Olympics, world champions to compete at Prefontaine Classic

Annually one of the top track and field events on the international circuit, this year’s Nike Prefontaine Classic at Hayward Field offers even more intrigue than usual as the best of the best get a look at the stadium that in July will host the first World Athletics Outdoor Championships ever held on U.S. soil. 

After a trio of world record attempts in distance events Friday evening, Saturday’s schedule is loaded with Olympic and World champions and world record holders competing for Diamond League points.

Saturday’s Events

WOMEN’S 100M

Olympic champion Elaine Thompson-Herah of Jamaica is the second-fastest woman in history with a 10.54 she ran to win last year’s Pre Classic, and she has said she is aiming for the 34-year-old world record of 10.49 this season. Sha’Carri Richardson is the No. 6 woman in history at 10.72 and opened her 2022 campaign with a rain-soaked win at Jacksonville, Florida last weekend. Besides Richardson, last year’s Olympic seventh-place finisher and Trials runner-up Teahna Daniels brings a lifetime best of 10.83 and TeeTee Terry has clocked 10.94 this season to go with a windy 10.77 at the USATF Golden Games in April.

WOMEN’S 200M

Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce finished just out of the medals in Tokyo but has run 21.79 in her career. The 35-year-old Jamaican is the owner of seven individual Olympic and World Championships golds in the sprints and leads the world 100m list this year at 10.67. Tokyo semifinalist Jenna Prandini lowered her lifetime best to 21.89 at the Trials and earned Olympic silver on the U.S. 4x100m relay. Tamara Clark was fourth in the U.S. Olympic Trials in a lifetime best 21.98, with Dezerea Bryant two places behind her. 2019 World Championships silver medalist Brittany Brown blazed to a wind-aided 10.66 in the 100m last month, while 2021 NCAA double sprint champion Cambrea Sturgis leads the U.S. 100m list at 10.87.

WOMEN’S LONG JUMP

Nigeria’s Ese Brume, the Olympic bronze medalist, has the second-best PR in the field at 7.17m/23-6.25 and World Indoor champion Ivana Vuleta of Serbia has gone 7.24m/23-9 indoors in her career. Tara Davis, the double NCAA champion last year for Texas and an Olympic sixth-place finisher, has a best of 7.14m/23-5.25 to rank as the No. 5 all-time U.S. performer. Her Tokyo teammate, Quanesha Burks, won the USATF Indoors title and was fifth at the World Indoors.

MEN’S 400M HURDLES

The third-fastest man in history, Brazil’s Alison Dos Santos ran 46.72 for bronze in the historic Tokyo race and he won the Diamond League race at Doha two weeks ago in a world-leading 47.24. Turkey’s Yasmani Copello was sixth at the Games in 47.81. Khallifah Rosser is perched at No. 3 on this year’s world list at 48.26 and was fifth at the Trials. 2019 NCAA champion Quincy Hall has run well in the early season and has a 2022 best of 48.51, while CJ Allen won in 49.05 at Jacksonville last week.

WOMEN’S 100M HURDLES

World record holder Keni Harrison and Olympic champion Jasmine Camacho-Quinn of Puerto Rico meet for the sixth time, with Harrison holding a 4-1 edge in wins. Camacho-Quinn has the fastest time in 2022 at 12.39, but Harrison’s WR of 12.20 is .06 ahead of the Puerto Rican’s lifetime best. Gabbi Cunninghamwas sixth at Tokyo and picked up a bronze in the 60m hurdles at the World Indoor Championships, and Anna Cockrell won the 100H/400H double for USC at last year’s NCAA Championships seven weeks before making the Tokyo 400H final. Reigning world champion Nia Ali notched a PR 12.34 at Doha for gold and has run 12.59 this year, and Tonea Marshall ran her lifetime best of 12.44 in 2021.

MEN’S 400M

Grenada’s Kirani James won the 2011 World Championships and followed up with a 2012 Olympic Gold in London. James added Games silver in 2016 and bronze in 2021 and has a best of 43.74. The man who finished right behind him at Tokyo, Michael Cherry, went on to win the Diamond League title last year and clocked a PR 44.03. Cherry has already run 44.28 this season, the second fastest time in the world thus far. Fifth at Tokyo, Michael Norman is the fourth-fastest man in history at 43.45 and won the Trials last summer. Trials fifth-placer Vernon Norwood picked up Olympic gold on the Team USATF 4x400m with Norman and Bryce Deadmon and has gone 44.59 in 2022. Deadmon comes in with a best of 44.81 this year.

MEN’S 100M

An event that alone is worth the price of admission, this features the silver and bronze medalists from Tokyo, the reigning world champion, the reigning world 200m champion, the Olympic 200m silver medalist, the Olympic 200m fourth-place finisher and U20 world record holder, and the newly-minted 100m U20 world record holder.

Fred Kerley has become one of history’s best all-around sprinters from 100m-400m and took silver at the Games ahead of Canada’s Andre De Grasse, who also claimed gold in the 200m. Kerley is tied atop the yearly U.S. list at 9.92 with Trayvon Bromell, but both men will have to keep an eye out for Christian Coleman, the world indoor 60m record holder and winner of the 2019 World Championships.

Coleman ran 9.76 to win the world title at Doha, a time that ties him for the No. 6 spot with Bromell on the all-time world performer list.

Kenny Bednarek was fourth in the 100m at the Trials last year in a lifetime best 9.89 before earning silver at double the distance in Tokyo, and Noah Lyles brings in a career-best of 9.86 to go with the 200m gold he won at Doha in 2019. Erriyon Knighton, still a high schooler at age 18, shocked the track world with a 19.49 200m earlier this spring, moving to No. 4 on the all-time world performer list. He will be trying to drop under 10 seconds for the first time and is the only man in the field yet to do so. Former Oregon Duck Kyree King has run 9.98 this season, and Letsile Tebogo of Botswana zipped to a 9.96 last month to better the world U20 record.