What to watch at the NIKE Prefontaine Classic...
With the pull that title sponsor Nike has in bringing in its contracted athletes, not to mention the fact that this meet has consistently ranked in the top three each of the last four years in the World Athletics' ranking of its international invitational and open meets, just about every event offered in the five hours of the Nike Prefontaine Classic Saturday is worthy of an Olympic or world championship final.
Almost 90 minutes later, it's the women's turn to fling the ball and chain.
Over the last several years, North America has taken over what formerly was the domain of the European throwers. This year's Pre Classic is spearheaded by Cal alum and reigning world and Olympic champion Camryn Rogers.
Gunning after Rogers are former world champions Brooke Andersen (Eugene) and Deanna Price (Doha), along with Janee’ Kassnavoid, who finished third at the Eugene world championships, and former Olympic champion and four-time world champion Anita Włodarczyk of Poland.
It's not a Diamond League scoring event, but the men's 10000 at 11:10 am is the first step in selecting the Kenyan team for the world championships in Tokyo. There's a field of five Ethiopians, along with Keneth Kiprop of Uganda, and BYU alum & US Olympic marathoner Conner Mantz.
There's no Olympic and world champion Joshua Cheptegai of Uganda in the field, but Ethiopia's Behiru Aregawi, who was second in Paris, leads a field of nine athletes with personal bests under 27 minutes, including NCAA champion Ishmael Kipkurui of New Mexico.
The first Wanda Diamond League scoring event of the day happens at 12:27 with the women's shot put, featuring Chase Jackson (Paul Merca photo), who popped a monster 68-8.75 (20.95m) at the Iron Wood Throws Classic.
She'll have to contend with her friend and world indoor champion Sarah Mitton of Canada, along with eight other throwers currently ranked in the top ten. That group includes Olympic silver medalist Maddi Lee-Wesche of New Zealand, Oregon alum and native Jaida Ross, Arizona State alum Maggie Ewen, and NCAA champ Mya Lesnar.
The women's long jump at 12:38 pm is a Paris Olympic podium rematch with Tara Davis-Woodhall against Malaika Mihambo of Germany and fellow American Jasmine Moore, who is looking for her first-ever Diamond League win.
I've already written about the three events involving Washington athletes competing at the Pre Classic in separate pieces: the men's International Mile (Owen Powell, Sam Prakel, Luke Houser, Sam Tanner); the men's 400 Hurdles (CJ Allen); and the women's 3000 steeplechase (Olivia Markezich, Kaylee Mitchell). If you've missed it, the links to the pieces are highlighted above.
Once the television window on NBC and Peacock in the USA begins at 1 pm Pacific time, there are so many great events to choose from over the next two hours, no matter what your tastes are, whether it's sprints, distance, jumps or throws.
I'll pick out my favorites:
Women's 5000 (1:20 pm): Like the men's 10000, the women's 5000 is also the first step for selecting Kenya's team for the world championships in this event. The headliner is Kenya's Beatrice Chebet, the reigning Olympic champion at both 5000 and 10000 meters, and two-time senior world cross country champ.
She's also the world record holder in the 10000.
Chebet will have her work cut out, as Ethiopia's Gudaf Tsegay, the world record holder at this distance at 14:00.21 set at this meet two years ago is in the field. That said, Chebet's already run 14:03.69 at the Rome Diamond League this season, which is the second-fastest time in world history, while Tsegay's season best is 14:24.86 in Rome, where she was fifth.
Birke Haylom of Ethiopia, who was fourth in the Rome DL meet, is also in the field. She was fifth in this event at last year's Pre Classic. Weini Kelati is the lone American in the field.
Men's 400 (1:43 pm): It's another Paris Olympic podium rematch featuring winner Quincy Hall, against Matthew Hudson-Smith (Great Britain), who was the silver medalist, and Muzala Samukonga (Zambia), who won bronze.
Also in the field are world indoor champion Christopher Bailey, who has a Diamond League win already this season in Shanghai, along with one of the breakout stories of this season in Jacory Patterson.
Patterson, who was third at world indoors, ran 43.98 at the Miami Grand Slam stop for the world lead so far this season. On May 25th, he earned his first Diamond League win, running 44.37 in Rabat. All this, while working a graveyard shift at UPS to make ends meet. He's been picked up by Nike, enabling him to focus on training.
