2014 USA Indoor Track and Field Championships

2014 USA Indoor Track and Field Championships
Host city	Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States
Date(s)	February 21–23
Main stadium	Albuquerque Convention Center
Level	Senior
Type	Indoor
Events	26 (men: 13; women: 13)
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The 2014 USA Indoor Track and Field Championships was held at Albuquerque Convention Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Organised by USA Track and Field (USATF), the three-day competition took place February 21–23 in conjunction with the USA Indoor Combined Events Championships which started the day after and served as the national championships in track and field for the United States.

The results of the event determined qualification for the 2014 IAAF World Indoor Championships to be held in Sopot, Poland between 7–9 March 2014 provided the athlete achieved (or will achieve before the cut-off date) the World Championships "A" or "B" standard, the top three athletes can gain a place on the World Championships team in an individual event (although only two can compete). Reigning world champions or Diamond League champions (in events where there is no reigning world champion) received a wild card entry to the World Championships, and they did not count against the maximum number of three athletes per event.

Two championship records were set during the competition: Ryan Whiting broke the men's shot put mark with his winning throw of 22.23 m (72 ft 11 in), while Sharon Day won the women's pentathlon with a score of 4805 points, which was also an outright national record for the event.

The women's 3000-meter run attracted the most attention within the competition. Gabe Grunewald, who had previously been diagnosed with cancer, won the race by several seconds to take her first national title. A clash between Grunewald and Jordan Hasay (the fourth placer) in the final lap was originally disregarded by the judges. Alberto Salazar, the coach of Hasay and runner-up Shannon Rowbury, filed a protest which was overruled by the track referee, then a subsequent appeal of that decision was again dismissed. Grunewald's coach, Dennis Barker, stated that Nike staff and Salazar continued to apply pressure on the USATF officials, which resulted in the reopening of the appeal and the disqualification of Grunewald hours after the race (in contravention of USATF's own appeal rules). This provoked severe criticism from present athletes and coaches, as well as track and field journalists and fans on social media. As a result, USATF CEO Max Siegel opened discussions with Barker and Salazar which resulted in the withdrawal of Hasay and Grunewald being reinstated as champion on February 24. The affair generated negative publicity for both USATF and Nike, a company whose sponsorship accounted for nearly half the governing body's budget in 2012.

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