From Canada's McCreath to U.S.'s Anthony, recent breakthroughs set up interesting track season for 2026

A search engine optimization textbook would tell me to start by discussing Noah Lyles, who finished third in last weekend’s U.S. Indoor Track & Field Nationals, and who remains the sport’s biggest name. He’s the first person casual fans Google, so every well-placed mention is a potential source of traffic for click-hungry sports sites.

We’ll get back to Lyles, who has taken to strutting around with a gold-plated championship belt, but he finished third and I prefer to focus first on winners from last weekend, like Jordan Anthony, who ran a 6.45-second race to win his first U.S. 60-metre title.

And like Ajax native Sade McCreath, who broke through and levelled up when she ran 7.12 to win a Canadian national title at 60 metres last Saturday. That result sheared more than a tenth of a second of her previous personal best, put her in the top 20 worldwide this season, and tied her with Angela Bailey as the second-fastest Canadian ever. Among Canucks, McCreath now trails only Philomena Mensah, who ran 7.02 in 1999 and again in 2000. 

Different nations, different stages — U.S. nationals aired live on NBC while the Canadian streamed online — but the same bottom line. Anthony and McCreath raised the ceiling and the standard, and their national championship breakthroughs helped set up plotlines that local track fans can follow from here, to World Indoor Championships (March 20-22), straight into the outdoor season.

Looking big picture, 2026 is an even number but an odd year for world-class track and field athletes. No Olympics or world championships to anchor the calendar. And likely no sophomore season Grand Slam Track, which purported to provide paydays to top-flight runners before an acute shortage of cash caused the league to