EUGENE – Opening day of the World Championships in Athletics at Hayward Field on Friday involves qualifying rounds in three events for a crew of Razorbacks.

The women’s pole vault features Arkansas alumni Sandi Morris (USA) and Tina Šutej (Slovenia) competing in separate groups. Former Arkansas LaQuan Nairn (Bahamas) and current Razorback Wayne Pinnock (Jamaica) are in separate long jump groups. Arkansas volunteer assistant Ryan Crouser (USA) competes in the shot put.

Šutej jumps in Group A with Tokyo Olympic champion Katie Nageotte, while Morris jumps in Group B. The automatic qualifying score for the final is 15-3 (4.65) or the best 12 scores among the 30 jumpers.

The progression for the pole vault qualifying round starts at 13-9.25 (4.20) and continues through heights of 14-3.25 (4.35), 14-9 (4.50), 15-1 (4.60) and 15 -3 (4.65 ). The final will take place on Sunday at 5:27 p.m. (PT).

Athletics News predicts a victory for Morris in the pole vault and bronze for Šutej with Katerina Stefanidi of Greece set for silver over Nageotte. Stefandidi, who competed at Stanford as a middle schooler, won the world title in 2017 and was a bronze medalist in 2019.

Morris has won silver medals at the last two outdoor world championships and tied the top mark for the runners-up spot in 2019 with a jump of 16-0.75 (4.90). Šutej finished fifth at the Tokyo Olympics and was a bronze medalist at the 2022 World Indoor Championships, won by Morris.

Pinnock, who won the Jamaican league title with a career-best 26-8.5 (8.14) after winning the NCAA Indoor and Outdoor titles in the 2022 season, jumps to Group A while Nairn , who set a career-best 26-11.75 (8.22) this season, is in Pool B.

They will be looking for a score of 26-7.75 (8.12) to automatically qualify for the final or have a top 12 score of the 32 jumpers competing. The final will take place on Saturday starting at 6:20 p.m. (PT).

Crouser, the world shot put record holder, throws in Pool A among a field of 15 throwers, including New Zealand’s Tom Walsh. The target is 69-6.75 (21.20) for automatic qualification to the final or at least to be in the top 12 to qualify.

The T&F News The form chart predicts that Crouser will get his first world title after winning gold in the last two Olympics with American Joe Kovacs for silver and Walsh for bronze.

In 2019, at the Worlds held in Doha, the top three orders were Kovacs, Crouser and Walsh as they were only a centimeter apart. The trio produced the three best marks of all time in a World Championship final with 75-2 (22.91) for Kovacs followed by 75-1.75 (22.90) for Crouser and Walsh.

A victory for Crouser would make him the second shot putter after American Adam Nelson to win gold at the Olympics and Worlds. The final will take place on Sunday at 6:27 p.m. (PT).

Athletics World Championships | NBC Coverage (CT)

friday july 15

• Afternoon session: 10:55 a.m. to 6:50 p.m. Peacock (World Feed)
  • Main events: men’s 100m preliminary round, 4 x 400m mixed heats, 20km walk
• evening session: 7 p.m. – 10 p.m. on USA Network, NBCSports.comNBC Sports app and streaming on Peacock (World Feed)