Sinclaire Johnson, winner of the women’a 1,500, said her previous performance at Hayward Field, at the Prefontaine Classic, prepared her for this win. Photo by Kevin Neri
Sinclaire Johnson entered the women’s 1,500-meter USATF final on Saturday focused on her comeback.
She had finished in 12th place — last — at the 2021 Olympic Trials last June.
“I feel like it’s kind of my MO. In college, I got dead last in the 1,500 and then came back and won the thing the next year,” she said. “So I don’t know if there was a little bit of foreshadowing about what was going to happen in my pro career.”
Despite being up against the three women who made the Olympic team last year, Johnson felt prepared to earn her place this time around. She looked relaxed as she soared to the lead in the final 100 meters of the race, winning in 4 minutes, 3.29 seconds. Cory McGee took silver in 4:04.52, and Elle St. Pierre, who holds the meet record from her win at the Olympic Trials last year, finished in 4:05.14.
All three women had previously achieved the world qualifying standard going into the competition, so they will return to Hayward Field to represent the United States at the World Athletics Championships in July.
Johnson’s win wasn’t completely unexpected. After a difficult 2021 season, she proved herself to be a formidable competitor when she beat St. Pierre in 3 minutes, 58.85 seconds at the Prefontaine Classic last month.
St. Pierre didn’t want to surrender again. After a slow opening lap, she blew through the field to take the lead at 400 meters. She controlled the pace for the next two laps with Karissa Schweizer, who competed in the 5,000 and 10,000 at the Tokyo Olympics, at her shoulder.
Johnson held on to third position throughout the race. And then, on the final backstretch, she decided it was time to challenge history.
“With 150 to go, I was like, this is my chance to swing to the front and hold on until the finish,” Johnson said. McGee had been shoulder-to-shoulder with Johnson on the curve but couldn’t keep up on the homestretch. St. Pierre had to battle Schweizer to finish in third.
The race brought mixed emotions. St. Pierre, who will now compete at the second World Outdoor Athletics Championships of her career, said the race started slower than she wanted.
“I knew it needed to go fast, so after the first lap, I tried to get it going,” she said. “It’s the 1,500. People have wheels. I’d rather it be a straight race than have it come down to the last 200.”
St. Pierre came close to repeating her disappointing indoor season, where she was outkicked in the semifinals and failed to make the 1,500 team for the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Serbia. She rallied the next day and made the 3,000-meter team instead.
McGee said she wasn’t surprised by the tactics of the race. She ran similarly at the Rome Diamond League race two weeks ago, where she finished fifth in about 4:05.
“Once you mix it up with the best in the world, traveling a lot and really seeking out good competition at the Diamond Leagues — I feel like it prepared me really well for today,” she said.
In May, McGee came ninth in the Prefontaine Classic and was the third-highest scoring American when she finished in 4:00.34.
MacLean, who finished in fifth, won’t return to an international stage with her former U.S. teammates.
“People were switching up the pace, which is usual for championship races. I turned on my brain too late, I think,” MacLean said. “I didn’t have enough in me for the last little bit. So that was a big mistake.”
Schweizer wasn’t too concerned by her fourth-place finish — she planned to turn down the spot if she made it into the top three. Her focus is set on the 5,000 and 10,000 after doubling in both events in Tokyo. Schweizer already qualified to compete in the 10,000 at worlds after winning the event at the Prefontaine Classic. On Sunday, she’ll return to the track for a spot in the 5,000-meter team.
She didn’t think that running the 1,500 on Saturday would negatively affect her 5,000 performance on Sunday.
“Obviously, it’s gonna affect me a little bit, but I think the gains that I got from it for the 10K moving forward are much greater in my opinion,” Schweizer said. “I think it really helps me work on my speed and my form for the end of a race because that’s what a world final will be like.”
Schweizer said she wasn’t completely sure if the rest of the field knew going into the race that she would forfeit her position if she made the 1,500 team. But she said that she was going to make it known after.
Because of the planned forfeit, St. Pierre could’ve lost to Schweizer and still made it to worlds. St. Pierre was still disappointed with the result.
“I would’ve been happier with a higher place,” St. Pierre said. “I did a lot of the work at the beginning of the race.”
Johnson said that competing with St. Pierre and McGee, both at the Prefontaine Classic and at the USATF final, pushed her to be better.
“Pre showed me that not only am I going to be able to compete with the best in the United States,” Johnson said, “but I am going to be able to compete with the best in the world.”
