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Prefontaine Classic 2017 Meet Recap

Published by
DyeStat.com   May 28th 2017, 1:45am
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Taylor, Claye wage epic battle in Pre triple jump

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

EUGENE -- Christian Taylor vs. Will Claye took over the Prefontaine Classic on Saturday at Hayward Field and delivered some of the most compelling moments in a star-studded meet bursting with stories.

Claye produced a short-lived Hayward Field triple jump record when landed in the pit at 58 feet, 5.75 inches (17.82m) on his fourth-round attempt.

Taylor, the two-time Olympic champion and a former University of Florida teammate, answered Claye on the very next jump with 59-5 (18.11m) -- the third-best mark in history and the farthest ever on U.S. soil. It was also the second-best jump of Taylor's life.

Claye came back in the fifth round with a bid to take the lead. He produced a lifetime-best 59-2.75 (18.08). That would have been the eighth-best jump in history if not for a +2.4 wind reading.

"Hayward Magic," Taylor said. "When you have Eugene like this you cannot waste the day. ...(Claye) is always pushing me. He always wants to fight."

A picture-perfect day produced a string of results that set the table for the run-up to the IAAF World Championships in August in London.

British running icon Mo Farah, of the Nike Oregon Project, gave the Eugene crowd a final, indelible memory in the 5,000 meters before announcing that it was his final track race in the U.S.

Farah kicked away from his challengers in the final 200 meters to run 13:00.70 -- the fastest time in the world this year.

"It's hard to maintain year after year, and the year after that," Farah said.

Farah's legacy is cemented with double golds in the 5,000 and 10,000 at both the 2012 and 2016 Olympic Games.

His final race at Hayward Field, Farah said, was "emotional."

"This is where it started for me. In 2011, if you guys remember, it was my breakthrough year. I wasn't expected to win the race and I won and broke the British record," he said, referring to the Prefontaine Classic 10,000 he won that year.

"It gave me a massive boost of confidence."

American Tori Bowie ran a sensational time of 21.77 seconds to beat an Olympic final-caliber field in the women's 200 meters. She beat 400 gold medalist Shaunae Miller-Uibo (21.91), 100 and 200 gold medalist Elaine Thompson (21.98), 200 silver medalist Dafne Schippers (22.30) and nine-time Olympic medalist Allyson Felix (22.33).

High school pole vault prodigy Mondo Duplantis of Lafayette LA tantalized the crowed in a fourth-place finish that saw him just miss his final two attempts at 19-0.75.

"I wouldn't say (it was) the wrong pole, but maybe the wrong standards. I think if they were in one centimeter I would have made it," Duplantis said.

He finished with 18-8.75 (5.71m), once centimeter better than his father Greg's winning mark at the Pre Classic in 1992.

American Sam Kendricks pulled out a close victory over Frenchman Renaud Lavillenie for the victory with 19-2.75.

In the men's shot put, Ryan Crouser made a successful homecoming after winning the Olympic title last summer. A year ago, coming out of a grueling academic program at the University of Texas, Crouser came to the Pre Classic and had to buy competition gear from a local store. He placed sixth.

Crouser  broke the meet record Saturday with 73-7.25 (22.43m), the second-best throw in the world this year.

"I feel big and strong," Crouser said. "Aesthetically, the throws weren't the prettiest."

Ashley Spencer won the women's 400-meter hurdles with a lifetime-best 53.38 seconds, edging out Shamier Little (53.44). Olympic champion Dalilah Muhammad was fifth.

Jasmin Stowers led a 1-7 all-U.S. result in the women's 100 hurdles with 12.59 seconds.

Olympic champion Omar McLeod ran a world-leading 13.01 in the men's 110-meter hurdles, while former Oregon star Devon Allen ran an encouraging 13.11 for third on his way back from knee surgery.

Maria Lasitskene, a Russian athlete competing as a neutral athlete, broke the Hayward Field record in the women's high jump, clearing 6-8 (2.03m).

In the international men's mile, 16-year-old Norwegian Jakob Ingebrigtsen became the youngest man to break the four-minute mark with 3:58.07 for 11th place. His older brother Henrik placed third in the same race and another brother, Filip, was eighth in the Bowerman Mile at the conclusion of the meet.

"He was born to run," Henrik said of his younger brother.

American prep D.J. Principe of La Salle RI fought to hold on at the tail end of the pack in the international race and finished in 4:00.73, a slight PR over his best indoor time from January.

Ronald Kwemoi was the day's fastest miler, winning the Bowerman race in 3:49.04, leading a 1-4 Kenyan sweep. Clayton Murphy was fifth with a PR 3:51.99.

Morolake Akinosun beat a strong field in the women's 100 meters in 10.94 seconds (2.1w). Ronnie Baker won the men's 100 in 9.86 (2.8w).

South African Caster Semenya won the 800 meters in 1:57.78 in an event where the Olympic medalists all finished in the top three.

Faith Kipyegon of Kenya won the women's 1,500 in 3:59.67.

Florida prep Tyrese Cooper ran a wind-legal best of 20.51 to win the Nike Elite Camp boys 200 meters. He was aiming to go a bit faster, but didn't get to go head to head with Hakim Sani Brown, who scratched with a hip injury.

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