Watch: Bowerman Mile runners talk race at 50th Prefontaine Classic
Yared Nuguse, Cole Hocker and Grant Fisher discuss their return to the Prefontaine Classic for the Bowerman Mile.
- Faith Kipyegon broke her own world record in the women’s 1,500-meter race at the Prefontaine Classic.
- Kipyegon was motivated by the sold-out crowd and the wave light technology pacing system.
Kenyan Faith Kipyegon had one overall goal at the Prefontaine Classic at Hayward Field July 5 before her women’s 1,500-meter race in a loaded field:
Follow the lights.
The world record-holder reset her own record in 3 minutes, 48.68 seconds to win in front of 12,606 spectators in Eugene, following the wave lights along the track and separating over the final 300 meters after a Nike-orchestrated attempt to run a sub-4-minute mile last week.
Despite all Kipyegon has accomplished, including three Olympic golds and four world championships, Kipyegon said she surprised herself that she had enough down the stretch to break her world record by less than a second.
“Today, it was all about running a world record and running fast,” Kipyegon said.
Where last week’s effort featured almost a dozen men, including Olympic medalist Grant Fisher, and a few women pacing her to a 4:06.42 mile, this week was just about running her race and following the wave lights, designed to let athletes know where the record stands.
Former Oregon Duck and Olympic medalist Jessica Hull was with Kipyegon stride for stride until running out of gas over the last 300 meters or so. Hull finished third in 3:52.67, behind Ethiopia’s Diribe Welteji in 3:51.44.
Hull said her time around 1,200 meters was the fastest she’s run in a long time before she knew she didn’t have any more to give to stay with Kipyegon. As soon as the runners lost pacer Sage Hurta-Klecker after two laps into the race, Hull felt Kipyegon put her foot in the ground and knew she had to stay with her to have a chance.
“At the end of the day, she’s the (greatest of all time), essentially,” Hull said. “And if you want to have a chance at it you’ve got to go with it. You’re probably going to land amongst medals if you follow Faith.”
Americans Nikki Hiltz (3:55.96) and Sinclaire Johnson (3:56.93) ran season-best times to finish fifth and sixth, respectively, while Great Britain’s Georgia Hunter Bell finished fourth (3:54.76).
One of the most accomplished women’s athletes in history, Kipyegon has consistently found new gears when she’s needed it, with the 1,500 at the Pre Classic no different. She said the sold-out crowd also pushed her to chase the record as the last athlete to be introduced in the final event of the day.
Before the race, Kipyegon said she nearly cried at the reception she received from the Hayward crowd.
“I was the last one introduced in the last event of the day and it felt so amazing that everyone was waiting for me to chase the world record,” Kipyegon said.
Alec Dietz covers University of Oregon football, volleyball, women’s basketball and baseball for The Register-Guard. You may reach him at adietz@registerguard.com and you can follow him on X @AlecDietz.
