Weariness couldn't prevent Marion Jones from becoming the first athlete in 50 years to win the women's 100 and 200 meters and long jump at the USA Track and Field Championships.
The 22-year-old Jones, who has become the world's most celebrated female athlete in the sport in just one year, completed the rare sweep Sunday by winning the 200 in 22.24 seconds while running into a headwind.The time was the second-fastest of the year and only Jones has run faster.
"I was exhausted," Jones said, after her tiring weekend that included three races in the 100 and two in the 200 in hot and humid conditions. Temperatures were consistently in the mid-to-high 90s - including 98 degrees Sunday - the heat index was over 100 and the temperature on the field Sunday was 114 degrees.
"I'm happy and relieved to come out in this heat and win all three events. I didn't feel any pressure," she said.
"But it's the most difficult thing I've done. The 100 and long jump took a lot out of me."
Jones began her assault on the rare triple Saturday by winning the 100 and long jump.
Her time in the 100 was 10.72, again only she has run run faster this year.
Her winning effort in the long jump was a wind-aided 23 feet, 8 inches and only she has jumped farther in 1998.
In the 200, she bolted quickly out of the blocks, took the lead early and kept increasing the margin until 15 meters remained, when she eased up.
The mercurial Jones burst onto the world scene only a year ago at these championships at Indianapolis by winning the 100 in 10.97 and the long jump at 22-9, beating the great Jackie Joyner-Kersee.
That was a forerunner to her performance at the World Championships at Athens, Greece, where she was the only woman to win two gold medals - in the 100 and 400 relay. She was then voted the outstanding women's track and field athlete of 1997.
Stella Walsh was the only athlete to sweep the women's 100, 200 and long jump at the national championships, accomplishing it four times, the first in 1930, the last in 1948.
Carl Lewis won all three men's events in the USA Championships at Indianapolis in 1983.
The imperturbable Jones made her first strong track and field impression as a 16-year-old high school junior, when she qualified for the 1992 Olympic relay team as an alternate by placing fifth in the 100 and fourth in the 200 at the trials in New Orleans.
She passed taking a spot on the team, feeling she was too young and inexperienced.
Then, she went to North Carolina and led the Tar Heels to the NCAA basketball title as a freshman. She was a starting point guard on three Atlantic Coast Conference championship teams. After watching the 1996 Olympics on television while recuperating from a broken foot, Jones decided to return to track and field.
The decision is paying off athletically and financially.
As she keeps winning, her appearance fee keeps going up, and she is getting far more money for competing in track and field than had she played professional basketball.
Jones' remarkable feat overshadowed four world-leading performances at the championships Sunday.
The most startling was Bryan Bronson's 47.03 clocking in the 400 hurdles. Bronson's time was the third fastest ever and the fastest on American soil, behind only Kevin Young's world record 46.78 at the 1992 Olympics and Edwin Moses' 47.02 at Koblenz, Germany, in 1983.
"If the world record doesn't come this year, I've still had a great year," said Bronson, 25, the 1997 world championship bronze medalist. "I'm getting better technically and my speed is the best it's ever been.
"I knew I was ready, but I didn't think I would run that fast. As I was coming down the stretch, I was watching the clock. I saw 46 and I hammered it."
Reggie Torian, the 1997 NCAA 110 hurdles champion from Wisconsin, ran the fastest race of his career in winning in a world-leading 13.03. He edged Mark Crear, the runner-up in 13.06, the second fastest time this year.
Kim Batten won her fifth straight title and sixth overall in the women's 400 hurdles, clocking a world-leading 53.61.
"I wanted to stay relaxed early and come home fast," Batten said, after misstepping late. "I didn't do as well technically later as I wanted."
NCAA Division II champion Jerome Young of St. Augustine's won the men's 400 in 44.09, the fastest of his career and the fastest of 1998.
The Clark family dominated the women's 800, as Jearl Miles-Clark won in 1:58.78, the fastest by an American this year, her sister-in-law Joetta Clark was second at 1:59.01 and Joetta's younger sister, Hazel, finished fourth at 2:00.23.