Loaded men's mile field one of several highlights for Pre Classic Diamond League meet
A word of advice to those attending the Prefontaine Classic track and field meet on Saturday at Hayward Field: Don’t leave early.
The annual Eugene Diamond League meet will once again feature Olympic medalists, world champions, many of the biggest names in the sport, as well as several other athletes who are near and dear to the local fanbase.
All together, the Pre Classic will have 24 events — 14 Diamond League disciplines plus four additional pro events, four para athletics races and two youth 1,500-meter competitions.
But if there is one set up to exceed all others, it’s the headliner.
The men’s Bowerman Mile will be bring the meet to a potentially explosive conclusion.
The race is being billed as a showdown between Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen, Great Britain’s Josh Kerr and American Yared Nuguse for good reason.
Ingebrigtsen and Nuguse became the No. 3 and No. 4 performers of all time in the mile during the 2023 Pre Classic Diamond League Final in September.
Ingebrigtsen finished in 3 minutes, 43.73 seconds to Nuguse’s American record of 3:43.97.
The only two to ever run faster are world record holder Hicham El Guerrouj of Morocco and Kenyan Noah Ngeny, who ran 3:43.13 and 3:43.40, respectively, in the same race in 1999.
Kerr, however, bested Ingebrigtsen at the 2023 World Athletics Outdoor Championships last summer in the 1,500 and the two have been in an ongoing war of words for the past year.
The race will also mark the return to Hayward Field for Great Britain’s Jake Wightman, who shocked Ingebrigtsen in the 1,500 during the 2022 world championships in Eugene. Wightman missed the 2023 season with an injury.
The race will also include three former Oregon Ducks, including Cole Hocker, the 2021 U.S. Olympic Trials 1,500 champion who ran 3:48.08 at the Pre Classic last season to move into No. 2 on the all-time U.S. list behind Nuguse.
Matthew Centrowitz, 34, who has declared the 2024 season to be his professional swan song, is the 2016 Olympic champ in the 1,500. His mile personal record is 3:49.26.
Cooper Teare, the 2022 U.S. champ in the 1,500, has a mile PR (personal record) of 3:50.17.
All together, nine of the 16 racers have PRs under 3:50, including Australian Oliver Hoare (3:47.32), Spain’s Mario Garcia (3:47.69), American Hobbs Kessler (3:48.08) and Great Britain’s Neil Gourley (3:49.46).
As the case always is at the Pre Classic, there will be stars in every event, with potential for memorable performances each time the starting gun goes off.
Top U.S. sprinters entered in 100s
Sha’Carri Richardson vs. Elaine Thompson-Herah headlines the women’s 100.
Richardson is the reigning world championship, Thompson-Herah is the reigning two-time Olympic champion.
This will be the first 100 of the season for both sprinters.
Those two will be up against a field that includes Julien Alfred, a rising star from Saint Lucia who was fifth in the 100 at the 2023 world championships and the 2024 world indoor champion in the 60. Three-time world medalist Marie-Josée Ta Lou (Côte d’Ivoire), Dina Asher-Smith (Great Britain) and Twanisha Terry (U.S.) are among the other entries.
Men’s 100 headliner Christian Coleman has had an active season. The 2023 Diamond League champion won gold in the 60 at the World Indoor Championships in March and has a pair of 100 races under his belt already this season, including a Diamond League win in China on April 20.
The men’s field includes Kenya’s Ferdinand Omanyala.
In the men’s 200, Tokyo Olympic silver medalist Kenny Bednarek is entered. He has the fastest time in the world this season with his 19.67 from the Doha Diamond League meet on May 10. Former Duck Kyree King is also entered.
Women’s 1,500 will be a battle
Not to be outdone by their counterparts in the Bowerman Mile, several of the best women in the world are entered in the 1,500.
Among them is 2023 world silver medalist Diribe Welteji of Ethiopia, who has a PR of 3:53.93.
Other entries include Great Britain’s Laura Muir, who is the Olympic silver medalist from Tokyo; American Elle St. Pierre, who is the reigning world indoor champion in the 3,000; and American Nikki Hiltz, who is the 2024 world indoor silver medalist in the 1,500.
