USA
2019

The 2019 season in short

For American athletics, the 2019 season came down to ten nights at the Khalifa Stadium in Doha. The United States left with 29 medals — 14 gold, 11 silver, 4 bronze — and topped the table by a distance, with Kenya a distant second. Fourteen golds equalled the most the country had ever won at a single World Championships.

It was a haul built on the fast events. The Americans swept the marquee sprints and hurdles, owned the throws and the relays, and produced two world records in a single meet. What Doha did not give them was a distance medal: from the 1500m up, the podium stayed out of reach.

Doha: ten nights, fourteen golds

Three threads ran through the American championships: the sprint golds, the record-breaking, and the closest final the shot put has ever seen.

Christian Coleman won the 100m in 9.76, the fastest time in the world that year. Noah Lyles took the 200m in 19.83, and Grant Holloway the 110m hurdles in 13.10. Add both flat 4×400s and the 4×100m, and the United States had the sprint programme locked down.

Joe Kovacs produced the throw of the championships. Sitting fourth going into the last round of the shot put, he unleashed a 22.91m personal best to snatch gold; Ryan Crouser answered with 22.90m for silver, and Tom Walsh took bronze with the same 22.90m. One centimetre covered all three medallists — the closest final the event has ever produced.

And two world records fell to American teams. Dalilah Muhammad ran 52.16 to win the 400m hurdles ahead of a 20-year-old Sydney McLaughlin (52.23) — a US one-two that reset the event. And the United States won the first World Championships mixed 4×400m relay in a world record 3:09.34. Neither record survives today, as the chart below shows.

Every American medal in Doha

Fourteen gold medals — ten individual, four in the relays:

• GoldChristian Coleman — 100m9.76
• GoldNoah Lyles — 200m19.83
• GoldDonavan Brazier — 800m1:42.34 · AR
• GoldGrant Holloway — 110m hurdles13.10
• GoldSam Kendricks — Pole vault5.97m
• GoldChristian Taylor — Triple jump17.92m
• GoldJoe Kovacs — Shot put22.91m · CR
• GoldNia Ali — 100m hurdles12.34
• GoldDalilah Muhammad — 400m hurdles52.16 · WR
• GoldDeAnna Price — Hammer77.54m
• GoldMen's 4×100m relay — Relay37.10
• GoldMen's 4×400m relay — Relay2:56.69
• GoldWomen's 4×400m relay — Relay3:19.02
• GoldMixed 4×400m relay — Relay3:09.34 · WR

And the 15 that completed the set of 29:

• SilverJustin Gatlin — 100m
• SilverRai Benjamin — 400m hurdles
• SilverJeff Henderson — Long jump
• SilverWill Claye — Triple jump
• SilverRyan Crouser — Shot put
• SilverBrittany Brown — 200m
• SilverRaevyn Rogers — 800m
• SilverKendra Harrison — 100m hurdles
• SilverSydney McLaughlin — 400m hurdles
• SilverEmma Coburn — 3000m steeplechase
• SilverSandi Morris — Pole vault
• BronzeFred Kerley — 400m
• BronzeAjeé Wilson — 800m
• BronzeVashti Cunningham — High jump
• BronzeWomen's 4×100m relay — Relay

Doha was as much a beginning as a peak. Four of those golds came with records attached — and every one of the four has since been broken, most of them by the next wave of American athletes.

The kit: Nike USA Pro Elite 2019

The American team raced Doha in the Nike USA Pro Elite 2019 cycle — the kit issued to the athletes through the USATF team channel, not a retail line with a badge on it.

The 2019 USA rail in the archive is smaller than the 2023 one — a handful of pieces from the Doha cycle rather than the full programme. What is here is shown below; when a piece sells, it is gone.