By Edward Burnette
Marie-Josée Ta Lou followed up her win in the 100 meters at the Doha Diamond League event on May 4 with another win on Saturday at the 44th annual Prefontaine Classic against a field that included global sprint champions Elaine Thompson, Dafne Schippers and Murielle Ahouré.
The second Diamond League race of the season ended with two sprinters from Ivory Coast in front. Ta Lou crossed the line first in a time of 10.88, just ahead of Ahouré in second in a season-best 10.90.
Elaine Thompson of Jamaica rounded out the top three in a time of 10.98. Schippers finished in 11.01 for her best time of the season in fourth place.
Ta Lou and Ahouré again found themselves in the top three of a sprint, following up their first- and third-place finishes, respectively, in the 100 meters in the Doha.
“I’m happy to be again the winner and run sub-11,” said Ta Lou. “I just know that if I want to win it I have to have a good start.”
Ahouré led after the first 30 meters and held tight to first place for the majority of the race. In the closing meters, and especially in the final 20 meters, Ta Lou caught and passed Ahouré for the lead and the win.
Ta Lou said this race “means a lot because I train hard. If I win, I know my training was good in the past days.”
Both sprinters continued their recent string of successful races. Ta Lou holds the fastest time in the 100 this year of 10.85 from her win at Doha. She also won the same event at the Compiégne French Club Championships less than a week ago.
Ahouré finished second in this event at last year’s Prefontaine Classic in a time of 10.96 and finished fourth in the recent Doha meet.
“I felt a lot better in this race for sure,”Ahouré said. “It’s still early; this is only my second race of the season. I’m comfortably dropping 10.96 in Doha, and to come here, I’m really happy. It’s always nice to run in Eugene. I love running here; this is probably my fifth or sixth time running [in Eugene] so it feels like home.”
For both runners, the Pre Classic served as a welcome opportunity to face top-quality competition.
“I want to improve myself because this year there is not much competition except the African Championships,” Ta Lou said. “I want to be my best in 100 and 200 meters.”
Ahouré put it more simply: “It’s a great field. The great thing about this meet is the competition is always fierce, so it’s really exciting.”
