Less than a month before the top U.S. track and field athletes gather in Eugene, Oregon, for the Olympic Trials, many of those headliners will compete at the Prefontaine Classic on the same track.
NBC, NBCSports.com, the NBC Sports app and Peacock air live coverage Saturday from 4-6 p.m. ET.
The Pre Classic is the most prestigious annual international track and field meet to be held in the U.S.
The meet has added significance this year, given it’s an Olympic year and Oregon’s Hayward Field will also host the Olympic Trials from June 21-30.
The top three in most events at trials qualify for the Paris Games.
Which athletes are competing at the Pre Classic?
As usual, the Pre entry lists feature stars from around the world.
The U.S. contingent includes reigning world champions Sha’Carri Richardson (100m), Grant Holloway (110m hurdles) and Katie Moon (pole vault).
Ryan Crouser, the Olympic and world champion and world record holder in the shot put, was originally on the entry list but will miss the meet because he needs more time to get in top form after a few minor setbacks.
International standouts include Olympic champions Elaine Thompson-Herah of Jamaica entered in the 100m, Jakob Ingebrigtsen of Norway in the Bowerman Mile and Jasmine Camacho-Quinn of Puerto Rico in the 100m hurdles.
Here are five events to watch on Saturday:
Women’s Hammer Throw -- 2:35 p.m. ET
Americans Brooke Andersen, Janee’ Kassanavoid and DeAnna Price and Canadian Camryn Rogers combined to win all six medals over the last two world championships. They are also the world’s top four throwers in 2024. They are all in this field. Andersen, the 2022 World champion, owns the world’s 11 farthest throws in this Olympic cycle.
Women’s Discus — 3:50 p.m. ET
This event could produce the Paris favorite given the presence of reigning world champion Laulauga Tausaga, reigning Olympic gold medalist Valarie Allman, Cuban Yaime Perez, who in April unleashed the world’s best throw since 1989, and Croatian Sandra Elkasevic (nee Perkovic), who owns four combined Olympic and world titles.
Men’s 110m Hurdles -- 4:50 p.m. ET
This field also includes every medalist from worlds in 2022 and 2023. The only man to win a medal both years was Holloway, the three-time reigning world champion. Holloway’s mission this summer is to win Olympic gold (after silver in Tokyo). Daniel Roberts, the 2023 World bronze medalist, is the world’s fastest hurdler so far in 2024 with a wind-legal time of 13.11 seconds. But 12 men beat that time over the course of 2023 (including Roberts), so it may not stand after Pre.
Women’s 100m -- 5:42 p.m. ET
Richardson contests her first 100m since last September’s Pre Classic, when she took fourth. But Richardson won the race that mattered most last year, running a personal-best 10.65 seconds to win the world title in August.
Thompson-Herah races for the first time at any distance since last September’s Pre Classic. The Rio and Tokyo Olympic 100m and 200m champion did not make the Jamaican team for individual races at the 2023 Worlds, but was part of the 4x100m relay. She finished 2023 ranked fifth in the world by best time for the year. Also expected at Pre: Marie-Josée Ta Lou of Cote d’Ivoire and Julien Alfred of Saint Lucia, who were fourth and fifth at worlds. The world’s best time so far in 2024 is 10.77, posted by Jacious Sears of the University of Tennessee on April 13.
Men’s Bowerman Mile -- 5:52 p.m. ET
The traditional Pre finale includes Ingebrigtsen (who missed the mile world record by six tenths at Pre last September) and the last two world 1500m champions, Jake Wightman and Josh Kerr, both Scots. Plus American record holder Yared Nuguse and Tokyo Olympic Trials 1500m champ Cole Hocker. This race could determine the Olympic 1500m favorite and the leading men for the U.S. trials.
