Editor’s note: This story was updated to include results from the evening session. 

The IAAF World Indoor Championships in Portland, Oregon, began with a near-perfect start for Team USA’s distance crew, as five of six Americans advanced to their finals on Friday afternoon. 

But a scary moment occurred early in the meet when Victor Sailer, a veteran track and road racing photographer, took an errant shot put to the leg. USATF later reported that Sailer is fine. 

Once the running action started, Ryan Hill (3,000 meters), Paul Chelimo (3,000 meters), Boris Berian (800 meters), Erik Sowinski (800 meters), and Brenda Martinez (1500 meters) all qualified for this weekend’s finals. Women’s 1500-meter runner Cory McGee was the only American who didn’t advance.

Sitting behind Englishman Tom Farrell early in the race, Hill used a strong last lap to finish fourth in his heat and automatically qualify for the final. Chelimo deployed similar sit-and-kick tactics in the second heat to advance with a third-place finish. “I just have to be strong mentally in the final,” Chelimo said. “It takes guts to medal in the final.”

In the women’s 1500 meters, Martinez overcame some late-race bumping and jostling to finish third in her heat and qualify automatically for Saturday’s final. “Dawit [Seyaum] was throwing elbows,” Martinez said, “but I gave her a nudge, like, ‘Hey, I’m right here. Don’t cause an accident.’ But that’s racing. You can’t complain about it.” Before the race, Martinez tweeted that she received a welcome boost while entering the arena Friday morning.

As qualifying heats unfolded on the track, American Ashton Eaton was chasing after his own world record in the men’s heptathlon. In the long jump, Eaton’s huge second attempt leap of 8.08 meters (about 26 feet, six inches) left him only 28 points behind his 2012 world record pace after two events. The heptathlon resumes with the shot put on Friday evening.

In the men’s 800 meter prelims, Berian and Sowinski ran the fourth- and fifth-fastest times to advance to Saturday’s final. Meanwhile, on Twitter, fellow American half-milers Charles Jock and Duane Solomon seemed equally impressed with Berian’s hair.

The distance running action resumes Friday evening with the men’s 1500 meters at 9:20 p.m. ET. But one question still remains from the morning session: How do you pronounce Waththakankanamge?

xView full post on X
The American distance runners extended their hot streak into Friday's evening session, with Matthew Centrowitz and Robby Andrews both qualifying comfortably for Sunday’s 1500-meter final.

Meanwhile, Ashton Eaton ended the night 90 points behind his world-record heptathlon pace, but he still had reason to celebrate. In the women’s pentathlon, Eaton’s wife, Brianne Theisen-Eaton of Canada, ran 2:09.99 in the 800-meter event to erase a 150-point deficit and win her first international gold medal. The couple’s finish-line hug was priceless.