Too hot: Track trials come to a halt as temperatures soar

EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — The U.S. track and field trials came to a halt Sunday afternoon with temperatures reaching 108 degrees (42 Celsius). One athlete, heptathlete Taliyah Brooks, was carted off the field in a wheelchair and eventually had to withdraw from the competition.

Fans were filing into the stadium for the headline races of the final day of Olympic qualifying when, at around 3 p.m., the track announcer came onto the PA system and said action was being suspended due to extreme heat. He asked all spectators to evacuate.

A USA Track and Field official told NBC that temperatures on the surface of the track exceeded 150 degrees (65 C).

Brooks had been in fourth place after five of the seven heptathlon events. She was taken out on a wheelchair during warmups for the sixth event, the javelin. She was listed as a “DNS" — did not start — but hours later, USA Track and Field said she had been granted a request to re-enter the javelin competition. But when the time came for the throws, she did not appear, and USATF said she had withdrawn from the meet.

The meet resumed in the evening, with the temperature reading 99 degrees. Among those waiting deep into the night to try to to secure spots in the Olympics were Noah Lyles in the men’s 200, and Dalilah Muhammad and Sydney McLaughlin, who were set to face off in the women’s 400 hurdles.

Earlier, JuVaughn Harrison won the high jump, contested under cloudless conditions in 105-degree temperatures. Harrison was also entered in the long jump, which kicked off the evening's action.

A record heat wave settled in over the Pacific Northwest for the second day, with the temperature in Portland, two hours north on Interstate 5, reaching an all-time record of 110 (43 Celsius).

With the humidity, Eugene felt like 113 in mid-afternoon. Third-place high jump finisher Shelby McEwen called the heat "mind blowing.”

“It’s crazy. I wasn’t expecting it to be this humid,” he said. “We just had to be mentally locked in, mentally prep ourselves for it, stay hydrated and go out and get the job done.”

The men's 5,000 took place at 10 a.m. in a nod to the forecast, which since early last week had predicted triple-digits over the weekend. In temperatures reaching 90 degrees on the track, Paul Chelimo fended off a pair of runners for a 0.19-second victory.

“Honestly," Chelimo said, “I wanted it a bit hotter.”