Jadyn Mays Takes #3 Seed for 200m Final & Breaks Down First Pro Year | Post-Race Interview 2026 USATF
Former Oregon star Jadyn Mays clocked a season-best 22.85 into a strong headwind to secure the #3 seed for tomorrow's Women's 200m Final. In her first full year as a professional, Mays opens up about navigating the steep learning curve of pro track, battling back from a nagging hamstring issue to ~87.5% health, and having her family in the stands for her big race.
Video Transcript
You're not used to.
Yeah, pretty much.
Now, season's best today.
What does that do for your confidence going into next tomorrow outlet?
It does a lot for my confidence, you know, it just lets me know that things are trending in the right direction.
Excited to come back tomorrow and just kind of leave it all out on track, tomorrow.
Today was more so the, okay, we know what we have to do to qualify, but let's just be smart and save our legs.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Like, you previously said, obviously season's best into a strong headwind.
Not the most ideal conditions- Yeah.
But obviously things are going great in training.
Yeah.
Can you talk about that a little bit?
Yeah, so obviously most people know that I wasn't at Oregon last year, so this is my first year as a full pro.
I've left Oregon, I've been with a new coach, new training, everything.
So this year's definitely been a learning curve and just, you know, for me and my coach, like just figuring out what works, you know, listening to each other, all the things and just, you know, trusting him at the end of the day instead of just being like, "Oh, things aren't going right, like, something must be wrong with training."
Like, you know, you turn pro and it's, it's a whole new ballgame.
It's a whole new world.
It's, everything is on you.
You're independent.
You don't have your team traveling with you everywhere.
So it's all, you know, it's all new, but it's been fun.
It's been, you know, just like I said, like a learning curve.
So I'm excited that I was able to see a season's best on the clocks.
Yeah.
And where are you training now?
Arizona, actually where I'm from, so.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So it's probably nice to be home.
Yeah.
No, for sure.
My family's in the stands too.
My mom's actually originally from New York, so her side of the family is in the stands.
My dad, brother, sister, they're all here too, so yeah.
What do you have left on the rest of the Like, what's your next meet after this?
So middle of August, I believe, I'll be doing a little Europe circuit somewhere out there.
You know, just hitting a couple more places and, you know, just kind of getting that pro life used to that all, 'cause I haven't raced out the country except for at World Relays.
So, but, you know, it's time to do some individual stuff, out the country 'cause that's what, pro track do it all is.
So yeah.
How is, like just overall, like what has been the biggest adjustment to for being pro?
Honestly, the independence.
That's probably the main thing.
Like I said, like sometimes the coach can come with you, sometimes he can't.
In college, that's not the case.
Your coach is always with you and even if he's not, you have your teammates, and not me and my train partners, we don't all run at the same races or same meets.
So it's kind of like, yeah, I would say the independence and just getting used to that and not being afraid of it and just kind of going after things.
And even if, you know, everything doesn't feel 100%, like I was also dealing with a little hamstring issue for a while now, so even just running through things when things aren't 100% and just like I said, being just grateful and blessed and trusting God, and having your faith in everything that you're going to do and knowing that you're still gonna come out on top.
Fully healthy now.
Yeah.
All right.
We're better in that, in that 87 and a half range, I would say.
So definitely better than the start of this year.
The start of this year was, we were on the lower half.
But we're in, we're in that B, high B range, I would say.
Okay.
All right.
So yeah.
Glad you're doing better.
Thank you.
I appreciate it.
Thank you.
Yeah.
Congrats.
Thank you.
