Justin Gatlin of the US wins Pre's 100m with same time as Asafa Powell of Jamaica (© Kirby Lee)
Eugene, Oregon, USAA "duel" between coWorld 100m record holders Justin Gatlin and Asafa Powell will take center stage in the Prefontaine Classic on Sunday, 28 May, the USA’s leg of the IAAF World Athletics Tour.
Unfortunately, it won’t be in the same race. Gatlin and Powell will run in separate races with the winner determined by combining the times of the two heats.
Nevertheless, it’s still the closest Gatlin and Powell have come to a head-to-head competition since Gatlin tied Powell’s world record of 9.77 in the Qatar Super Grand Prix on 12 May.
The outing will have to suffice until a scheduled race between Gatlin and Powell in Gateshead, England on 11. June.
In addition to Gatlin, world yearly leaders Wallace Spearmon (200m), Liu Xiang (110m hurdles), Bershawn Jackson (400m Hurdles), Christian Cantwell (Shot Put), Aleksandr Tammert of Estonia (Discus), Sarah Jamieson of Australia (women’s 1500m) and Chaunte Howard (women’s High Jump) are expected for the 32nd annual meet named after American distance runner Steve Prefontaine, who died in an automobile crash at age 24 in 1975.
Gatlin and Powell in separate 100m dashes
Gatlin and Powell have attracted the pre-meet hype in the 100m. Gatlin won their watch in the 2005 Prefontaine meet with both runners timed in 9.84. The two, though, figure to have plenty of competition in their respective heats.
Leonard Scott, a former teammate of Gatlin's at the University of Tennessee, won the World Indoor 60m title in Moscow in March, and Jamaica’s Dwight Thomas was fifth behind Gatlin in the Helsinki World Championships 100m final.
There’s also Gatlin’s training partner Shawn Crawford, the 2004 Olympic 200m champion, and Jason Smoots, who ran a 10.04 PB at the Modesto Relays on 6 May.
U.S. All-Comers Record in jeopardy in the men's Mile
Rachid Ramzi of Bahrain and Bernard Lagat displayed their fitness in finishing first and second in 3:32.34 and 3:32.94 in the adidas Track Classic in Carson, Calif. on 21 May.
Ramzi’s time was the fastest run on U.S. soil, breaking a mark of 3:32.53 dating to 1984 by Sebastian Coe of Great Britain at the 1984 Olympics. Lagat’s mark set an American all-comer’s mark of 3:33.1 set by Jim Ryun in 1967.
Now, Throw in Daniel Kipchirchir Komen of Kenya, the world’s top-rated miler of 2005 with a 3:48.49 PB, into the mix and Hicham El Guerrouj’s U.S. soil mark of 3:49.92 set in the 2001 Prefontaine meet could go down.
Kenyan Alex Kipchirchir returns to defend his title and Alan Webb returns to Pre where he set a U.S. all-comer’s record of 3:50.85 in 2004 and the American high school record of 3:53.43 in 2001.
In the men’s two mile, Eliud Kipchoge is back to defend his title after setting a U.S. All-Comers record of 8:07.68 at Pre in 2005. Kipchoge will be challenged by Ben Limo of Kenya and Sileshi Sihine of Ethiopia, the Helsinki gold and silver 5,000m medallists.
Spearmon tops solid half-lap contest
Wallace Spearmon was the World silver 200m medallist and posted the world’s top time of the year at 19.89. He is coming off a 2006 world-leading mark of 20.06 at the adidas Track Classic, a mark well under the Pre meet record of 20.15 set by Michael Johnson in 1995.
The field also includes Wes Felix, the older brother of Allyson Felix, Coby Miller and Jamaican Ainsley Waugh.
Wide open men's 400m
The 400m will feature five of the top 10 from the 2005 rankings with Tyler Christopher of Canada (second), Tyree Washington (sixth), Darold Williamson (eighth), defending champion Michael Blackwood of Jamaica (ninth) and LaShawn Merritt (10).
John Stevenson of Australia won the Commonwealth Games title in March in 44.93. Merritt (44.67) and Gary Kikaya of the Democratic Republic of Congo (44.72) rank second and third on the yearly world leader list. Williamson (44.88) has also run under 45 seconds this season, while Alleyne Francique of Greneda won the World Indoor 400m title and finished second in the Commonwealth Games this season.
Mutola looking for 14th straight in women’s 800m
It’s difficult to find another athlete who has had more success than Maria Mutola of Mozambique within the confines of Hayward Field at the Pre Classic.
