Akins surges to 800m victory at USATF nationals
Nia Akins picked it up ahead of the final turn and rallied from behind over the final stretch to win the women's 800m in a season's-best time of 1:59.25 at the USATF Outdoor National Championships.
Video Transcript
National championships on the line, Lake County, Florida, women's 800 meters.
Sonya Richards-Ross is gonna join us for this one as well, and let's take a look in lane three, Juliet Whitaker.
She's had a lot of success, especially while competing for Stanford.
She's an NCAA champ, indoor and outdoor.
In 2024, she made her Olympic debut after finishing third at the Olympic trials, and she was the only American to make the finals, where she finished seventh.
I like how she looked in the semi, really comfortable.
I think she's gonna show out, have a great showing here.
Couple of lanes to her right is the 21-year-old Rosheen Willis.
Yeah, speaking of Stanford NCAA champions, she's a 2025 NCAA champion.
She also happens to be the defending champion nationally in this event.
Personal best, 1:57.5 this year.
And right alongside her, somebody who's been very busy this weekend- especially yesterday in the 1500.
Yeah.
This is Addee Wiley.
She's having an incredible season.
She won her first national indoor title, went on to win a bronze at the World Indoor Championships in Poland.
She was third at the Prefontaine Classic, and she's looking to complete that sweep, indoor and outdoor titles.
And Wiley actually has the fastest personal best in the entire field with 1:56.8.
Oh, and b- by the way, let's not forget the two-time national champion in lane seven, Nia Akins.
Yep.
1:57.3 to win the Olympic trials two summers ago.
Made her Olympic debut in Paris.
So Rosheen Wallace, Willis, pardon me, on, on screen, she was saying that she's been really looking forward to this, tapering well, so excited.
This is the moment to defend her title.
Let's go.
Lake County, Florida women's 800-meter national final.
I'm expecting a very competitive, very close finish here.
And for the first time since we've been here, the flags are completely still, so this presents a great opportunity for these women.
It's an extremely competitive field.
This is the time for them to really do something special.
And remember, Leigh, brand-new track.
Yes.
We got a chance to, to get on it today.
It's bouncy and nice, so So Rosheen Will- Willis goes to the front straightaway ahead of Mikayla Paige, and then Megan Hunter.
Paige and Hunter had excellent semifinals to get to this point in time, and they are ahead just of Juliet Whitaker, who announced on Friday joining the Brooks Beast program.
So that was 27 seconds through the first 200.
Good pace for these women, but you can still see that they're pretty bunched, so everybody's still right there.
This is not outside of anyone's range.
And Rosheen Willis, now Addee Wiley coming up, making a move.
Yeah, Addee Wiley making sure that she puts herself right on the leader's hips as we get through the first lap.
By the way, Ato, she was pleased with her run yesterday in the 1500, Addee, but she was annoyed that she got second.
It was a spectacular finish, Nikki Hiltz winning another national title, but Addee said, "When you run that well and you finish second, it's not pleasing."
Well, she's gonna get a chance to make up for it here.
Willis continues the lead.
And this is the critical phase here of the 800, the third 200, where coaches always say you gotta put yourself in position to win.
Now, there's 200 meters to go, and there goes Addee Wiley.
Sullivan trying to make a move on the outside.
She's now in fourth, but now you see some injection of pace.
Megan Hunter rounds up Rosheen Willis.
Look at this.
And here comes Nia Akins, the two-time national champ.
She wants a shot at the third.
Addee, Addee Wiley is hanging on, but Nia Akins has the edge.
Nia Akins is gonna win her third 800 national title.
One, for Nia Akins!
Right around the outside, and took it to the line.
That was a brilliantly measured race by the Olympic trials winner two years ago, Nia Akins.
It requires so much patience sometimes.
"Oh, everybody's starting their kick early.
I wanna go."
Nope, wait until you know you are ready to have that kick all the way to the finish line.
Look at where Nia Akins is here.
That's 200 meters to go.
She's in, what, seventh?
Yeah.
But she is starting to move up and find the space to attack the leader.
Yes.
Nia, she's seemingly boxed in at that point, but like you say, you've gotta have patience.
She relocated.
She's now training with Derrick Thompson.
She's there, and boy, has it paid off so much for her.
She trained with RJ Wilson, and she just had the perfectly timed kick to be able to pass Addee Wiley, who I think also set her race up really, really well.
A third title for her, well earned.
1:59 there, awesome running.
High-quality field, high-quality race.
Five women break two minutes in this national 800 final.
When you highlighted where she was at the 200 mark, she was on the rail.
Yeah.
Yes.
She had to find space- Yes go around the outside, and then come down, which even puts an exclamation mark on that.
Hey, Lewis, you said if she won this national title she might get a guitar and, and, and play a song or something.
You gotta hold her to that.
And I've already asked her, "Where's the guitar?"
And she said, "It's not here" But you know what?
You get a pass.
I'm sorry.
Because you had an unbelievable close.
Go back to 200 to go, on the rail, somewhere back in seventh, as my colleague said.
How did you navigate the rest of this race?
I was just trying to be patient, as patient as I could, and just hope, trust, and pray that a door would open up, and I'm very blessed to, to have that happen.
Yeah.
But you have some skills there, because this is not your first national championship.
I believe it's third, your Olympic debut in Paris.
So what is it about those moments, these moments, where you find what you need to win?
I think over time, like, I don't know if sanctification is real.
Like, I just think the closer I grow in my faith and closer to Jesus, like, the less this feels like a lot of pressure.
Yeah.
So it's almost like the opposite of what it should be.
And I'm just really grateful to be out here and to have another one.
It's a blessing I don't deserve, truly.
So yeah.
You earned it.
Congratulations.
Thank you
