L.A. Track Festival is a hit 

Los Angeles, CA  (News 4 Us Online) – Alexis Holmes is an Olympic champion. She is a world champion. Holmes is considered one of the premier 400 runners on the global circuit. 

But the field in the women’s 400 at L.A. Track Festival featured a race that was stacked with elite runners. This was not a gimme race. Holmes, like the rest of the 400 field, had to bring her hard hat for this one. 

She did, finishing well enough to place third in the race with a time of 52 seconds. Holmes, repping Nike, finished behind first-place finisher Bailey Lear (51.41) and Shamier Little (51.53). 

Holmes would have liked to come across the tape before anyone else did, but nonetheless, she was satisfied with her overall performance.  

“Honestly, I just wanted to have a smooth race, just working on the different phases,” Holmes said. “Nothing too crazy. I think it was a great starting point.” 

In a preview for the upcoming US Track and Field meet in June at Drake Stadium, the LA Track Festival brimmed with star power as Olympic hopefuls hit the track in front of a capacity-filled stadium. Some athletes were pleasantly surprised by the turnout.  

“In the prelims, it was kind of dead,” said women’s 100-meter winner Tamari Davis. “I was like hopefully we’ll get a bigger crowd for the finals. It was amazing.” 

The level of competition was just as amazing. Davis, representing Adidas, got the nod over Kemba Nelson in the winner’s circle, despite both runners hitting the tape at 11.08. Just to show how close this race was, third-place finisher Jaciious Spears clocked in at 11.09. 

That’s the way it was throughout the meet. That should have been no surprise considering that even though 2026 is considered a somewhat off year, preparation for the rest of the outdoor season, including the U.S. and world championships, begins now for a lot of athletes. 

Former Oregon star Jaydn Mays, who competed at the U.S. Olympic Trials in 2024, said the L.A. Track Festival provided her with the opportunity to get her feet wet again on the track. 

“I had two rounds, and I think the prelims might have been a little bit better than the finals,” said Mays, who finished eighth in the women’s 100 with a time of 11.41. “It’s been a while since I’ve run. It’s been a little over a month since I’ve run an open race, so [I’m} kind of getting into a rhythm and the swing of things. I think today was good for me to have two rounds, so I can get some races under my belt again.”  

The 2028 Olympics is still two years off, but preparing for the Summer Games means prepping like it’s right around the corner. Put on by the organization Sound Running, LA Track Festival was in a lot of ways a success story with the huge crowd turnout. 

There seemed to be a buzz about the track’s atmosphere that appeared to be electric from the start of the first running event to the conclusion of the first half of the meet when the elite participants competed. 

Some of the top names participating in the meet included former USC standout Michael Norman, who won the men’s 400 with a time of 44.94. On the women’s side of the meet, Kendra Harrison outran the field in the women’s 100 hurdles, hitting the tape in a blistering 12.53 seconds. 

“I felt pretty good,” Harrison told News 4 Us Online. “I used to train on this track for the ;ast two years. It felt like old times. It’s a fast track, fast surface. I wasn’t used to such a fast mondo surface, so I kind of got a little banged up in there, but just happy to come out with a win.” 

Harrison barely crossed the finish line just ahead of runner-up Alaysha Johnson, who came in at the tape, clocking a 12.55 time. 

“I think I was a little asleep in the blocks, but that’s why I love being next to starters, because they wake me up,” Johnson said in a brief interview with News 4 Us Online. “Keni [Kendra Harrison] is an amazing hurdler. I’ve been going toe-to-toe with her my whole career. So, I feel like I closed well and I was very clean. It was a good race for me.”

One of the more exciting races of the day took place in the men’s 800, where Brandon Miller (Brooks Beasts Track Club) got the best of a very talented field. Hanging tight with the pace runner on the first lap, Miller kept pace and then outran everyone else to the finish line, clocking in with a winning time of 1:44.26. 

Miller had to fight for this victory as the number two, three and fourth-place finishers almost simultaneously hit the tape at the same time. There was very little wiggle between the top four runners. After Miller, Abe Alvarado took second place with a time of 1:44.59. Josh Kerr took third with a time of 1:44.60, and Jake Wightman ran 1:44.74, good enough for fourth place. 

Afterward, Miller talked about his strategy going into the race. 

“Just get on the pacer,” Miller said. “My coach kind of asked me what I wanted to do, and I said, look, let’s get on pace. I didn’t want to make it too complicated. I just wanted to come out here and run fast. I think coming down the home stretch there was a lot of wind, but we’ve been working on our strength a little bit. So, as we continue to get sharper, that close will continue to get faster.”  

Cover Art/Featured Image: Brandon Miller (center) wins the men’s 800 with a time of 1:44.26 at the L.A. Track Festival, which took place at UCLA’s Drake Stadium on May 23, 2026. Photo credit: Dylan Berkman / News 4 Us Online