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Women's One-Lap Talent Galore at Pre Classic

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Eugene Diamond League - Nike Prefontaine Classic   May 29th 2014, 11:06pm
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May 29, 2014
For Immediate Release

 

Women's One-Lap Talent Galore at Pre Classic

 

            Eugene, Oregon –Women who have won major gold medals and Diamond Race trophies lead a pair of one-lap fields at the Prefontaine Classic.  That group includes American record holder Sanya Richards-Ross in the 400 and Kaliese Spencer of Jamaica in the 400-meter hurdles.  The landmark 40th Pre Classic will be held May 30-31 at historic Hayward Field. 

            All-time great Richards-Ross, 29, has won gold medals at the Olympics, World Championships, and World Indoor Championships in the 400 meters.  A five-time Pre Classic winner, she has been ranked No. 1 in the world by Track & Field News six times, just one behind world record holder Marita Koch who last ran when Richards-Ross was 1 year old.  SRR is rebounding from foot surgery that kept her out almost all of last year, but ran the 2nd fastest split on the U.S. 4X400 team at the World Relays last weekend.

            With Richards-Ross on the sidelines last year, other women seized opportunity – especially Amantle Montsho, 30, of Botswana.  Montsho is the third fastest ever from Africa, and last year became the first in 25 years from that continent to rank No. 1 in the world in the event by T&FN.  Montsho, the defending and two-time Pre Classic winner, won gold at the World Championships in 2011, the first of three straight years she won the event’s IAAF Diamond Race.

             Francena McCorory, 25, took advantage even more recently, winning gold at the World Indoor Championships in March after finishing as the top American in the Moscow World Championships.  Natasha Hastings, 27, won the U.S. title last year and actually finished as the top American in T&FN’s world rankings at No. 4.

             Novlene Williams-Mills, 32, is one of two world-class Jamaicans in the field.  The fourth-fastest Jamaican ever will be joined by 25-year-old Stephenie Ann McPherson, who finished just out of the medals in last year’s Moscow World Championships.

            Also confirmed are former NCAA champ Joanna Atkins, 25, an Auburn alum who anchored Team USA to victory at last weekend's World Relays, and 30-year-old Italian record holder Libania Grenot.

 

Women’s 400 Meters

Personal Best

Sanya Richards-Ross (USA)

48.70

 

Amantle Montsho (Botswana)

49.33

 

Novlene Williams-Mills (Jamaica)

49.63

 

Natasha Hastings (USA)

49.84

 

Francena McCorory (USA)

49.86

 

Stephenie Ann McPherson (Jamaica)

49.92

 

Libania Grenot (Italy)

50.30

 

Joanna Atkins (USA)

50.39

 

 

            Jamaica’s Kaliese Spencer, 26, has never won a major medal of any color in the 400-meter hurdles, but has an international resume unlike any other in the field.  She won the first three IAAF Diamond Race trophies.

            A trio of Americans made major news last year, led by top-ranked Dalilah Muhammad, 24, who earned silver at last year’s Moscow World Championships.  She won the U.S. title, while 21-year-old NCAA champ Kori Carter of Stanford missed the final with an injury.  Carter set a collegiate record 53.21 at the NCAA in holding off  Georganne Moline, 24, from Arizona.  Among that group, Muhammad ranked highest in last year’s T&FN world rankings at No. 3, followed by Moline at No. 4 and Carter at No. 7.

            Rounding out the field are Denisa Rosolova of the Czech Republic, a finalist in the 2012 Olympics,  Italian record holder Yadisleidy Pedroso, and Olympic and World Champs finalist Tiffany Williams.

 

Women’s 400-Meters Hurdles

Personal Best

Kaliese Spencer (Jamaica)

52.79

 

Kori Carter (USA)

53.21

 

Tiffany Williams (USA)

53.28

 

Georganne Moline (USA)

53.72

 

Dalilah Muhammad (USA)

53.83

 

Denisa Rosolova (Czech Republic)

54.24

 

Yadisleidy Pedroso (Italy)

54.54

 

 

            Fans can follow the event lineups as all announced fields are posted at PreClassic.com.  The direct link to current start/entry lists is HERE and will include updates to all announced fields.

            Tickets for the 40th annual edition of the Prefontaine Classic, to be held May 30-31 at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore., are available now from PreClassic.com and from 1-800-WEBFOOT.  Sponsored by NIKE continuously since 1984, the Prefontaine Classic will be shown live to an international audience on NBCSN from 12:00-1:30 p.m. PT and by NBC Sports from 1:30 till 3:00 p.m. PT on Saturday, May 31.

            The Prefontaine Classic is the longest-running outdoor invitational track & field meet in America and is part of the elite IAAF Diamond League of meets held worldwide annually.  Last year’s Pre Classic was scored highest in the world by All-Athletics.com, the official data partner of the Diamond League.

            Steve Prefontaine is a legend in the sport of track & field and is the most inspirational distance runner in American history.  He set a national high school 2-mile record (8:41.5) while at Marshfield High School in Coos Bay, Oregon, that is still the fastest ever in a National Federation-sanctioned race.  While competing for the University of Oregon, he won national cross country championships (3) and outdoor track 3-Mile/5000-meter championships (4), and never lost a collegiate track race at any distance.  As a collegiate junior, he made the 1972 U.S. Olympic Team and nearly won an Olympic medal, finishing 4th in the 5K at the 1972 Munich Olympics, at age 22.  After finishing college in 1973 and preparing for a return to the Olympics in 1976, he continued to improve, setting many American records.  His life ended tragically on May 30, 1975, the result of an auto accident, at age 24.  The Pre Classic began that year and has been held every year since.

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