The Latest: Action suspended at track due to extreme heat

EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — The Latest on U.S. track and field Olympic trials (all times local):

3:40 p.m.

Action at U.S. track and field trials was suspended and fans were evacuated from Hayward Field on Sunday afternoon as the temperature reached 108 degrees (42 Celsius) on the track.

The final day of the trials was scheduled to resume at 8:30 p.m. with the men’s long jump, and racing was to resume at 9 p.m. with the women’s 400-meter hurdles and men’s 200 highlighting the program.

The forecast high for was 111 degrees, but the only schedule change USA Track and Field made previous to Sunday was to move three of the weekend’s distance races out of their afternoon time slots to the morning.

With the stadium filling for racing that was scheduled to begin at 4 p.m., the announcer came onto the sound system and said action was being suspended “because of extreme heat.”

The heptathletes had already been in action, and had one event remaining — the 800. The men’s high jump had been completed, with JuVaughn Harrison getting a victory. He was scheduled to compete in the long jump as well.

Earlier in the day, with the temperature approaching 90, Paul Chelimo won the men’s 5,000.

___

3 p.m.

JuVaughn Harrison, who is competing in both the high jump and long jump at the Olympic track and field trials, won the high jump Sunday to secure a spot on the team for Tokyo.

Harrison, who was a senior at LSU this past season, cleared 7 feet, 7 3/4 inches. The long jump was scheduled for later Sunday at Oregon’s Hayward Field.

Also making the Olympic team was runner-up Darryl Sullivan and third-place finisher Shelby McEwen. Just four of the athletes taking part in the event had the Olympic standard.

Harrison was coming off the NCAA track and field championships two weeks ago in Eugene, where he won both the high jump and long jump. Sullivan also competed at the NCAA meet for Tennessee.

___

Noon

Paul Chelimo held off a pair of rivals in a riveting sprint to the finish of a rough-and-tumble 5,000-meter race at U.S. Olympic track trials.

Down the homestretch, Chelimo drifted from the inside into Lane 4 to box out Grant Fisher and Woody Kincaid, who are teammates for the Bowerman Track Club and had already qualified in the 10K.

Chelimo won Sunday’s race in 13 minutes, 26.82 seconds — only .19 ahead of Fisher and .31 in front of Kincaid. After the finish, Chelimo reached back and hugged both by the neck.

The 2016 Olympic silver medalist in the 5,000 said he had no problem using the unorthodox tactic of drifting to the middle at the end, especially considering the way the race went.

Running at or near the front throughout most of the race, he was clipped several times over the 12 1/2 trips around the track in temperatures that approached 90 degrees (32 Celsius).

“It was one of my goals, drift them all the way to the stands,” Chelimo said. “Yes, it’s fair. I didn’t touch anyone’s hands, didn’t impede anyone. When I got clipped like 10 times, is that fair?”

The 5,000 had originally been scheduled for the afternoon, but organizers moved it to a morning start due to the extreme heat. The forecast high Sunday in Eugene is 109 (43 C).

In action on the final afternoon of trials are Noah Lyles, who will try to qualify for the 200 meters, and Sydney McLaughlin and Dalilah Muhammad, who will square off in the 400-meter hurdles.

___

More AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/Olympics and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports