By Brooklynn Loiselle
SAN MATEO, Calif. — After Sam Kendricks won the pole vault at the Prefontaine Classic in May 2018, he took a victory lap. No one told him to do it, but no one also said that he could not do it.
“I said, ‘This might be the last time I do it in Old Hayward,’” Kendricks said Saturday at the press conference ahead of the 2019 Pre Classic. “But it will be OK.”
He was right. No one stopped him.
Hayward Field is currently being rebuilt to accommodate larger events, especially the 2021 IAAF world championships. So, this year’s Pre Classic, for the first time in its history, is not in Eugene. Instead, Kendricks will compete Sunday in the pole vault at Cobb Track and Angell Field at Stanford University.
The meet is still sold out, and the fields are still world class – in the pole vault, Kendricks will compete against every active athlete who has cleared 6 meters (19 feet, 8 ¼ inches). The bibs for the meet even still say “Eugene.” Yet the venue still lacks the history, prestige and atmosphere of Hayward Field.
For athletes like Kendricks, Hayward was more than a venue—it was a home.
“I jumped more at Hayward Field than I competed at my own university track when I was a collegian,” Kendricks said.
Hayward Field was home to the Oregon Ducks, 11 NCAA championships and six U.S. Olympic Trials. Additionally, it was the home field for the late Steve Prefontaine, for whom the Pre Classic is named.
“I don’t think you’ll ever be able to recreate that type of history that happened inside of that building, inside of that facility,” said Christian Coleman, the 100-meter world leader who won both his NCAA 100 and 200 meter titles at Hayward Field. “But the new facility that they are building, I am excited about. I think it will be really great.”
Cobb Track and Angell Field has had to undergo renovations of its own in order to accommodate such high-level athletes. Bleachers have been added so that the stadium, which normally seats 1,736 people, can now seat 8,000. Additionally, Stanford staff had to expand the shot put area, which wasn’t big enough to accommodate some of Ryan Crouser’s throws this season.
Cobb Track and Angell Field is new to the Diamond League, making it unfamiliar to the athletes who are competing there.
Kendricks has never vaulted there. He has not studied its pit. He has not even ever seen the track. However, these uncertainties are not alarming him.
“Every venue has its characteristics,” Kendricks said. “So, just be assuming that the change is the only thing that stays constant. If I found anything that is similar, it would almost be odd.”
Already this year, Kendricks has vaulted in Des Moines, Doha, Stockholm, Hengelo, Oslo, Chorzów and Ostrava, winning all but one of the meets.
Kendricks, the first American to have back-to-back world No. 1 rankings in pole vault since Bob Seagren in 1968-1969, faces stiff competition at the Pre Classic including Thiago Braz, the Rio gold medalist; Renaud Lavillenie, the world record holder; and 19-year-old Armand Duplantis, who currently ranks fourth in the Diamond League.
Kendricks finds the competition encouraging—especially when looking forward to reopening Hayward Field next spring. The Pre Classic will return to Hayward in 2020, along with the U.S. Olympic Trials.
“We want to be the guys that are going to be hard to beat for generations to come,” Kendricks said. “We want a legacy of honor and integrity that comes from this stadium, because my name is going to be on it one day—a guy that competed in inaugural years of the new Hayward Field—and that’s going to be cool.”
