COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee today announced that standout performances from triple jumper Christian Taylor (Fayetteville, Georgia), weightlifter Kate Nye (Oakland Township, Michigan) and the U.S. mixed 4x400-meter track and field team earned them Best of September honors for Team USA Awards presented by Dow.
Taylor captured his fourth world title – and third consecutive – in the men’s triple jump with a score of 17.92 meters at the World Athletics Championships in Doha, Qatar. With fouls on his first two jumps, Taylor edged his way into the final on his third jump. In the final, he was able to overtake teammate Will Claye (Phoenix, Arizona) for the top of the podium as the Americans went 1-2. Two years ago, Taylor became the first athlete to win three world titles in the event and two in a row, and now adds to that record with this year’s win. Taylor’s title also marked the 100th world title by an American man in track and field history, dating back to 1983.
Making her debut at the senior world championships at age 20, Nye swept the women’s 71 kg. division. She became the youngest U.S. women’s world weightlifting champion, earning gold in the snatch (112 kg.), clean & jerk (136 kg.) and total (248 kg.). Her snatch of 112 kg. broke five records: junior world, senior Pan American, junior Pan American, senior American and junior American, in her final year of junior eligibility. Her total of 248 kg. also set an American record. Having won the junior world championships in July, she is now the reigning junior and senior world champion.
Competing in the inaugural mixed gender 4x400-meter at the World Athletics Championships, the U.S. relay team of Michael Cherry (Chesapeake, Virginia), Allyson Felix (Los Angeles, California), Wil London (Waco, Texas) and Courtney Okolo (Carrollton, Texas) set a winning world-record pace of 3:09.34 ahead of the event’s Olympic debut in 2020. With the win, Felix became the winningest athlete in track and field world championship history, surpassing Jamaica’s Usain Bolt with her 12th world title.
About the Team USA Awards
Each National Governing Body may nominate one female, one male and one team per discipline. An internal nominating committee selects five nominees from both the male and female categories, and three from the team category to advance to the voting round. Votes received from NGB representatives and select members of the media account for 50% of the final tally, with the other half determined by online fan voting via TeamUSA.org/Awards.
