Golden line-ups for 50th Prefontaine Classic

Faith Kipyegon, Mondo Duplantis, Julien Alfred, Beatrice Chebet, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and Kishane Thompson, plus a number of Brits, are among those competing in Eugene on Saturday

The Prefontaine Classic has pulled out all the stops for its 50th anniversary meeting on Saturday (July 5). The ninth meeting of this summer’s Diamond League series features 14 world record-holders and 48 Olympic and Paralympic gold medallists.

This means fans will get to see full podium rematches from the Paris Games in the women’s 100m, 1500m, 3000m steeplechase and long jump, together with the men’s 400m.

Both 100m races at Hayward Field are bubbling with talent and in-form athletes. These include Kishane Thompson, who is fresh from winning the Jamaican men’s title in 9.75 (0.8) – a time that puts him No.6 on the world all-time rankings.

Surprisingly Thompson has never won a Diamond League race and in Eugene he faces Trayvon Bromell, the American who clocked 9.84 to win in Rome last month, plus British duo Zharnel Hughes and Jeremiah Azu.

The women’s 100m is no less stacked with Olympic champion Julien Alfred of Saint Lucia up against the minor medallists from Paris – Sha’Carri Richardson and Melissa Jefferson-Wooden of the United States – together with Britain’s Dina Asher-Smith.

Another Olympic champion, Letsile Tobago of Botswana, faces in-form American Kenny Bednarek in the men’s 200m.

Olympic one-two-three in the men’s 400m – Quincy Hall of the United States, Matt Hudson-Smith of Britain and Muzala Samukonga of Zambia – face Charlie Dobson of Britain, Kirani James of Grenada and European champion Alexander Doom of Belgium.

Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, the 400m hurdles world record-holder, leads the line-up for the women’s 400m with Britain’s Amber Anning and Ireland’s Rhasidat Adeleke in the mix.

There is no Keely Hodgkinson in the women’s 800m, which means Athing Mu-Nikolayev of the United States, Tsige Duguma of Ethiopia, Prudence Sekgodiso of South Africa and Mary Moraa of Kenya will be battling for honours with Jemma Reekie leading the British challenge. Anais Bourgoin, the recent European Team Championship winner from France, also runs.

There is no Jakob Ingebrigtsen or Josh Kerr in the Bowerman Mile either, but there is still a great line-up. Olympic champion Cole Hocker and the Paris…