Preview of Sundays 2021 adidas Boost Boston Games Preview: Noah Lyles, Grant Holloway, and Wayde van Niekerk Hit the Streets
By Jonathan Gault
May 22, 2021
Sunday is going to be a big day for track & field fans. First, at 2:00 p.m. ET, the Diamond League opens its 2021 season in Gateshead, England (LRC preview here). Right after that meet concludes, the World Athletics Continental Tour Gold will make its final US stop at the adidas Boost Boston Games, which will be shown live on NBC from 4:30-6:00 p.m. ET.
This is the fifth edition of the adidas meet, so you’re probably familiar with how it works by now: the fields are very adidas-heavy…but adidas also sponsors a bunch of top pros, so there is always a lot of talent. This year, Noah Lyles, Grant Holloway, Wayde van Niekerk, Shaunae Miller-Uibo, Ajee’ Wilson, and Bryce Hoppel are among the global stars who will take to the streets and the temporary track erected at the Boston Marathon finish line on Boylston Street (yes, it’s still a street meet, even though no spectators are permitted).
Here are the storylines worth watching.
What: 2021 adidas Boost Boston Games
Where: Boston, Massachusetts
When: Sunday, May 23
How to watch: Morning events will be streamed live on USATF.TV from 10-11 a.m. ET. The main program will be shown live on NBC from 4:30 to 6:00 p.m. ET on Sunday. For international TV/streaming details, see below.
Schedule/results *Start lists *TV/streaming information
1) Wayde van Niekerk comes to America
van Niekerk will get to defend his Olympic title in Tokyo
This was supposed to be an epic showdown between the last two world champions at 400 meters, but Steven Gardiner withdrew from the meet after falling down and DNFing at the end of the 400 at the USATF Open earlier this week in Fort Worth.
That leaves just van Niekerk, for whom this will be his first race since relocating stateside to train with coach Lance Brauman‘s Pure Athletics team in Florida (Lyles, Miller-Uibo) two weeks ago. He looked good competing in South Africa earlier this year (20.38, plus a 20.10 with a +2.1 wind).
2) Grant Holloway tries to stay perfect in 2021
Three months ago, Grant Holloway ran a world record of 7.29 for the 60-meter hurdles in Madrid to cap an undefeated indoor season: 10 races, 10 wins (including prelims). But Holloway’s bigger goal this year is Olympic hurdle gold in Tokyo. That race will be run at 110 meters, and so far the transition from indoors to outdoors has gone seamlessly, with Holloway going a perfect six-for-six (including prelims) over the longer distance.
In his three finals this year outdoors, Holloway has looked spectacular, running 13.04 (+2.2 wind), 13.07, and 13.22 (-2.0 wind). Expect him to put on a show again on Sunday.
3) Can Noah Lyles make progress?
Lyles after winning in Boston in 2019
Noah Lyles has run 10.08 and 10.17 in his two 100m races this year. Not overly impressive for a man who will be chasing gold in Tokyo this summer. But context is key. Lyles said he was pleased with his results, given the weather and his training load, and running 10.08 and 10.17 in April isn’t an issue if your goal is to peak on August 1. Lyles looked more like his old self in his last race, running 19.90 to win the 100 at Mt. SAC on May 9, and he’ll try to take another step forward in the 100 this weekend.
Can Lyles dip under 10.00 for the first time in 2021? His top competition figures to be Isiah Young, who ran 9.99 his last time out to take second behind Cravon Gillespie at Mt. SAC.
4) Watch out for high school sensation Jaylen Slade
17-year-old Jaylen Slade, who made headlines with his remarkable 10.03/20.20 sprint double earlier this month in Clermont, will be racing in the HS Dream 100 here. Slade’s 10.03 in Clermont was wind-aided (+2.7), meaning his wind-legal pb remains just 10.51. Look for him to slice a chunk off of that if the wind cooperates on Sunday.
Side note: shouldn’t Slade be running in the pro 100 against Lyles? That would be more exciting than seeing him dominate a bunch of high schoolers.
5) Wilson, Hoppel highlight morning action
While the sprint action will be shown live on NBC, there are a number of middle-distance events on Sunday morning that fall outside of the TV window (you can watch them live on USATF.TV from 10-11 a.m. ET). These include a pair of showdowns at 600 — Ajee’ Wilson vs. Natoya Goule and Bryce Hoppel vs. Michael Saruni — and a mile that pits World Championship bronze medalist Marcin Lewandowski of Poland against American Olympic bronze medalist Clayton Murphy. Hoppel got the better of Saruni when they raced over 800 at Mt. SAC two weeks ago, but it should be a closer race at 600 as Saruni’s 400 pb of 45.42 is much faster than Hoppel’s 47.68.
6) Zero Fans
(This point is written by LetsRun.com co-founder Robert Johnson).
With Covid-19, things are all over the map in the US in terms of attendance restrictions. Some states don’t restrict anything where other states restrict a lot. And it’s constantly changing. In one week, Massachusetts has said the Boston Red Sox (baseball outdoors) and Boston Bruins (hockey indoors) will be able to host games with 100% attendance – currently, they are allowed to do so at 25% capacity.
Yet this meet will have zero fans – which kind of defeats the purpose of a street meet. But I get it. The fans bring in zero in revenue as there are no tickets and screening people likely would have been a major logistical problem. It shows how important the made for tv product is.
We’ve heard nothing about attendance for the US Olympic Trials. And this is the perfect example of why. Things are changing rapidly. Just last week, US Gymnastics moved the site of their Olympic Trials from the indoor hockey stadium in St. Louis to the larger indoor football stadium as they want to have a decent number of fans but the capacity limit there is only 30%.
Currently, in Lane County, the home of Eugene, attendance is capped at a max of 100 due to the country being in the “high risk” category. However, 62% of the population has received a first vaccine dose. If that rises to 65% (and it could within a week), then they could be allowed to have 50% capacity.
At that point, the US Olympic Track and Field Trials organizers should say, “We’re hoping to be 100% but are going to sell tickets at 50% now.”