Prefontaine Classic: AR for Frerichs and Mu, Thompson-Herah wows as Richardson fades
The much anticipated first post-Olympic showdown has now come and passed. The perennial Prefontaine Classic at historic Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon marked the eighth Diamond League meet of the year and it was propped up to be something special.
This is predominantly due to the controversy and incredible field of athletes positioned to participate in the women’s 100m dash.
Women’s 100m
Track and field fans remember all too well, especially here in the U.S., the grief and disappointment following sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson’s removal from the Olympic team due to banned substance abuse following her dominant year culminating in the Olympic Trials blowout.
Well, we were given an opportunity to see what she could do against six of the eight Olympic finalists and the only two women still competing who have run faster than Richardson in history.
As usual, she was brash and full of spunk heading into the competition, but she was quickly outclassed on the day the moment the gun went off.
The Jamaican contention — the three podium finishers in Tokyo — were out quickly and made it clear they were the ones to beat.
Gold medalist and Olympic record-holder Elaine Thompson-Herah, sprinted through the line in 10.54 seconds, becoming the second-fastest woman ever, falling only short of Florence Griffith Joyner’s world record 10.49. That time had not come close to being touched since the day it was set.
Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and compatriot Shericka Jackson were second and third with 10.73 and 10.76 respectively.
Richardson finished in last with a time of 11.14 seconds, looking exceptionally lackluster. After a month off, it appeared there was less refinement and no additional gear to shift into as we’ve seen over the last season.
In her exit interview, she was quick to assert, “This is one race. I’m not done. Count me out if you want to. Talk all the shit you want. Because I’m here to stay. I’m not done. I’m the 6th fastest woman in this game — ever. And can’t nobody ever take that from me.”
Men’s 100m
I felt this would be a pretty exciting race as well given the stacked field.
Coming off an absolute barn-burner of an Olympic Games, Canadian Andre de Grasse found himself powering to a new personal best of 9.73 seconds which is incredible! The wind was 2.9 m/s which is outside the allowable 2.0 m/s limit so it won’t be considered a legal time, but that only goes to show just what might be possible for the re-energized and confident sprinter.
Tokyo’s silver medalist, Fred Kerley finished in second with a 9.78 and Ronnie Baker, a 9.82.
The man of the hour was the world leader and comeback kid, Trayvon Bromell. Coming off a paltry performance at the Olympics, we expected to see a fresher Bromell today.
He had a strong start, though seemed to be a bit rockier than usual, and ran well, but couldn’t seem to overtake the leaders. He finished fourth in 9.86.
Both Michael Norman and the Justin “Grandpa“ Gatlin also ran well with 9.90 and 9.93.
Women’s 3000m steeplechase
It seemed from the get-go that American record-holder and 2020 Olympic silver medalist Courtney Frerichs was on a mission to become only the sixth woman to break the 9-minute barrier.
Quickly, Frerichs and Norah Jeruto of Kenya separated from the pack and pushed the pace knowing it was going to be fast.
When all was said and done, Jeruto — already the fifth-fastest woman over the distance — annihilated her best by almost exactly six seconds and set a new meeting record.
Frerichs also dipped below the 9-minute barrier and set another American record with a time of 8:57.77!
Hyvin Kiyeng, also from Kenya, had a third near-miss at breaking nine seconds. Today she ran 9:00.05 to go with her 9:00.12 and 9:00.01. Talk about tough luck.
Women’s 800m
Keeping with the trend, standout 19-year-old Athing Mu just keeps getting better. She added a new American record to her Olympic gold medal, with a time of 1:55.04.
She had stated prior to the meet that Eugene would be her last meet of the year and she wanted to go out and just try and run something fast. She certainly did that and it wasn’t even close.
With a lap to go there was no one within spitting distance as she continued to increase her lead.
Kate Grace finished in second with a very solid time of 1:57.60, while fellow Americans Raevyn Rogers was fourth with 1:58.01, and Ajee Wilson was seventh in 2:00.21. Wilson owned the American record with a 1:55.61 prior to today’s race.
This time places Mu number nine all-time, and she’s only just getting started.
