At historic Hayward Field located in Eugene, Oregon, this year’s 2015 Prefontaine Classic was a memorable one with many solid performances from American athletes. Being a part of the IAAF Diamond League Circuit, there was an elite cast of international athletes in attendance who did not disappoint the packed stadium.
On the men’s side, Tyson Gay continued his comeback trail to elite form by winning the 100m dash in a time of 9.88 seconds. This race was his first coming off the comments made by rival, and World’s Fastest Man Usain Bolt, who did not compete at the meet. Gay was very sluggish out of the blocks and had to use every last meter to catch and pass fellow American Mike Rodgers, who finished 2nd with a time of 9.90 seconds. Four of the eight men that race were under 10 seconds.
Other Americans who performed well were Matt Centrowitz, who placed 2nd in the Bowerman Mile with a time of 3:51.20. The race went out at a pedestrian pace but Centrowitz was able to hang tough and make enough moves to even take the lead down the final stretch. But defending champion and rising middle distance star Ayanleh Souleiman of Djibouti was too much and took the race in a time of 3:51.1. Galen Rupp ran a tough 5000m run against some of the top world competitors and came up just short of taking home a victory on his alma mater’s track, finishing 3rdwith a time of 13:12.36. He was in the mix of the slow paced race and was able to respond when the eventual winner and runner up made their moves with 800m left to go. He made a push towards the end but was held off by Edwin Cheruiyot Soi of Kenya (13:11.97) and Yomif Kejelcha of Ethiopia (13:10.54), who finished 2nd and 1st respectively. American record holder Evan Jager made his season premiere at the 3k Steeplechase and took 4thin a fast paced race with a time only 1 second off of his American Record in 8:05.28. The top three were Conseslus Kipruto (8:05.20), Jairus Kipchoge Birech (8:01.83), and Ezekiel Kemboi (8:01.71), all of Kenya.
Olympic champion in both the 5000m and 10,000m run Mo Farah of Great Britain, survived a back and forth race which featured the best field of the meet. He won the 10,000m run with a time of 26:50.97, barely edging out Paul Kipngetich Tanui (26:51.86) and Geoffrey Kipsang Kamworor (26:52.65), both of Kenya. He was happy with the victory but after the race expressed some disappointment in not setting a personal record in the event. He felt that the field was strong enough to get him to that mark, but he seems poised to repeat his double at the World Championships later this year.
For the American women, Jenny Simpson led the way winning the 1500m run in a world-best time of 4:00.98. It was a fast race which Simpson needed to out kick everyone in the last 100m to hold off a strong group which included the European Champion in the 1500m Sifan Hassan of Netherlands (4:01.65), who took 3rd overall. In the 400m run two of America’s running stars, Allison Felix and reigning Olympic Champion at the event Sonya Richards-Ross, had dominant races. Felix won the race with a time of 50.05, barely missing going sub 50 for the first time, and Richards-Ross places second with a time of 50.29. There was never any doubt that either Felix or Richards-Ross would win the event, but with about 110m to go Felix had a surge left in her to hold off Richards-Ross.
In the 5000m run Genzebe Dibaba of Ethiopia made a dominant season debut, running away from the field with a time of 14:19.76. That is the second fastest time in the world this season and was 12 seconds faster than 2nd place finisher Faith Chepngetich Kipyegon of Kenya (14:31.95).
There were overall some fast races at this year’s Prefontaine Classic with an elite group of competitors that we have come to expect at this meet. Many of the distance races went out very slow and the athletes had to do a lot of work to salvage a solid time. U.S.A. had a strong showing and both the Men’s and Women’s teams look to have as good of a chance as any nation once the World Championships arrive. Next up in the IAAF Diamond League Circuit is the Golden Gala in Rome, Italy on June 4th.
You can find the complete results of the 2015 Prefontaine Classic at http://www.iaaf.org/results/diamond-league-meetings/2015/eugene-idlprefontaine-classic-5646.
