The women’s 1500 meters competition at the U.S. Olympic Trials was always going to be a cutthroat matchup due to the sheer depth of the field. But with four Olympians competing alongside several national champions and an American record holders in the final on Sunday in Eugene, Oregon, it turned into a more thrilling battle than anyone could have imagined—and put the rest of the world on notice.

It was Nikki Hiltz, the reigning U.S. 1500-meter champion and U.S. mile record holder, who took home the win with a fierce closing kick. But Hiltz (who identifies as transgender and nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns) didn’t even look at the clock while they were on the track after the race.

“I knew we were running fast, but if someone would’ve told me this morning that 3:56 doesn’t make the team, I don’t want to know that,” they said after the race.

That’s right: It took running sub-3:56 to make Team USA for the Paris Olympics—considerably faster than the Olympic standard of 4:02:50, which nine of the 12 runners had already hit ahead of the final.

The race was so fast, the top eight finishers ran personal bests. But Hiltz found another gear to power past Olympic Trials record holder Elle St. Pierre and Emily Mackay, who was third in the 1500 at the 2023 U.S. indoor championships, in the last 100 meters. Their finish time set a new meet record of 3:55.33—nearly a three-second improvement on the record St. Pierre set back in 2021—and earned a spot on their first Olympic team.

Hiltz’s time is the second-fastest in U.S. history, trailing only Shelby Houlihan’s 3:54.99 American record from 2019.

“My instructions before the race were ‘don’t try to make an Olympic team, try to win a race,’” said Hiltz, who has won four straight U.S. 1500-meter titles, two indoors, two outdoors. “And so that’s what I did.”

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A Deep and Fast Field

But Hiltz was well aware of who they were competing against. “This is a deep 1500 final. A rising tide lifts all boats and this field has risen to an epic level!” Hiltz posted on X the night before the race, and their take was correct: “I knew I was going to have to PR to make this team but 3:55, I haven’t wrapped my head around that,” Hiltz said.

St. Pierre, who represented the U.S. in the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 in the 1500 meters and has already earned a trip to Paris by winning the 5,000 meters, took charge of the race from the start.

“I knew the field was really deep, and I just wanted to make it honest,” she said afterwards. “That worked for me in 2021, and I knew that I would do the best if I made it fast.”

She comfortably held on to that lead until the bell lap—an impressive feat, considering she already had two 5,000-meter races and two other rounds of the 1500 over the previous eight days—but it’s a testament to the depth of the field that the majority of the group stayed right with her.

“It was a bit surprising, I will say,” St. Pierre said. “It was a crazy last lap. There were so many people around, I was just trying to get to the line as fast as I could, you give every ounce of energy you have.”

In the final lap, Hiltz, Mackay, and Heather MacLean, a 2020 Olympian, challenged St. Pierre—and it was likely St. Pierre’s pace-pushing that lit that fire under the entire pack. Mackay, MacLean, and St. Pierre train together with the New Balance/Boston group coached by Mark Coogan. They each had their own race plan, but they were transparent with each other about how they planned to run the race.

“I knew that Elle was going to make it a fast race, and I knew that that was going to benefit me—I didn’t know it was going to be quite that fast, but I think it’s a good thing,” said Mackay, who clocked a 3:55.90 to edge out St. Pierre for second place by just .09. “I thought I could run 3:57 and I was hoping to run 3:56 by the end of the season, so I definitely surprised myself. I think a lot of people surprised themselves today.”

Hiltz agreed: “I thought I was in maybe like 3:57 shape,” they said. “Elle just pulled us all to an incredible time. A month ago, I was in 3:59 shape; where I’ll be in a month, I don’t know. I don’t want to put limits on that.”

St. Pierre may have also been surprised, but she’s not disappointed with her third-place finish. “I’m just really thankful and I’m really proud of myself; that took a lot of confidence and a lot of work,” she said. “It’s amazing that the 1500 has come this far. “I ran a 3:58 in a meet record in the last Olympic Trials, and if you ran 3:56 this time you didn’t make the team—that’s crazy.”

St. Pierre is almost certainly faster when she isn’t running on tired legs, and will likely be a serious medal contender in Paris.

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Fighting for Three Spots

In a race that defies expectations like this, there are, of course, bound to be disappointments.

“I really wanted to go to Paris, so I honestly don’t really know what I’m feeling right now besides sadness,” said 2022 national champion Sinclaire Johnson, who came in fourth with a personal best of 3:56.75. “I really feel like I put myself in the best possible situation coming in but the nature of the matter is, three women were better than me today.”

In addition to the top three, Johnson, 2020 Tokyo Olympians Cory McGee (3:57.44) and Elise Cranny (3:57.87) and Heather Maclean (3:58.31), as well as Helen Schlachtenhaufen (3:59.71), all ran under 4:00. This single race produced the second, third, fourth, sixth, and tenth fastest times in U.S. history.

“I just think people are kind of feeding off each other: You see somebody else do something and you’re like, ‘Oh, that’s not unbelievable,’” St. Pierre said.

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And it wasn’t just the veterans who showed up to fight for those three podium spots that resulted in Olympic berths. Twenty-year-old Addy Wiley, who broke the 1500-meter collegiate record with a time of 3:59.17 last summer and signed a pro deal with Adidas just six months ahead of the Olympic Trials, held her own with a 4:06.59 (11th place). And 21-year-old Maggi Congdon, a Northern Arizona University junior, lowered her personal best by five seconds, to 4:02:79, in the semifinals, making her the only NCAA athlete in the final. While the two younger athletes did not crack the top 10, they’re a sure sign that the next generation is ready to make their mark on the sport.

On a whole, this race sends a strong message to the rest of the world. The preliminary races of the women’s 1500 meters begin on August 6, and the final will be held August 10.

“This event is just growing and growing, and I literally can’t believe it,” said Hiltz, who won the silver medal in the 1500 at the 2024 World Indoor Championships in March. “I think we just completely elevated U.S. distance running today,” added Mackay. “It’s just amazing.”

RESULTS: U.S. Olympic Trials Live Results