Former Oregon star Jessica Hull of Australia is also entered, as is former Duck Susan (Ejore) Lokayo of Kenya.
World champions highlight hurdle fields
American Grant Holloway, the 2019, 2022 and 2023 world champion in the 110 hurdles, is entered against reigning Olympic champ Hansle Parchment of Jamaica. Parchment beat Holloway for the Diamond League title last season at the Pre Classic. Three-time U.S. champ Daniel Roberts is also entered.
Jamaica’s Danielle Williams won the 2023 world title in the 100 hurdles and will be facing a field that includes world silver medalist Jasmine Camacho-Quinn, world bronze medalist and American record holder Kendra Harrison and 2019 world champion Nia Ali.
Former Duck Alaysha Johnson is also entered.
Kenyans will have added incentive in 10K races
The men’s and women’s 10,000 will serve as the Olympic selection races for Athletics Kenya.
The 22 entries in the women’s race includes 16 Kenyans, though Ethiopian Gudaf Tsegay is the top runner in the field.
Tsegay set the world record in the 5,000 at the Pre Classic last season and was the 2023 world champion in the 10,000.
The 14 entries in the men’s race are all Kenyans, led by 2023 world silver medalist Daniel Simiu Ebenyo and Edwin Kurgat, who has a national leading 26:57.66 this season.
Loaded fields in the women’s throws
All three women’s hammer medalists from the 2023 World Athletics Championships are entered.
Canada’s Camryn Rogers won gold in Budapest, American Janee’ Kassanavoid was the silver medalist in 2023 and the bronze medalist in 2022, and American DeAnna Price won bronze last year and was the world champion in 2019 in Doha, Qatar.
Former Duck and Canadian Olympian Jillian Weir is also entered.
The top-two Americans in the women’s discus are also entered in reigning world champion Laulauga Tausaga and reigning Olympic champion Valarie Allman, who was the silver medalist in Budapest last summer.
Also entered is Croatia’s Sandra Elkasević, one of the most decorated throwers of all time. Elkasević won Olympic gold in 2012 and 2016, and won world outdoor medals in five straight championship meets, including gold in 2013 and 2017.
Former Duck and NCAA record holder Jorinde van Klinken is also entered.
Several stars will be missing
The men’s shot put competition lost its biggest name when Ryan Crouser withdrew from the competition.
The shot put will now be headlined by two-time Olympic silver medalist Joe Kovacs, who edged Crouser at the Pre Classic last season to win the Diamond League title. Two-time Olympic bronze medalist Tom Walsh of New Zealand is also entered.
The women’s 800 took some hits as well as American record-holder and reigning Olympic champion Athing Mu and former Oregon great Raevyn Rogers have withdrawn.
Bobby Kersee, Mu's coach, told Runner's World that she is dealing with a sore hamstring.
There will still be a showdown between 2023 world champion Mary Moraa of Kenya and world silver medalist Keely Hodgkinson of Great Britain.
World silver medalist Erriyon Knighton, and world championships bronze medalist Letsile Tebogo of Botswana have withdrawn from the men’s 200.
American stalwarts Emma Coburn and Courtney Frerichs will be missing from the women’s 3,000 steeplechase after suffering season-ending injuries.
Coburn, the 2016 Olympic silver medalist and 2017 world champion, hurt her ankle in April during the Diamond League meet in Shanghai.
Frerichs, the American record holder and 2020 Tokyo Olympic silver medalist, tore her ACL while practicing water jumps. She recently underwent reconstructive knee surgery.
The race won’t be devoid of talent with the presence of world-record holder Beatrice Chepkoech of Kenya and 2023 world champion Winfred Yavi of Bahrain. Former Oregon State standout Kaylee Mitchell is also entered.
2024 Prefontaine Classic
When: 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday
Where: Hayward Field
How to watch: Full meet on USATF.TV+; NBC broadcast starting at 1 p.m.
Follow Chris Hansen on X @chansen_RG or email at chansen@registerguard.com
This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: Prefontaine Classic 2024 at Hayward Field: Athletes to know
