Prefontaine Classic meet director Tom Jordan never fails to put together an outstanding meet.
The 33rd edition is no exception.
As of Thursday, there were 11 athletes committed who were ranked No. 1 in the world last year, including three world record holders.
NBC will broadcast the meet live from 1 to 3 p.m. Sunday.
The men’s 200 meters may be the most intriguing event of the meet. Among the eight competitors are the world record-holder in the 100 meters, Asafa Powell, the defending Olympic 400-meter champion, Jeremy Wariner, the defending Olympic 200-meter champion, Shawn Crawford, and the second- and third-fastest men all-time at the distance, Xavier Carter and Wallace Spearmon.
“There may have been other 200 fields with more talent, but I guarantee you that the tickets to those meets had ‘Olympic Games Final’ written on them,” Jordan said in a release.
Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia, the 5,000m and 10,000m world record holder, will move down to the two-mile in his first ever outdoor race in the United States. Bekele, the 2004 Olympic 10,000m champion, will face four Americans – Adam Goucher, Dathan Ritzenhein, Matt Tegenkamp and Alan Webb – in addition to five international stars. One, Juan Luis Barrios of Mexico, won the 5,000m at the Road to Eugene ’08 meet two weeks ago. Goucher finished third in the same race. Webb, a late addition to the race, set the American two-mile record (8:11.48) at the 2005 Pre Classic.
Nick Symmonds of Oregon Track Club Elite, the U.S. indoor 800-meter champion this year, will take on an 800-meter field that includes 2004 Olympic champion Yuriy Borzakovskiy.
World record-holder and 2004 gold medalist Liu Xiang and American record-holder Dominique Arnold headline the men’s 110-meter hurdles.
Off the track, the men’s shot put will feature its own share of star power. Included in the field are world-leader Christian Cantwell, the No. 1-ranked thrower in 2006, Reese Hoffa, and 2005 world champion Adam Nelson.
Maria Mutola, whose time of 1:58.79 in the 800 meters at the Road to Eugene was the fastest time in the world this year, will return to Hayward Field to defend her 14-race Pre Classic winning streak. The 2000 Olympic gold medalist hasn’t lost at the Prefontaine Classic since her first appearance in 1991.
The 2006 Track and Field News Female Athlete of the Year, American record-holder Sanya Richards, is the featured athlete in the women’s 400m.
Former Oregon record holder Sarah Malone is scheduled to compete in the women’s javelin.
The Pre Classic will be the final meet at Hayward Field before it is closed for renovation.
The day after the meet, workers will begin preparing the grounds for next summer’s Olympic Trials. By the time the Trials start in June, organizers plan to have a redesigned infield, two video replay screens, close to 5,000 new seats, a new press row and skyboxes.
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