THE FINAL FOUR OF THE MEET...
Men's 200 (2:23 pm): Letsile Tebogo (Paul Merca photo) of Botswana, the reigning Olympic champion, goes against Kenny Bednarek,
Kung Fu Kenny's been on a tear in the last few months, having dominated the field in all three of the Grand Slam meets. He's skipped some of the early Diamond League meets, so he's got his work cut out to get some DL points if he wants to compete at the season finale in Zürich.
Tebogo already has a win this season in Doha, and is fifth in the Diamond League standings in the 200 with 8 points.
Joseph Fahnbulleh of Liberia, who leads the DL standings with 25 points, and Americans Courtney Lindsey (3rd, 15), and former Oregon Duck Kyree King (4th, 13), are also in the field.
Men's Bowerman Mile (2:32 pm): No Jakob Ingebrigtsen? No Josh Kerr? No problem.
All three Americans in the Paris Olympic final, led by Olympic champion and Oregon standout Cole Hocker, along with third place finisher Yared Nuguse, and fifth placer Hobbs Kessler (Paul Merca photo) , are in the field.
Add former world champions Timothy Cheruiyot of Kenya, and Jake Wightman of Great Britain, along with France’s Azeddine Habz, who is having the best season of his career at 31 years old. He ran 3:27.49 at the Paris Diamond League two weeks ago, making him the sixth fastest man of all time in the 1500.
And oh, by the way, Olympic bronze medalist, and Stanford alum in both the 5000 and 10000, Grant Fisher, is in the field, dropping down in distance.
Is Hicham El Guerrouj's world record of 3:43.13 in jeopardy, given that it's relatively early in the pro season, the national championships for most countries happen at the end of this month, and the world championships are in September?
Probably not, but if there's a meet where it could, this is it.
Women's 100 (2:44 pm): Yet another Paris podium rematch features Olympic champ and former Texas star Julien Alfred (Paul Merca photo) of St. Lucia against Sha'Carri Richardson, the silver medalist and defending world champion, along with Melissa Jefferson-Wooden.
Alfred's already run 10.75 in the 100 and 21.88 in the 200 this season, ranking her top two in the world in both. Richardson has only raced once in 2025, where she clocked 11.47 in Tokyo.
Jefferson-Wooden's run 10.73 this season at the Philadelphia Grand Slam, then followed it up by running 21.99 in the same meet in the 200.
Also in the field are Americans Tee Tee Terry and Tia Clayton, and Marie Josée Ta Lou-Smith of the Ivory Coast. The trio were all in the Paris Olympic finals.
Women's 1500 (2:50 pm): Meet organizers flipped the Bowerman Mile 18 minutes earlier in order to highlight Kenya's Faith Kipyegon, who ran a world best 4:06.91 (the time flashed on the scoreboard, and not the 4:06.42 mark announced by Nike in their recap; turned out that Kipyegon wore a sensor which triggered a clock, instead of using the gun time) in Paris at Nike's own Breaking 4 "moonshot".
This is also a Paris Olympic podium rematch, as Oregon alum and silver medalist Jessica Hull of Australia is in the field along with former Cal runner Georgia Hunter-Bell of Great Britain, last year's surprise bronze medalist.
Seven Americans are in the field, including Paris Olympians Nikki Hiltz, Elise Cranny and Emily Mackay; Nanjing world indoor competitors Heather Maclean and Sinclaire Johnson, 800 specialist Sage Hurta-Klecker, and Shelby Houlihan, who won a silver medal in the 3000 at world indoors in March, after serving a 4-year doping suspension.
My best of the rest: men's and women's discus, featuring incoming Oregon grad transfer from Cal and world record holder Mykolas Alekna and American record holder Valarie Allman; and the men's pole vault with world and Olympic champion Mondo Duplantis.
USATF.tv will air the events not covered in the television window, starting at 10 am Pacific with the men's hammer throw.
We will be on the ground in Eugene this weekend!
NOTE: The Nike Prefontaine Classic, World Athletics, and the Wanda Diamond League contributed to this report.
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