Photo by John Nepolitan

By ELLIOTT DENMAN

One meter at a time.

One lap at a time.

One race at a time.

One meet at a time.

One day at a time.

Fully aware that the best of the rest of the women’s middle distance racing world may be gaining on her, Ajee’ Wilson doesn’t dare look back over her shoulder.

That explains the strategy she used to win the Women’s Invitational 800 Meters at the Dr. Sander Invitational/Columbia Challenge Meet at the Armory Track Center Saturday, and the strategy she’s likely to use at the USA Olympic Trials (June 25-26-28) in Eugene, Oregon, which she surely hopes will be  stepping-stone opportunities en route to the 800 at the Tokyo Olympic Games (July 31, Aug. 1 and 4.)

That basic “if possible” strategy:  “ 'Go for it' from the starting gun, grab the lead, dictate the pace, power away from the field down the homestretch.” Every time out.

Of course, Ms. Wilson, the Neptune, N.J. High School and Temple University alumna, 25, now based in Philadelphia and training under Coach Derek Thompson, has been running and excelling at the Armory since her days as an age-group phenomenon. She and the famed 200-meter oval have been perfect partners together.

Actually, she didn’t follow the exact script Saturday. But she wasn’t far off it, either.

With Armory fans screaming full encouragement from their floorside and balcony-level seats, pacesetter Arianne Strunkey brought the field around the first lap in just over 28 flat, before stepping aside and seeing Carley Thomas of Washington just ahead at the midway mark (1:00.44).  But Wilson was already on her shoulder at that point and in command thereafter.

Another ex-New Jersey state scholastic sensation, Columbia High School and Stanford University alumna Olivia Baker, moved from fourth at 400 to second at 600 (1:32.24) but never really threatened Wilson’s lead, either.

As Wilson crossed the line in 2:02.33 – notching the fastest time in the world this indoor season – Baker was settling for second in 2:02.97, Thomas for third in 2:03.6 and yet another A. Wilson – Monmouth University grad Allie Wilson now running for the Atlanta Track Club – was snaring fourth in 2:04.28.

 (The pre-Sander world Leader had been Cinthia Anais of France, with her 2:02.41 at Boston University the night before.)

 Thus, Armory fans could “put it in the books” as just another brilliant performance at the storied Fort Washington Avenue edifice by the celebrated performer from Monmouth County at the Jersey Shore.

 “I felt good, I felt composed, I felt relaxed,” she told interviewers inside the Stan Saplin Media Area trackside at the Armory. “It was good to see where I was (sharpness-wise). Every time I walk into this building, I know it’s going to be something special.”

She’ll be back at the Armory Feb. 8 for the 113th edition of the famed NYRR Millrose Games and then heads to Albuquerque the following weekend for USA Indoor Nationals. But barring any late change of plans – and the decision of Coach Thompson - she’d likely decline a trip to the IAAF Indoor World Championships in China in mid-March. The plan: begin all-out focus on the outdoor campaign and the run-up to the USA Tokyo Trials in Eugene.

Just one American has ever won the women's Olympic 800 - the famed Madeline Manning Mims at Mexico City in 1968.

Now, Mims tells the track and field world, "it's long overdue for another American to take it, too."

Coach Thompson’s Philadelphia training sessions are notoriously harsh.  They’re mostly outdoors, no matter the weather. And often strength-over-speed oriented, too.

Notably, the Sander/Columbia event was Wilson's first race of the Olympic year and her first competitive outing since the 2019 World Championships 800 final in Doha back in early October.

That Qatar event didn’t go to plan – one of the few times Wilson has allowed that to happen in recent seasons.  Already crowned the Diamond League champion, by virtue of blazing wins around the globe – notably in Stockholm, Kingston, Monaco and Brussels – Wilson had checked into Doha as the World Number One.

But a stunning thing happened on the way to her expected triumph at the Persian Gulf venue. She zoomed out in typical fashion and by the 750-meter mark seemed ready to breeze on home.  But the final 50 meters proved her undoing as both Halimah Nakaayi of Uganda and USA teammate Raevyn Rogers rushed by in the final strides.  Nakaayi (1:58.04) thus took the gold over Rogers’ silver (1:58.18) and Wilson’s bronze (1:58.84.)

Sure it was a disappointment to Wilson – especially the loss to Rogers, her Philly area training partner with Coach Thompson – but not a total shock, either.

And maybe even more of a motivating force to preclude a 2020 reprise.

As she’d told a pre-Doha interviewer, “Going into worlds, I think that’s what the predictions have said—that I’m the favorite. Anytime I go into a major competition, I’m not thinking about how I’m coming in ranked. Ever since I was a kid, my mom always said, ‘anything can happen on any given day.’ You can’t take anything for granted.”  

The record books will still show South Africa’s controversy-stirring Caster Semenya atop the 2019 world list at 1:54.08, with Wilson second at 1:57.72 (her clocking taking the 10th USA National title of her young life, back in July, in Iowa.)  But with Semenya now apparently legislated out of the picture – over the genetic makeup issue – Wilson moves forward into Olympic year with global numero uno status.

Is it a burden?  Or just the kind of challenge she has always embraced?

True to form, Wilson has never enjoyed this line of conversation.

It’s not in her makeup.  It’s looking far-too-far-ahead talk.  It’s way beyond her “one meter at a time, one lap at a time, one race at a time, one meet at a time, one day at a time” tradition.