After the highs and lows of the Tokyo Olympics, postponed by one year and transpiring in the midst of a global pandemic, the remainder of the athletics season could have easily petered out. Instead precisely two weeks on from the Summer Games, the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene played host to one of the all-time great track and field meets.
The short interval has not been kind to men’s sprinting, with the surprise 100 metre champion Lamont Marcell Jacobs ruling himself out until next season, while the relay silver medalist CJ Ujah has been provisionally suspended owing to a failed drugs test. But in Tokyo the stars of the show were the women, and in Eugene it was Elaine Thompson Herah who once more came out ahead.
Nobody commands the Olympic stage quite like Thompson Herah, who in Tokyo completed an unprecedented double-double by once more securing gold over 100 and 200 metres. Her winning time in the 100 metres of 10.61 was the second-fastest in history, only behind Florence Griffith-Joyner but crucially ahead of her major contemporary rival Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce.
The Tokyo Olympics then served to whet the appetite for the Prefontaine Classic, which boasted a stronger field owing to the return of Sha’Carri Richardson. It was Richardson who set the pace back at the start of the season, with her time of 10.72 in Florida making her the sixth-fastest woman in history, before a marijuana violation during the course of the American trials resulted in a customary one-month ban from the sport. In the meantime Fraser-Pryce ran 10.63 in Kingston, and headed into Tokyo as the favourite even as Thompson Herah rounded into form.
The women’s 100 metre race in Eugene lived up to its billing as a bona fide classic. Just like in Tokyo, it was Thompson Herah who spearheaded a Jamaican top three. Her time of 10.54 smashed the mark which she set in Tokyo, for the first time in more than thirty years bringing Griffith-Joyner’s controversial world record within sight. Fraser-Pryce finished second, with Shericka Jackson and Teahna Daniels scoring new personal bests as four women went well under 10.90. That left world class athletes like Marie-Josée Ta Lou and Mujinga Kambundji languishing despite their fast times, with Sha’Carri Richardson on her return to the track disappointed to finish in last place.
In Eugene the men also stepped up to the plate. With the exception of the reliable South African Akani Simbine, it was a North American affair in the sprints. Over 100 metres, Canada’s Andre De Grasse held off the challenge of the 400 metre convert Fred Kerley, with Ronnie Baker coming through for third place. The winning time of 9.74 would have entered the history books if it wasn’t for a strong tailwind.
In the men’s 200 metres, Noah Lyles revelled in a return to form after a challenging Olympic campaign left him with a bronze medal. His time of 19.52 in Eugene was a world lead and reiterated his standing as the fourth-fastest runner in history. With Kenny Bednarek in second, it was celebrations all round for the Lyles family as Noah’s younger brother Josephus pushed years of injury to one side to finish third in a personal best of 20.03. In the women’s race, Mujinga Kambundji pulled double duty to come out ahead of Gabrielle Thomas and Dina Asher-Smith.
History was also being made in the middle distance events, especially in the 800 metres where the fresh-faced Olympic champion Athing Mu ran away from the field. Tying up towards the finish line, Mu looked a tad disappointed even as a time of 1:55.04 gave her a fourth personal best of the season, a meeting record, national record, and world lead while making her the eighth fastest woman ever over the distance.
In Tokyo the 1500 metre great Faith Kipyegon had to share some of the spotlight with Laura Muir and Sifan Hassan, who won memorable silver and bronze medals even as Kipyegon raced away to retain her Olympic title. In Eugene the Kenyan athlete was in a league of her own, finishing far ahead of the field to set a new meeting record. Hassan opted instead to race over 5000 metres, setting a new season’s best on distance night in Eugene.
Distance night, which took place on Friday evening, also featured the seldom competed two mile race. In the women’s event Francine Niyonsaba decimated an elite field. A silver medalist over 800 metres at the Rio Olympics, the Burundian has been barred from competing over the middle distance events owing to her naturally elevated level of testosterone. In a week where testosterone levels and intersex conditions were again making headlines within the sport, Niyonsaba stepped up to the longer distance and beat two of the all-time greats in Letesenbet Gidey and Hellen Obiri, narrowly missing out on a world record.
