Bowerman Mile featuring Josh Kerr of the Brooks Beasts highlights Saturday's Nike Pre Classic...
EUGENE--Many of the world's best track and field athletes have made their way to
TrackTown USA for Saturday's running of the Nike Prefontaine Classic at Hayward Field.
The Pre Classic is the fifth stop of the fifteen-stop Wanda Diamond League tour, which ends on September 13-14 with the finals at the Van Damme Memorial in Brussels.
Five athletes with Washington ties are entered in the only North American stop on the Wanda Diamond League tour, led by Josh Kerr of the Seattle based Brooks Beasts, who is entered in the meet's final event, the Bowerman Mile, where the reigning world champion faces off against defending Olympic champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen of Norway (Paul Merca photo) and American record holder Yared Nuguse.
The hype for this race started back during the indoor season when Ingebrigtsen told TV2 in Norway after Kerr set a world best in the two mile at the Millrose Games, “I would have beaten him in that race, blindfolded...But it’s good that people run better than they have done before.”
At the pre-meet press conference Friday, Kerr said, "We've created some awesome story lines over the last six months, and that's what creates hype."
On his relationship with the Norwegian since the Budapest world championships, Kerr told reporters, "This isn't a counseling session, so I wouldn't know how to explain it, but we're fierce competitors and we want to be the best in the world, and that's not going to change regardless of comments and how the media spins things. It's going to create some fantastic races."
Former Pullman resident and two-time world champion Katie Moon will open her outdoor campaign at the Pre Classic, after last vaulting at the world indoor championships in Glasgow, despite issues with her Achilles tendon. She was expected to compete at one of the earlier Diamond League meets, but was still having problems with it.
Washington State alum CJ Allen is entered in the men's 400 hurdles against a field that includes Roshawn Clarke of Jamaica, and Americans Trevor Bassitt and Khallifah Rosser, both of whom could battle Allen for one of the three spots on the US Olympic team.
With the withdrawal of Olympic champ Athing Mu from the women's 800, Nia Akins of the Brooks Beasts is the top American in the field, but will have to contend with the British duo of Keely Hodgkinson and Jemma Reekie, plus Kenya's Mary Moraa, the defending world champion.
Former Seattle Pacific and Oregon State runner Kaylee Mitchell, now competing as a first year pro for the Eugene based Nike Bowerman TC, makes her Diamond League debut against a field that includes world record holder Beatrice Chepkoech of Kenya and reigning world champ Winfred Yavi of Burundi.
The Nike Prefontaine Classic will be shown on NBC (KING5 in Seattle) starting at 1 pm Pacific time, and also on NBCSports.com, the NBC Sports app, and on Peacock.
NOTE: The Wanda Diamond League contributed to this report.
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