Everything you need to know about one of the strongest Diamond League meetings of the year

Jakob Ingebrigtsen vs Timothy Cheruiyot in the mile. Elaine Thompson-Herah vs Dina Asher-Smith at 100m. Athing Mu vs Keely Hodgkinson over 800m. World record attempts from Joshua Cheptegei, Letesenbet Gidey and Francine Niyonsaba. The 2022 Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Oregon, features all this and much more on Friday and Saturday (May 26-27).

The meeting gets underway on Friday night with the American world 10,000m trials races plus world record attempts at shorter distances. In the men’s 5000m Cheptegei will attack his own world mark of 12:35.36 which was set in Monaco two years ago. Gidey was originally going to attack the world one-hour run record but is now racing over 5000m where she holds the world record of 14:06.62. Niyonsaba, meanwhile, will try to break Meseret Defar’s two miles world best of 8:58.58 which dates back to 2007.

The competition will take place in the stadium that will host the World Championships in July and on Saturday afternoon the programme begins for the third Diamond League meeting of 2022.

Olympic one-two-three from the Tokyo women’s 800m – Mu, Keely Hodgkinson and Raevyn Rogers – will enjoy a rematch. Mu, who turns 20 on June 8, broke the US 800m record at this event last year with 1:55.04, while Hodgkinson is fresh from a comfortable looking win at the Diamond League in Birmingham.

Also in the line-up are world champion Halimah Nakaayi, Natoya Goule, and Kate Grace.

In the Bowerman mile Olympic champion Ingebrigtsen faces world champion Cheruiyot and current world No.1 Abel Kipsang, in addition to world indoor champion Samuel Tefera of Ethiopia, Oregon duo Cole Hocker and Cooper Teare, New Zealander Olli Hoare, plus 2016 Olympic champion Matt Centrowitz and high school sensation Colin Sahlman.

Back in 2017 at the Pre Classic, Ingebrigtsen became the youngest athlete to ever break the four-minute barrier with 3:58.07 aged 16. One year later he lowered his time to 3:52.28 and came back again in 2019 with a 3:51.30. Then, in last year’s race, the Norwegian captured his first Bowerman Mile victory, running the fastest time ever on American soil with 3:47.24.

Thompson-Herah and Asher-Smith are part of a stacked women’s 100m that inludes Olympic bronze medallist Shericka Jackson, together with Marie-Josee Ta Lou, world under-20 100m champion Briana Williams, US pair  Teahna Daniels and Twanisha Terry and world indoor 60m champion Mujinga Kambundji . The notable absentee is Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce but the Jamaican is in the 200m instead where she is joined by Kambundji and Olympic 400m champion Shaunae Miller-Uibo.

At the Pre Classic last year Thompson-Herah’s winning time of 10.54 was just five hundredths of a second off Florence Griffith Joyner’s world record, making her the second fastest women ever over 100m.

After the men’s 5000m on Saturday night with Cheptegei, there is another event over 12.5 laps on Sunday too. This time it is the official Diamond League race and features Olympic 10,000m champion Selemon Barega of Ethiopia, Canadian record-holder Mo Ahmed, two-time Olympic medallist Paul Chelimo of the United States, Ugandan Jacob Kiplimo, Ethiopian Hagos Gebrhiwet and Britain’s Marc Scott in his first race since winning bronze at the World Indoor Championships 3000m.

The Bowerman Mile aside there is also a men’s 1500m with in-form Brit Neil Gourley.

Faith Kipyegon leads the field for the women’s 1500m with Laura Muir, who finished runner-up to the Kenyan in the Olympic final, also running. Elle Purrier St Pierre of the United States, world indoor record-holder Gudaf Tsegay, fellow Ethiopia Freweyni Hailu and Gabriela Debues-Stafford of Canada also compete.

Sadly Olympic champion Marcell Jacobs withdrew this week from the men’s 100m but in the Italian’s absence the field still includes Christian Coleman, Ronnie Baker, Andre De Grasse, Noah Lyles, Fred Kerley and teenage sensation Erriyon Knighton.

With its history strongly linked to distance icon Steve Prefontaine, the meeting’s emphasis is on endurance running events but the field events still contain world-class fields.

Pole vault world record-holder Mondo Duplantis makes his first return to the Pre Classic since 2018, while the women’s long jump features NCAA record-breaker Tara Davis, world indoor champion Ivana Vuleta of Serbia and Ese Brume of Nigeria.

In the throws, Ryan Crouser returns to Hayward Field after breaking the world record with 23.37m at the venue at the US Trials last year. Here he takes on fellow American Joe Kovacs, Tom Walsh of New Zealand and Darlan Romani of Brazil.

In the discus the in-form US record-holder and Olympic champion Valarie Allman will take on Sandra Perković and Kristin Pudenz.

Para-athletics events also return to the Pre Classic programme for the first time in 33 years with a women’s T63 100m and men’s T62 400m.

The event will be broadcast in the UK on BBC Three from 9-11pm on Saturday May 28.

 Timetable (local times below)

Friday May 27
19:30 Women’s 10,000m – USATF Championship
20:15 Men’s 10,000m – USATF Championship
20:55 Women’s two miles
21:12 Women’s 5000m
21:35 Men’s 5000m

Saturday May 28
12:20 Women’s high jump
12:29 Men’s 1500m
12:33 Women’s long jump
12:41 Women’s Para 100m T63
12:49 Men’s Para 400m T62
12:56 Men’s pole vault
13:04 Men’s 400m Hurdles
13:10 Men’s 5000m
13:33 Women’s 100m
13:38 Women’s discus
13:43 Women’s 100m Hurdles
13:49 Women’s 1500m
14:00 Men’s 400m
14:04 Men’s shot put
14:06 Women’s 800m
14:14 Women’s 3000m steeplechase
14:33 Women’s 200m
14:39 Men’s Bowerman Mile
14:52 Men’s 100m