In the men’s race, Joshua Cheptegei held his form to earn a measure of revenge over Selemon Barega, who won the 10,000 metre title in Tokyo to deny Cheptegi an historic double. In fact the two mile men’s race produced a rare photo finish, with Barega just managing to hold on ahead of Paul Chelimo for second place.
The big story in men’s middle distance racing this season has been the emergence of Jakob Ingebrigtsen on the world stage. But as the young Dane has kicked on and started to fulfill some of his tremendous potential, the subtext has been the subdued form of Timothy Cheruiyot. After struggling to make the Kenyan team, Cheruiyot still headed into Tokyo with a pristine record against his Danish opponent, but at the eleventh time of asking it was Ingebrigtsen who came out ahead. Gold in the final of the 1500 metres was accompanied by new European and Olympic records.
On Saturday at the newly renovated Hayward Field, it was Ingebrigtsen and Cheruiyot leading the lineup for the Bowerman Mile, named after the legendary Oregon coach and Nike co-founder Bill Bowerman. Eschewing the expected runoff between the top two names in the event, instead the Australian Stewart McSweyn led from the front, as he and Ingebrigtsen left the rest of the field trailing. Inevitably Ingebrigtsen kicked on over the last lap to take the race, with McSweyn in second and Cheruiyot winning the scrap for third.
In the men’s 800 metres, Marco Arop beat out some of the longest names in the sport, as the Canadian prevailed over Ferguson Cheruiyot Rotich and Emmanuel Kipkurui Korir. In the women’s steeplechase, Norah Jeruto kept the records coming at the head of one of the fastest races in history. Steadily pulling away from the pack, her winning mark of 8:53.65 was the third-fastest of all time, with Courtney Frerichs also smashing nine minutes to establish a new North American area record. And in the 400 metre hurdles, Dalilah Muhammad scored a meeting record as the silver medalist from Tokyo remains in fine fettle.
The competition was less fierce in some of the field events, with visa issues and a slight crosswind serving to thin out the vertical jumping. Katie Nageotte still managed to cement her status as the best in the world in the women’s pole vault, while anyone still feeling put out by the show of friendship between Mutaz Barshim and Gianmarco Tamberi in Tokyo had only to turn to the women’s high jump.
Eugene gave us a jump-off between Iryna Gerashchenko and Vashti Cunningham, who scaled 1.98 with the same number of failures before falling short at 2 metres. The Ukrainian and the American dropped back down through the heights, failing at 2.00, at 1.98, at 1.96, and even at 1.94 before both athletes made the jump at 1.92. Stepping back up to 1.94, it was Gerashchenko who cleared the bar to take the victory.
While Tokyo provided welcome respite, the dreaded sudden death format was back in the remainder of the field events. Rather than allowing everyone to compete over six rounds, the top three athletes over five rounds see their earlier scores scrapped, with their final sixth-round performances deciding the winning positions.
The absurdity of the format was laid bare repeatedly in Eugene. In the triple jump, Pedro Pichardo went beyond 17 metres in the first round, then sat out his next four jumps knowing he had already qualified for the decider. Pichardo still dominated the event, securing victory with a comfortable winning jump of 17.63.
In the shot put, the local favourite Ryan Crouser threw farther than his opponents on five consecutive occasions, but still faced the prospect of a stumble in the decider. His nearest challenger Joe Kovacs fouled out with his sixth-round throw, and Crouser managed to overcome Darlan Romani even with his second-shortest throw of the session. Oregon born and bred, victory on home soil completed a memorable summer for Crouser, who claimed gold in Tokyo after excelling at the American trials, where his throw of 23.37 bested a 31-year-old world record.
Nearly 9,000 fans attended the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, inside Hayward Field which was substantially rebuilt before reopening in April. The sweeping curves and timber beams of the new grandstand can welcome a regular capacity of 12,650, expandable to almost 25,000 for major events as the stadium prepares to host the 2022 World Athletics Championships. In the meantime track and field heads to Lausanne for the next stop in the Diamond League season.
