PORTLAND, Ore. — The best of the best in track and field are in Oregon for the World Athletics Championships. It’s the first time the event is on U.S. soil.
Nearly 2,000 athletes from across the globe will compete at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore. beginning July 15. Some of them are based in Portland, including a Nike-sponsored team of elite runners called the Union Athletics Club.
“We’re all small fish in a big pond,” said 800-meter world champion Donavan Brazier. “We've all done things. We all have a great background. I think we're all trying to prove ourselves that we're worthy of being out here.”
The team does most of its work in Beaverton at the Nike World Headquarters.
“We live out here,” said Brazier. “We train out here at Michael Johnson Track five days a week,”
“This is the best place to train in the world,” said U.S. women’s 1500-meter champion Sinclaire Johnson. “We celebrate each other’s wins like they’re our own, but we go through hard times like they’re our own too. It really feels like a family here.”
The roster is made up of about a dozen runners and nearly half of them will compete for a world title.
“It's such an inclusive group and that's what I like about it,” said Brazier. They come from all different backgrounds, all different nations.”
Brazier is the defending world champion and American record holder in the 800-meter.
“I think it kind of chose me more than I chose it. It's a painful event, so if I could've done anything else, I definitely would've done it. It's just what pulled me in.”
Johnson earned her first Team USA selection by winning the 1500-meter national title.
“Getting ready to go race, I'm putting on that jersey and I'm looking at USA across my chest, I feel like that's going to be very surreal.”
Jessica Hull holds seven Australian national records, including the mile run, a record she set earlier this month during a meet at Jesuit high school in Portland. She’s set to compete for a world championship in the 1500-meter and 5,000-meter races in Eugene. She’s also a former Oregon Duck, just like her Union Athletics Club teammate Raevyn Rogers, an Olympic bronze medalist in the 800-meter.
Both believe in the “Magic of Hayward Field.”
“There's definitely a wave of magic that can get you across that line,” said Hull. “I think you gotta lean into that to really experience it. The Hayward crowd is unlike any other.”
“It’s definitely real,” said Rogers. “I feel like the magic comes from the love of the fans, the love of the sport, the community that invests so much, not just in Oregon track and field, but Oregon in general.”
Rogers’ image is one of five Oregon legends engraved on a 10-story high, 188-foot tower at Hayward Field.
“There are so many memories there,” said Rogers. “From the triple crown to national championships, just the winning culture. Every time I go back, I always want to deliver and really execute and make Duck fans proud.”
It’s a world-class stage for the stars of the sport and the Union Athletics Club is ready to shine.
“We're just starting to scratch the surface of what you're going to see from this team,” said Hull.
The World Athletics Championships run from July 15-24 at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore.