There were clear skies for the first day of the Prefontaine Classic, which was held at Hayward Field on Friday night. The event featured world record attempts, Olympic medalists and professional track stars from across the globe.  

A change of schedule due to weather didn’t affect Sweden’s Armand Duplantis, who won his second Pre’s Classic pole vaulting event, clearing 5.91m.

“Winning was most important,” Duplantis said. “I’m a little bitter about not clearing 6.07m.” Duplantis added he was feeling “whatever” about his season-best performance. He expects himself to clear 6m every time he performs. 

Norwegian Sondre Guttormsen set a personal best and national record. The 5.81m vault was only enough to get him bronze.

Ukrainian Yaroslava Mahuchikh cleared a world-leading 2.00m in the women’s high jump to take first. Mahuchik said she was happy to get a win in Hayward, where she will compete in July for the World Championships.

The women’s 10,000m came down to the wire. Americans Karissa Schweizer and Alicia Monson pulled away from the chase pack with eight laps remaining. With one mile left in the race, they were 25 seconds ahead of the third-place runner. Monson led until the last lap, when Schweizer used her draft to take the lead. Schweizer finished first with a season best 30:59.56. 

“I had a lot of confidence going into that race,” Schweizer said. “Normally I don’t wait that long to take the lead. It was a new tactic I’m trying, and I’m really excited with how it played out.”

The men’s 10,000m seemed to change lead runner every lap. The lead pack was dense, until the last lap, when Joe Klecker and Grant Fisher pulled ahead. Fisher’s fast final turn was not enough to hold off Klecker, who won the race with a season best 28:28.71, a tenth of a second ahead of Fisher.  

“I won, that’s all I could ask for,” Klecker said. “Having the World Championships on home turf is not something I’m taking for granted.”

Francine Niyonsaba, from Burundi, set a meet record in the women’s two mile, with a time of 8:59.09. She was just half a second behind her world record goal. 

Letesenbet Gidye, from Ethiopia, attempted a world record in the women’s 5000m . She is the current record holder with a time of 14:06.62, which she posted in October of 2020. Although she didn’t reach her goal, she finished with the fifth-fastest time ever in women’s 5k with 14:12.99. 

Joshua Cheptegei, from Uganda, also looked to set a new world record in the Men’s 5000. He is the current holder with a 12:35.36, set in August of 2020. He came across the line at 12:57.99, a new world leading time, but far off from his goal. 

Day two of The Prefontaine Classic will take place at Hayward Field at 12:30 p.m. Saturday. It will feature para athletics, a talent-rich Men’s Bowerman Mile and conclude with the men’s 100m dash.