Men’s 200m
After what some might consider a slightly disappointing Olympic 200m result, Noah Lyles put his foot down today and didn’t let go. He looked like the Lyles of two years ago and, in fact, ran only two one-hundredths of a second off his personal best with a 19.52.
That time registers as the fastest 200m run this year and he did so against the man who beat him in Tokyo, silver medalist Kenny Bednarek.
Bednarek finished second today with another fantastic time of 19.80 seconds.
Perhaps the biggest surprise after Lyle’s 19.52, was his brother, Josephus, who ran a new personal best of 20.03 — just missing out on breaking into the nineteens.
Surprise entry, 400m hurdler silver medalist Rai Benjamin, stepped down to run the 200m and ran a strong bend to finish with a 20.16, not too far off his 19.99 personal best.
Women’s 200m
Speaking of surprises, Sweden’s Mujinga Kambundji jolted the crowd by pulling an upset in today’s 200m.
The lineup included the most decorated woman in track and field history, Allyson Felix, Jenna Prandini, Dina Asher-Smith, and Tokyo bronze medalist Gabby Thomas.
Kambundji ran herself around the curve in contention with Thomas and was shockingly able to withstand the much stronger finisher.
Kambundji also ran from lane two which is much tighter, but she did have the benefit of seeing the rest of the competition.
She finished with a personal best of 22.06 just edging out Thomas who ran 22.12, albeit all times were wind-aided (2.4 m/s).
Felix ran what looked to be a very tired race and finished in last place with 22.60 seconds.
Men’s 2-mile
In a race that is not often competed at the international level, the men’s two-mile gave the crowd a bit of something to get excited about.
Joshua Cheptegei of Uganda, the sixth-fastest man to ever run the event, held off Selemon Barega of Ethiopia and American Paul Chelimo for the win.
The margin of victory was less than three-tenths of a second. Cheptegei crossed in a time of 8:09.55 ahead of Barega's 8:09.82 and Chelimo's 8:09.83.
Cheptegei is the current 5,000m and 10,000m world record-holder and captured gold and silver at the 2020 Olympics respectively.
Women’s 1500m
Faith Kipyegon, the 1500m G.O.A.T., gave us no reason to believe that was ever in question with an absolute throwdown. She is the two-time defending Olympic champion and Olympic record holder, fourth fastest 1500m runner ever (exactly one second off the world record), and hasn’t run worse than second in a major competition since 2014.
The only person in the field worthy of truly pushing her today was Britain’s Laura Muir who has run a 3:54.50, this season. Of course, that was during her silver medal race in Tokyo against the very same woman mentioned above.
Muir was right on Kipyegon’s heels for about 600m until Kipyegon separated with authority from the pack and was unable to be reeled back in.
At the bell lap, Muir faded quickly from second and finished in twelfth with 4:05.92.
Kipyegon, on the other hand, split the tape with 3:53.23, just shy of her new Olympic record.
Linden Hall of Australia sped through in second place with a very quick 3:59.73 and in third was American Josette Norris in 4:00.07. Both women barely missing their own personal bests.
Women’s 400mH
There was no world record-holder Sydney McLaughlin in this race, but there was the two-time world record-holder and second-fastest woman ever, New York’s finest Dalilah Muhammad.
Coming off the most impressive and exciting women’s 400m hurdles race in history in Tokyo, Muhammad wasn’t planning to change anything.
From the gun blast, she attacked each hurdle with fervor, quickly making up the stagger on the rest of the field and powering her way home, she found herself atop the metaphorical podium once more.
Her time of 52.77 is the sixth-fastest time she’s ever run, and that is still a top 25 all-time mark.
In second was American Shamier Little with 53.79. If you remember, had Little not clipped her toe on the final barrier coming into the home stretch during the Olympic Trials, she likely would have been the United States’ third competitor in Japan.
Finally, in third was Panama’s Gianna Woodruff, improving upon her South American record of 54.22 down to 54.20.
Men’s Shot Put
There really shouldn’t be any real surprises here. If you were a betting man, you would undoubtedly be dumb to not put your money on Ryan Crouser. He is the two-time world outdoor record-holder, world indoor record-holder, and double Olympic champion.
