May 26, 2014
For Immediate Release

World Leaders Ready to Sprint at Pre Classic

            Eugene, Oregon – Many of the fastest sprinters in the world are lining up to race in the Prefontaine Classic.  The lanes should be painted in gold.

            The landmark 40^th Pre Classic will be held May 30-31 at historic Hayward Field.  Two amazing fields include a man with the most Pre Classic 100 titles and two women with at least four major gold medals facing off in the 200 Meters.

            Justin Gatlin is the fastest man in the world this year at 9.87 seconds, kicking on cylinders last seen when he won Olympic gold in 2004.  He has won the Pre Classic four times, more than any other in this event including a list that boasts multi-winners Carl Lewis (2) and Maurice Greene (3).  Gatlin, the reigning Diamond Race winner in the 100 Meters, earned silver in last year’s World Championships in Moscow, and currently has the two fastest times in the world, both run with 0.0 wind.

            Nesta Carter, the man with the fastest personal best in the field at 9.78, is one of few to have beaten Gatlin, but Gatlin still has an 8-3 career record.

            Mike Rodgers, the 2009 Pre Classic winner, is coming off his best year, ranking No. 3 in the world by Track & Field News in 2013.

            Jamaica’s Nickel Ashmeade won last year’s Pre Classic 200 and was a finalist in last year’s 100 in the World Championships.  France’s Jimmy Vicaut, the youngest in the field at 22, was another World Championships finalist.  Also in the race are South African Simon Magakwe, at 9.98 the first African to run sub-10 and Chinese record holder Zhang Peimeng (10.00).

            Can it get any better?  Most definitely.  Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, 27, won gold last year in the Moscow World Championships women’s 200, along with 100-meter and relay golds. For her accomplishments, she was named the IAAF Athlete of the Year.  SAFP's pair of Olympic gold medals in the 100 puts her in an exclusive club with Wyomia Tyus and Gail Devers. All told, Fraser-Pryce owns five individual major golds.

            Allyson Felix, 28, the reigning Olympic champ at 200, has her own club.  She’s the only 3-time gold medalist in the World Championships in the 200 and still seeking her first Pre Classic title.  Felix owns four individual major golds.

            Watch out for a long jumper who knows how to sprint.  Nigeria’s Blessing Okagbare won silver in last year’s World Championships long jump and bronze in the 200.  The 25-year-old earned a bronze in the long jump at the 2008 Olympics.

            A truly loaded field includes World Championships silver medalist Murielle Ahoure of the Ivory Coast as well as Kimberlyn Duncan, winner of The Bowerman award as the year's most outstanding student-athlete for her 2012 season at LSU.  Also in the field is two-time NCAA 100 champ English Gardner, formerly of Oregon.

            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 40^th 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 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 4^th 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.