After a fantastic year of track and field, here are FloTrack’s top five races of 2017.

5. Women’s 400m Hurdles At The U.S. Championships

The top six women broke 54 seconds and the first three went under 53 seconds. In short, this was the deepest 400m hurdles race in history. 

And since it was a U.S. championship, it meant that someone’s historic performance still wouldn’t be enough to make the worlds team. Ashley Spencer ran 53.11 — a lifetime best — and finished fourth. By year’s end the mark held as the fourth-best in the world. Ahead of her, Dalilah Muhammad, Shamier Little, and Kori Carter went 1-2-3. 

Oh, and Sydney McLaughlin set a world junior record of 53.82 and took sixth. In total, seven of the eight finalists ran lifetime bests. 

4. Men’s 10,000m At World Championships

The book on how to beat Mo Farah was to make the pace fast from the outset and pray that the quick tempo will take the kick out of his legs. It’s a strategy that wasn’t without flaws — Farah was very successful in paced races over the past six years — but it was unexplored in championship settings. 

Until this year. 

At the World Championships in London, there was no waiting around. The field threw everything they had at Farah, climaxing in a thrilling last 800 in which Farah stumbled to stay on his feet while fending off challenges from Joshua Cheptegei and Paul Tanui. When it came time to kick, the sub-27 pace didn’t seem to have taken a toll on Farah. He held off Cheptegai and others to win his 10th-straight global championship. Farah’s time of 26:49.51 was his fastest in an Olympics and world championships and only five seconds slower than his lifetime best in the event. 

Though the contingent from Africa didn’t beat him in the 10,000m, perhaps the effort took just enough out of him to make him vulnerable in the 5000m eight days later, when his streak of championship victories ultimately ended.

3. Women’s 4x400m At NCAA Championships

The women’s team championship built to the perfect crescendo when the best athlete of the meet had the baton in her hands with the opportunity to clinch a team title in the final event.

But Oregon's Raevyn Rogers was far from a sure thing. She was racing her leg of the 4x400m with a little more than an hour’s rest from her 800m victory. Facing off against her on the anchor leg was 400m specialist Kendall Ellis of USC, who had just finished third in the individual 400m. The two received the baton at virtually the same time with Ellis quickly passing Rogers on the inside of the first curve. Rogers was left little room for error. A win in the 4x400m and Oregon was team champions. Anything worse than first and Georgia would win the title.

With the Hayward Field crowd behind her, Rogers reclaimed the lead with 200 meters remaining and held off Ellis down the final straightaway to win in an NCAA record time.

2. Emma Coburn, Courtney Frerichs Finish 1-2 For U.S. At World Championships

Distance fans could hardly believe their eyes when the two Americans entered the homestretch in control of the race. There was no drama about who would win in the final meters of the race, just lots of puzzled looks and shocked faces. For the first time in Olympic or world championship history, American women won two medals in a middle distance event. To do it, they had to beat a stacked field including the world record holder and the second-, fourth-, and fifth-fastest runners of all-time. 

How did Coburn and Frerichs pull it off? They ran way faster than they ever had. Coburn shaved five second off her personal best to set the American record at 9:02.58 and Frerichs lopped more than 15 seconds off her personal best, running 9:03.77

Emma Coburn, Courtney Frerichs sweep steeplechase gold, silver in historic world champs final: https://t.co/rRvRjYt3XG#London2017 pic.twitter.com/auVfbdqXHQ

— FloTrack (@FloTrack) August 11, 2017

1. Women’s 1500m At World Championships

This race was filled to the brim with big names, and all of them entered the final in London with a legitimate chance to win the race. Each one of the top six had a question to answer: Did Caster Semenya’s mid-distance dominance extend to the 1500m? Could Laura Muir hold up under the intense pressure of racing in front of her home crowd? Would Faith Kipyegon be able to win consecutive global championships? Could Jenny Simpson deliver once again in the championship? Would Genzebe Dibaba live up to her status as world record holder and add to her medal total? Where would Sifan Hassan — and her 3:56 personal best — fit in?

All of those storylines collided at the World Championships and — more surprisingly — virtually all of the women came with their best. 

Kipyegon wrestled the lead away from Hassan over the last 100 meters, while Semenya and Simpson made a huge push down the homestretch to catch Muir. It was hard to keep track of everything that was happening when, at the line, Simpson slid past both Semenya and Muir on the inside to get a perfectly timed silver. The top four were separated by .38 seconds with Semenya just edging Muir for bronze.

Faith Kipyegon: “To reach the top you need to do four things: train hard, eat well, rest well and stay focused.”

https://t.co/0Kl6whr4rY pic.twitter.com/U0BYPceCAt

— SPIKES (@spikesmag) August 29, 2017