His astronomical rise over the last two years is anything short of dumbfounding and there is no other that can claim the title of “Greatest of All Time“.
What was sickening has become more so. If Crouser threw a single series that didn’t reach 22.50m in the last two years, you would think he might be ill. But he has thrown so well over the last three major competitions you expect every meet to produce a 23m+.
As of today’s competition, he has now thrown over 23m four times. Two of those were world records at the time.
Today he launched a fourth-round throw out to 23.15m (75 ft 11-1/4 in) which again places him above Randy Barnes old record of 23.12m, meaning Crouser now has the top three throws ever.
Because he has been throwing so phenomenally, I feel everyone else is being overshadowed even when they throw well themselves.
In new Diamond League fashion, the top three competitors after five rounds have their slates wiped clean and take one final throw to decide the winner. The top four Tokyo finalists all competed in a rematch of sorts.
Bronze medalist Tomas Walsh of New Zealand didn’t make the final three today and finished with a best throw of 21.39m.
Darlan Romani of Brazil took a final throw of 21.44m to take second ahead of American Joe Kovacs who only had one legal throw in the qualifying round but scratched again on his final throw to no mark. Kovacs’ only throw of the day was 21.94m. Crouser visibly babied his final throw to just squeak the victory with 22.41m.
Women’s High Jump
Well, this one made me tired simply watching.
American Vashti Cunningham and Ukrainian Iryna Gerashchenko went into a jump-off at 2.00m after having both only missed one attempt prior and clearing 1.98m (6 ft 5-3/4 in).
They both attempted a height of 2.00m again, then went down to 1.98m, 1.96m, and finally 1.94m where Cunningham couldn’t find it in her legs to clear and Gerashchenko sailed cleanly over.
In the end, Cunningham had jumped 16 times and Gerashchenko, 18.
Polands’ Kamila Licwinko finished in third with a clearance of 1.90m.
Men’s Triple Jump
Portugal’s Pedro Pichardo is coming fresh off an Olympic gold medal finish and national record-setting competition and was still in prime form today.
He outclassed the field so much today that he only needed to jump one time to qualify for the final jump-off. His opening jump sailed out to 17.24m, securing his spot in the jump-off with bronze medalist and world indoor record holder, Burkina Faso’s Hugues Fabrice Zango, and American Donald Scott.
American Will Claye finished in fourth with a furthest jump of 16.83m.
In the jump-off, Scott would put up a 16.96m while Zago cleared 17.08m.
In his second jump of the competition, Pichardo easily hopped, skipped, and jumped out to a big 17.63m (57 ft 10 in).
Women’s Pole Vault
We had ourselves three of the top four finishers that the 2020 Olympic Games in the women’s pole vault today: Katie Nageotte (gold), Holly Bradshaw (bronze), and Katerina Stefanidi (fourth).
The 2016 Olympic Champion, Greece’s Stefanidi continued her struggles from Tokyo and ended her competition early with a “no height”, unable to clear her opening height of 4.52m.
Britain’s Bradshaw struggled a little bit on her first two opening heights but was able to clean it up and get over 4.72m for second place.
Recently crowned Olympic champion, American Nageotte chose to use the meet as a way of working out some technical issues and pulled out the win with a height of 4.82m (15 ft 9-3/4 in).
Men’s 1-Mile
On the day’s very last event, the men’s one-mile run, we expected to see a pretty impressive run. We did.
Australia’s Stewart McSweyn led most of the race, coming through the 800m mark in 1:52 but right on his heels was the Olympic 1,500m champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen of Norway.
The 20-year-old freak (can I call him a “freak”?) held on tight and with about 200m he began to make his move and swung around McSweyn on the curve.
Ingebrigtsen was able to finish in 3:47.24.
Not only did he become the fastest Ingebrigtsen brother over the distance today — yes, that is a big deal in their ridiculously fast family — but he set the meet record, a personal record, a world-lead, and recorded the fastest outdoor mile ever run on U.S. soil. Pretty good day.
McSweyn just misses his lifetime best of 3:48.37 by running a 3:48.40 ahead of Kenya’s Timothy Cheruiyot who finished third at 3:51.17.