Mutola, 33, a former Eugene resident, will be seeking a record 14th consecutive win in the 800m. Mutola, fourth in the 2005 World Championships, will be challenged by Jamiacan Kenia Sinclair, the World Indoor and Commonwealth Games silver medallist; Frances Santin, a 2006 World Indoor semifinalist; along with Americans Hazel Clark and Alice Schmidt and Canadian Diane Cummins.
In the women’s 1500m, Sarah Jamieson has posted the top four times in the world this year, including a leader 4:03.51 in Osaka on 5 May and a 4:05.54 win at the adidas Track Classic for the No. 4 mark. The yearly world list, though, could have a major revision after Sunday with defending World Champion Tatyana Tomashova of Russia and Maryam Jamal of Bahrain, who had the world’s fastest time of 2005 at 3:56.79, ready to race.
Golden hurdles competitions
The 110m Hurdles, the men's 400m intermediates and women’s 100m Hurdles will each feature the defending World Champions.
In the 110m Hurdles includes 1996 Olympic champion Allen Johnson and 2004 Athens winner Liu Xiang of China and Helsinki gold medallist Ladji Doucoure. The field also includes Dominique Arnold, who was third in the 60m Hurdles in the 2006 World Indoor Championships, 2003 NCAA champion Ryan Wilson of USC and American Joel Brown.
Over the full-lap barriers, World Champion Bershawn Jackson has the world’s top time of 2006 at 47.60. Jackson will be challenged by James Carter and Kerron Clement and Bayano Kamani of Panama.
The women’s 100m Hurdles pits 2003 World champion Perdita Felicien of Canada, 2005 Helsinki champion Michelle Perry and 2005 World Championships bronze medallist Brigitte Foster-Hylton.
Perry is coming off a victory over Felicien in the adidas Track Classic with a wind-aided 12.61 for the world’s fastest time of the year under any conditions. Athens Olympic champion Joanna Hayes, who is continuing to rehabilitate a strain in her (right lead) hamstring, suffered in the USA Track & Field Indoor Championships in February.
Bergqvist-Howard rematch in High Jump
Kasja Bergqvist of Sweden and Chaunte Howard, who finished 1-2 in the High Jump in Helsinki, will headline the event at Pre.
Howard jumped a world-leading 2.00m at the Mt. San Antonio College Relays on 15 April while Bergqvist, who missed the World Indoor Championships because of an ankle sprain, moved into a tie for No. 2 on the yearly list with a 1.97 clearance at the Qatar Super Grand Prix.
Amy Acuff and Russians Marina Kuptsova and Yelena Slesarenko round out the field.
World Champions Phillips, Davis and Madison in horizontal jumps
The men's Long Jump pits 2004 Olympic champion and two-time World Champion Dwight Phillips against Miguel Pate. Pate won the 2005 USATF title after missing the 2004 season when he tore his lateral cruciate, anterior cruciate and posterior cruciate ligaments on his final jump of the 2003 Pre meet after winning the competition at 8.27m.
In the Triple Jump, reigning World indoor and outdoor champion Walter Davis faces 2004 Olympic champion Christian Olsson of Sweden.
In the women’s Long Jump, Helsinki World Champion Tianna Madison takes on 2005 World Triple Jump champion Tatyana Kotova of Russia. Commonwealth Games champion Bronwyn Thompson has jumped 6.97m. The field also features Eunice Barber of France, the 2003 World Champion, and Americans Grace Upshaw, Rose Richmond and Akiba McKinney.
Akiba McKinney, the 2006 USATF Indoor Champion, sailed to a career-best 6.83m.at the Mt. San Antonio College Relays on 15 April but was forced to pull out of meets in Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic earlier this month after sickness from contaminated ice cubes.
Cantwell, Hoffa and Nelson in Shot Put
Christian Cantwell and Reese Hoffa, the world outdoor and indoor leaders, along with 2005 World Champion Adam Nelson will take to the Shot Put ring. Cantwell has the top two throws in the world at 22.10m and 21.43m and Nelson is No. 3 at 21.28m. Hoffa had the top three indoor throws of 2006, including a 22.11m effort to win his first world title in Moscow.
Virgilijus Alekna of Lithuania will make an appearance in the discus, an event that he has dominated in recent years with wins in the last two Olympic Games and World Championships.
The inaugural Pre women’s hammer competition features three national record holders in Erin Gilreath of the U.S., Ivana Brkljacic of Croatia and Jennifer Joyce of Canada.
'Who’s Who' of U.S. Pole Vault
The pole vault will feature defending World indoor champion Brad Walker, 2004 Olympic champion Tim Mack, Athens Olympic silver medallist Toby Stevenson, 2000 Olympic champion Nick Hysong and 2004 Olympics finalist Derek Miles.
Kirby Lee for the IAAF
