, a half-miler, and a racewalker.
Kansas City pole vaulters KC Lightfoot and Chris Nilsen are the favorites in their event, though the US has a deep contingent of vaulters among the world's best.
World Athletics, the global governing body for track and field, cross country, race walking, and distance running, doesn't appear to have acknowledged KC Lightfoot's World #1 vault and Missouri Soil/Altitude Record of 6.00m/19-8.25''.
Lightfoot cleared six meters last month at Northwest Missouri's Richard Alsup Open, giving him the best mark of the season around the world. But, World Athletics has him tied atop the performance list with the great Armand (Mondo) Duplantis. The pair both cleared 5.92m/19-19-5.25 two weeks ago at the Mondo Classic in Sweden, the country the US/Sweden dual citizen represents.
KC Lightfoot, Pole Vault-6.07m/19-11, SB 6.00m/19-8.25, Friday, 6:30 pm CST.
Lee's Summit, MO. Lee's Summit High School '18Baylor '21
Puma
Chris Nilsen, Pole Vault Friday, 6:30 pm CST
Kansas City, MO. Park Hill High School '16University of South Dakota '20
Nike, New York Athletic Club
Brandon Miller, 800--1:45.30, Friday 5:39 p.m., Finals Sat @ 2:07 pm CST
O'Fallon, MO. John Burroughs School '20Texas A&M University '02
Brooks/Brooks Beasts
Johnny Brackins
60H-7.60 -Fri @ 7:46pm, Finals Fri @ 9:25 pm
Long Jump 8.16m/26-9.25, Sat @ 3:35 pm
Lee's Summit, MO. Lee's Summit High School '21
Baylor '22
University of Southern California Junior
Nick Christie, 3000m Racewalk--11:56.57, Friday, 5:00 p.m. CST
San Diego, CaliforniaMissouri Baptist University
'15
New York Athletic Club (NYAC)
Arianna Fisher, Triple Jump-14.05m/46-1.25, Saturday @ 3:15 pm CST
San Jose, CaliforniaUniversity of Missouri '23
Qualifying mark 14.05m/46-1.25
Freddie Crittenden, 60mHurdles-7.49, Friday @ 7:46pm CST, Finals Fri @ 9:25pm CST
St. Louis, MO ->Michigan,Syracuse University '17
Phoenix Track Club, Tracksmith
Matt Ludwig, Pole Vault, Friday at 6:30 pm CST
Chardon, Ohio,University of Missouri '16
University of Akron '19
Coming off a Gold Medal at the Pan Am Games in the Fall.
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Pitt State qualifiers
Joplin native, and former Joplin High School and Missouri Southern standout Kyle Rutledge, head coach of Pittsburg State University, has two alums at the meet. Great hurdlers and jumpers Cordell Tinch and Louis Rollins, now an assistant coach, will compete. Both will compete in the 60-meter hurdles while Tinch will also long jump.
Tench shocked the world last Spring, breaking the collegiate record in the 110-meter hurdles, running 12.96 last June. He then placed 2nd at the U.S. Championships to qualify for the World Outdoor Championships, where he placed 10th in the semifinals. Rollins was a basketball player who turned into a jumping and hurdling star and now is an assistant on Rutledge's staff.