It’s been a non-championship year to remember for track and field in 2018, and the 10 surprises below played a huge part in making it so.

Brussels produces three sub-12:47 5,000m after big sub-13:00 drought

Forget for a moment that three men breaking 12:47 in a single 5,000m had never happened before August 31. The prospect of a single man dipping under 13:00 in 2018— let alone eight in one fell swoop— looked dim before the Diamond League finale in Brussels on August 31, as the field seemed destined to stick with the season’s lackluster status quo up to that point.

But three Ethiopians— Selemon Barega, Hagos Gebrhiwet, and Yomif Kejelcha— tossed that narrative aside by unexpectedly hammering every step of the 3.1 mile race, leading five other men under 13:00 while securing their spots in a sub-12:47 club that has just five other members in history.  

Men’s 400m hurdles suddenly becomes a big deal

23-year-old Abederrahman Samba’s meteoric rise in the 400m hurdles in 2018 has been nothing short of astonishing— he had never broken 48 seconds before this season, and now he’s the second-fastest man in history at 46.98— and his ascent has coincided with a drastic shift in the event as a whole. Former USC hurdler Rai Benjamin had a nearly identical PR (48.33) to Samba before his own breakthrough season in the hurdles, which culminated in him running 47.02— now third-best all-time— in the rain at NCAAs to obliterate the collegiate record. 

It was just last year that only one man worldwide broke 48, and yet five have done so in a 2018 season that sets the stage for a thrilling 2019 and beyond. Samba and Benjamin have yet to race each other, but a showdown in the World Championship final next season could see both men run under Kevin Young’s 46.78 world record.  

Beatrice Chepkoech takes the women’s steeple to new heights

Every world record comes with its share of shock and astonishment, but Beatrice Chepkoech’s 8:44.32 steeple in Monaco on July 20 went so far beyond the previous record that it was truly bewildering. 

Chepkoech took eight seconds off the old record, and 15 seconds off of her personal best, to utterly destroy Ruth Jebet’s 8:52.78. Although Chepkoech was one of the four women to break 9:00 before 2018, there was no indication that such a performance from her was coming; she ran two seconds faster per lap than her old PR in Monaco. Even though the women’s steeple is still in its infancy compared to most events in track and field, 8:44 could be one of those outlandish records that stands for many years to come.

18-year-old Mondo Duplantis cracks 6.00m for the first time— easily

Mondo Duplantis has been a well-established pole vault prodigy since he was in elementary school, but his 6.05m world junior record at the European Championships in August was shocking even by his standards. Not only was it his first journey over the magical 6.00m bar, but even an untrained eye could see that Duplantis had much more in him as he easily cleared the top height in the world in 2018.

6.05m World U20 record from Mondo Duplantis ‼️pic.twitter.com/5a56CJRD55

— FloTrack (@FloTrack) August 12, 2018

That 6.05m tied for second-best all-time outdoors for the recent high school grad, who, due to a technicality, also managed to set the U.S. record while competing for Sweden.  

Jakob Ingebrigtsen develops into a global superstar at 17

Like Mondo, Jakob Ingebrigtsen’s other-worldly talent has been evident for quite a while, as the teen had compiled an incredible résumé of elite times well before 2018. 

But few could have predicted how quickly he would rise to the top of the sport; not only did Ingebrigtsen win double 1500/5k gold at the European Championships in August, but he also ran 3:31/3:52 1500/mile PRs to establish himself as a legitimate medal threat at next year’s World Championships. 

Out of nowhere, 20-year-old Juan Miguel Echevarría becomes best long jumper in a decade   

Although it won’t go down as a legal jump because of a +2.1m/s wind, Juan Miguel Echevarria’s soaring 8.83m leap in Stockholm on June 10— where he very nearly cleared the entire pit— will be a lasting image from the 2018 season. 

‼️8.83‼️ (+2.1) Longest jump in 23 years and almost jumps OUT OF THE PITpic.twitter.com/4Tk2USoi9u

— FloTrack (@FloTrack) June 10, 2018

That’s especially true when you consider the context of the 20-year-old’s incredible season: Echevarria’s legal best before this season was just 8.28m, nearly two feet short of that gravity-defying jump in Stockholm. The Cuban’s 8.66m PR in Ostrava on June 13 is the top wind-legal jump in the world since 2009.

Christian Coleman’s roller-coaster season ends in glory

Christian Coleman 2018 season will be remembered for two things: his 6.34 60m world record at USAs in February and the shocking 9.79 he ran at Brussels in the Diamond League final.

This is what it looks like to be one of the fastest men in the history of the worldpic.twitter.com/C2zRnQ0Y9X

— FloTrack (@FloTrack) August 31, 2018

The injuries that the 22-year-old fought through between those two high points made the 9.79— No. 7 all-time— the biggest jaw-dropper of his season, as he was limited to just a 9.94 best ahead of the shocker in Belgium. For him to put it all together despite those injuries, and in the last race of the season in an off-year, was one of the most unpredictable performances of 2018.

Shelby Houlihan rises to global dominance in 1,500m and 5,000m

It says a lot about the quality of Shelby Houlihan’s 2018 that her close loss to Laura Muir in the Diamond League 1,500m final was considered a disappointment. But for a woman who had yet to lose outdoors this season, and who had run a 3:57 1,500m and 14:34 5k American record in the span of two weeks, expectations were understandably sky high.

But still, it would’ve difficult to see such a steep ascent coming for Houlihan in both distances. Her PRs were 4:03 and 15:00 before 2018.  

Shaunae Miller-Uibo vs. Salwa Eid Naser develops into a must-see rivalry

They only raced once this season, but the match-up between the Bahamas’ Shaunae Miller-Uibo and Bahrain’s Salwa Eid Naser in the Monaco 400m gave a taste of what could become a fantastic rivalry. The Olympic champ Miller-Uibo had to run 48.97— 10th best all-time— to barely beat out the 20-year-old Eid Naser’s 49.08, which itself was 13th best all-time.

With the exception of the women’s 100m hurdles, every other women’s track event has either a clear top dog or widespread parity, so the brewing battle for female 400m supremacy is an underrated wrinkle to come out of 2018. Combined with their youth, Miller-Uibo and Eid Naser’s big PRs in 2018 suggest that the best is yet to come between the pair.

Rise of Great Britain, decline of Jamaica in the sprints

Not all of Jamaica’s recent troubles in the sprints can be attributed to the retirement of Usain Bolt, but his absence in 2018 has made the recent decline of Jamaican sprinting all the more glaring. The Caribbean sprinting hotbed does not have a single man among the top 10 100m times this season, while the 200m isn’t much better, with just one man in the top 10 there. Even without Bolt, Jamaica’s struggles this year were quite surprising.

On the other side of the coin, Great Britain has had an unexpectedly great season in the sprints. Neither Zharnel Hughes or Reece Prescod had broken 10 seconds before 2018, but their respective 9.91 and 9.94 PRs this season have done wonders to elevate British sprinting. In a post-Bolt world, perhaps it will be Great Britain, and not Jamaica, who will challenge the U.S. for sprinting bragging rights.