Distance Stars Descend upon Prefontaine Classic | PREVIEW

The Prefontaine Classic has long been a celebration of middle-distance running at the iconic Hayward Field and 2024 is set to be no different, as six of the biggest names in Australian athletics led by Jessica Hull and Oliver Hoare prepare for Diamond League triumph.

The main program of the 2024 Diamond League can be viewed live and free via the Diamond League YouTube Channel from 6:00am AEST, Sunday May 26 with the full start list and timetable available HERE.

Sunday May 26 (AEST)

Bowerman Mile

Oliver Hoare, Cameron Myers

7:52am AEST

Widely dubbed the best mile field assembled in history, few middle-distance showdowns are more iconic than the Bowerman Mile at the Prefontaine Classic.

For Australia, Commonwealth champion and national record holder Oliver Hoare (Dathan Ritzenhein) and teenage sensation Cameron Myers (Dick Telford) will fly the flag in the battle of Olympic proportions, set to lay it all on the line for glory and the chance to make an early-season statement.

One man who is no stranger to winning in Eugene is 2022 world champion over 1500m Jake Wightman (GBR), while 2023 world champion Josh Kerr (GBR) and 2024 World Indoor champion Geordie Beamish (NZL) add the list of major credentials set to toe the line – before mentioning the two fastest men in the field.

Olympic champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen (NOR) notched up the third fastest mile time in history at this very meet in 2023, racing to a performance of 3:43.73 to take down Yared Nuguse (USA) in 3:43.97 – earning the Diamond League title as both men return to Hayward Field.

17-year-old Myers owns a personal best of 3:52.44 clocked at this February’s Maurie Plant Meet – Melbourne, while Hoare raced to a time of 3:51.28 at the Penn Relays in April before winning over 1500m at last week’s LA Grand Prix to run himself into form.

While Myers already has an Olympic qualifying performance, both men will have the added incentive of the 3:50.40 standard to bolster their Paris campaigns.

Women’s 1500m

Jessica Hull, Linden Hall

6:57am AEST

As far as competitive 1500m races go, a field with 12 sub four-minute women on paper is a good start – two of which are Australian.

Already establishing herself as a household name on the global middle-distance scene, reigning national champion Jessica Hull (Simon Hull) looks set reach another level in 2024, claiming second place at the Doha Diamond League in front of a host of East African stars.

Clocking 4:00.84 in the messy affair to finish just 0.42-seconds behind Freweyni Hailu (ETH) who was crowned World Indoor champion over the distance in February, Hull looks set to breakthrough once more if she can deliver a clean race in Eugene – where she will also meet Olympic silver medallist Laura Muir (GBR) and 3000m World Indoor champion Elle St Pierre (USA).

With a personal best of 3:56.92, Australian record holder Linden Hall (Ned Brophy-Williams) is ranked in the top-five of the star-studded field on times and will be out to strengthen her claim for an Olympic berth in 2024.

Women’s 800m

Catriona Bisset

7:34am AEST

Australian record holder Catriona Bisset (Ned Brophy-Williams) has been warming into her 2024 campaign and finds herself back on the Diamond League scene which has seen her deliver her best work in recent years, encountering a world-class field headed by reigning world champion Mary Moraa (KEN).

Featuring seven of the eight finalists in the event from the 2023 World Championships in Budapest, including podium finishers Keely Hodgkinson (GBR) and Athing Mu (USA), Bisset will be granted a prime opportunity to build back towards her 1:57.78 personal best as she eyes a second Olympic Games at Paris 2024.

Women’s 5000m

Lauren Ryan

6:18am AEST

Paris-bound in the 10,000m, Lauren Ryan (Lara Rogers) is having a season to remember across the board and adds a 5000m appearance at the prestigious Prefontaine Classic to her resume, earning a start in the field led by Olympic champion Sifan Hassan (NED).

Racing free of pressure having already punched her ticket to the Olympic Games, Ryan will race to bolster her campaign to double in the 5000m, having already clocked a personal best of 14:57.67 this February.

Ryan could knock off that task on Sunday if she clocks the 14:52.00 Olympic standard, with the field certain to demand a hot pace with 18 women who own personal bests faster than that time – the fastest of which is Ejgayehu Taye (ETH) at 14:12.98.

By Lachlan Moorhouse, Athletics Australia
Posted 23/5/2024