Pike's Lynna Irby, Purdue's Kara Winger make U.S. team for World Championships

Lynna Irby and Kara Winger have been to the Olympic Games before. What the two Indiana athletes have never done is this:

Represent the U.S. team on U.S. soil in a global track and field championship.

Irby finished third in the 400 meters, and Winger won a ninth national javelin title in the USA Championships on Saturday at Eugene, Ore.

They will be back at Hayward Field for the World Championships from July 15-24.

Elsewhere, disappointment was acute for Ashley Spencer, Yared Nuguse and Daniel Michalski.

Spencer, a 2016 Olympic bronze medalist in the women’s 400-meter hurdles from Lawrence North, fell over the first barrier and did not finish. Nuguse, of Notre Dame, was 11th in the men’s 1,500 meters after making the 2021 Olympic team. Michalski, a former Indiana University runner, tripped over a barrier midway through the steeplechase and faded to 13th.

Lynna Irby after two Olympic medals: 'Now my dreams are bigger. Now I want more.'

This will be the first time Irby, 23, a Pike High School graduate, will run the 400 meters at a senior outdoor championship. She won silver medals at under-18 worlds in 2015 and under-20 worlds in 2016.

It was arguably her most consequential outcome since winning the NCAA 400 as a Georgia freshman in 49.80 in 2018, also at Eugene. She was sixth at the Olympic Trials last year and won two relay medals at Tokyo. She won February’s U.S indoor title but was eliminated in the first round at indoor worlds.

“This is a really good confidence boost going into the next four weeks,” Irby said. “It feels like training is heading in the right direction, where maybe I may have had doubt before.”

She led through 350 meters and finished in 50.67. Three per event make Team USA, although all finalists in the 400 could be chosen for relays.

Irby’s coach, Lance Brauman, said in a text message:

“Went a little early but can’t fault her for trying to win it.”

Talitha Diggs, 19, the NCAA champion from Florida, overtook Irby to finish first in 50.22. Kendall Ellis was second in 50.35.

Allyson Felix, 36, an 11-time Olympic medalist in her final season, was sixth in 51.24.

At the World Championships, Irby might need to make the 400 final to be selected for final of the 1,600 relay, in which Sydney McLaughlin and Athing Mu almost certainly will be in the foursome.

Winger, a four-time Olympian from Purdue, won her ninth U.S. javelin title -- two less than the record 11 won by Dorothy Dodson (1939-49). Winger seized the lead in the fifth of sixth rounds and then threw 210 feet, 10 inches on her final attempt. That ranks No. 5 in the world this year.

Winger, 36, a native of Vancouver, Wash., extended her career by one year to compete at a World Championships her native Pacific Northwest.

“I love Hayward Field. I always wanted that magic throw, that magic moment on this track,” Winger said.

McLaughlin broke the world record in the 400 hurdles for the third time in 363 days. She clocked 51.41, breaking the mark of 51.46 she set in winning gold at Tokyo on Aug. 4, 2021.

World-leading times for this year were turned in by Keni Harrison, 12.34 in the women’s 100 hurdles, and Michael Norman, 43.46 in the men’s 400 meters.

Contact IndyStar reporter David Woods at david.woods@indystar.com. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidWoods007.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Irby, Winger make U.S. team for Word 2022 Championships