PALO ALTO, Calif. — Stanford’s Cobb Track and Angell Field played home to the 2019 Prefontaine Classic on Sunday while reconstruction of Hayward Field continues. And though it wasn’t in our backyard, as usual, the SOJC Track Bureau was on hand for all the action.
Here’s what happened at the “Eugene” Diamond League:
Kenyan runner Timothy Cheruiyot didn’t notice a difference with the Stanford crowd and despite trouble with his travel plans to Palo Alto, he successfully defended his Bowerman Mile title with a winning time of 3 minutes, 50.49 seconds. Brooklynn Loiselle has the story.
While meet director Tom Jordan proclaimed Sunday to be “the best-ever one-day display of women’s distance running in U.S. history,” world-record holder Beatrice Chepkoech made easy work of a field with six of the eight fastest women’s 3,000 meter steeplechasers in history. Alex Castle has the story on another sub-9-minute performance for the defending Diamond League champion.
Brett Taylor covered the men’s shotput, where Darlan Romani set four new records to upset the world’s top two throwers in Ryan Crouser and Tomas Walsh.
In the women’s 3,000 meters, Nate Mann wrote about Nike Oregon Project’s Sifan Hissan, who joined an exclusive club with the first finish under 8:20 in 26 years. She bested her rival Genzebe Dibaba even though she “didn’t feel good” prior to the race.
In his first pole vault as a pro, Armand Duplantis got his revenge from a loss to Chris Nielsen at the 2019 NCAA championship and outdueled reigning world champion Sam Kendricks on his way to a Diamond League win. Brooklyn Loiselle spoke with Duplantis and Kendricks and has the full story.
Oregon alum and 1,500 meter runner Jessica Hull also made her professional debut at the Pre Classic. The Australian raced alongside Linden Hall, the nation’s record holder, and beat her while notching a personal record along the way. Brett Taylor has the full story.
In a potential preview of the women’s 1,500 meters world championships, Alex Castle covered Faith Kipyegon’s emphatic return from her maternity break and thrilling win over Laura Muir and Shelby Houlihan.
While Caster Semenya’s return to the women’s 800 meters may have been the meet’s headline story, Nate Mann looked at the impact the two-time Olympic gold medalist has on Ajeè Wilson and the event’s other contenders.
