Kara Goucher claims victory

Kara Goucher has won the 5000 metres at the USA Track & Field National Championships in Eugene, Oregon.

Three-time New York City marathon winner Salazar had scored a 10,000 metres double on the first night of the nationals at Hayward Field, which are also doubling as the Team USA trials for this August's IAAF World Championships in Berlin.

Both Amy Begley and Galen Rupp had won their races on Thursday and Goucher, third in New York on her marathon debut behind Paula Radcliffe last November, made it a third win for the Oregon-based training group when she took the 5000m from Jen Rhines.

Goucher put in a 65-second last 400m to win in 15 minutes 20.94 seconds with Rhines second in 15:26.92 and Angela Bizzari third in 15:33.02.

The local fans were also celebrating after the men's 5000m final where the Oregon Track Club scored a sweep led by Matt Tegenkamp, who ran 53.47 for his last lap to clock 13:20.57 and beat training partners Chris Solinsky (13:20.82) and Evan Jager (13:22.18). Student German Fernandez clocked 13:25.46 for fifth place for a new American junior record.

In the men's 100m, reigning world champion Tyson Gay kept to his word that he would run only in the first round by skipping the semi-finals and preferring to return to training after running a wind-aided 9.75 seconds on Thursday in the heats.

Gay, also the 200m world title-holder, receives a bye into the championships from the IAAF as a defending champion and he will be joined in Berlin by Michael Rodgers, Darvis 'Doc' Patton and Monzavous 'Rae' Edwards.

Rodgers, the official world leader in 2009 with a 9.94 at Hayward Field earlier this month in the Prefontaine Classic, won the men's final in a wind assisted 9.91 with 2008 Olympic finalist Patton second in 9.92 and Edwards third in 10.00, relegating Travis Padgett (10.02) to fourth for the second USA team trial in a row.

Padgett had been edged out on the same track by Patton 12 months ago, failing to make the team for Beijing despite running 9.85.

Walter Dix had placed second in that race behind Gay and he went on to win bronze in Beijing behind Jamaica's Usain Bolt but this time around pre-meet favourite Dix failed to get out of the semi-finals after tweaking a hamstring and finishing fifth in his heat in 10.32.

The women's 100m also saw early casualties as world 200m champion Allyson Felix and Torri Edwards, the 2003 world 100m champion, were among those failing to reach the final.

Felix had been running the 100m to work on her speed and ran 11.17 in her semi-final for fifth place, missing out on the final by one place and 4/100ths of a second.

America's fastest woman this year Carmelita Jeter confirmed her superiority as she held off Muna Lee and a leg cramp 70m in to take the final in a wind-aided 10.78, just 1/1000th of a second ahead of the Olympic finalist with Lauryn Williams third in 10.96.

With Olympic champion Bryan Clay missing through injury, Trey Hardee claimed the national decathlon title with 8621 points from the University of Oregon's national collegiate champion Ashton Eaton making his first international team in second place with 8075 points.

The discus went to two-time Olympian Casey Malone with a fourth-round throw of 64.99m (213 feet 3 inches), Jared Rome (63.48m, 208-03) and Ian Waltz (61.91m, 203-01), filling out the podium places.

Angelo Taylor, Kerron Clement and Bershawn Jackson swept the Olympic medals over 400m hurdles in Beijing last August and hopes of a repeat in Berlin stayed alive as the heats got under way.

With a world champion's bye assuring him of his place, Clement opted to run only the 400m flat but Olympic champion Taylor and bronze medallist Jackson won their first-round heats in 50.79 and 50.57 respectively.

Clement proved the fastest qualifier into the 400m flat final as he won his semi-final in 45.08, with Olympic champion LaShawn Merritt taking the other semi in 45.45.

The USA swept the event in Beijing with Merritt staging an upset to beat 2004 Olympic champion Jeremy Wariner with David Neville in third.

Reigning world champion Wariner took advantage of his bye to concentrate on speed work in the 200m later this weekend but Neville qualified for the final in 46.18.