Prefontaine Traditional 2025: The highest storylines to observe at historic monitor and subject meet

It’s an enormous weekend of racing on the sports activities calendar. There’s the beginning of the Tour de France, the Components 1 British Grand Prix in Silverstone, and the fiftieth version of the Prefontaine Traditional at Hayward Area in Eugene, Oregon. Named in reminiscence of the legendary American long-distance runner Steve Prefontaine, the Prefontaine Traditional has change into one of many premier annual international monitor and subject meets and doubles as the one American cease on the Diamond League circuit.

In the event you liked monitor and subject finally 12 months’s Olympics, you’re in for a deal with. There are over 60 Olympic and Paralympic medalists from the Paris Video games, with 5 full podium rematches on faucet. This meet is so loaded that an excellent ladies’s 100-meter hurdles isn’t within the two-hour tv window. Let’s have a look at a few of the high storylines and athletes to observe this Saturday.

Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone assessments herself within the 400 meters

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McLaughlin-Levrone is unquestionably the GOAT of the ladies’s 400m hurdles, however her versatility is exceptional. She’s one of many 12 quickest 400m flat runners ever and even beat eventual Olympic champion Gabby Thomas in a 200m race final 12 months. The 25-year-old was scheduled for the 200m/400m double at (the ill-fated?) Grand Slam Observe in Los Angeles earlier than the meet was cancelled.

We gained’t see Dominican Olympic champion Mareiledy Paulino or Bahrain’s Salwa Eid Naser, the highest two 400m runners proper now. It’s nonetheless an excellent subject that features People Alexis Holmes and 2025 NCAA champion Aliyah Butler, plus 2023 NCAA champ Rhasidat Adeleke of Eire. McLaughlin-Levrone has the quickest private greatest and solely must shave 0.05 seconds off that to eclipse Sanya Richards-Ross’ 19-year-old American document of 48.70.

A Paris podium rematch within the ladies’s 100 meters

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That is the primary showdown for this trio since Paris. Saint Lucia’s Julien Alfred’s historic gold made her the Caribbean nation’s first ever Olympic medalist. Sha’Carri Richardson took silver earlier than profitable gold because the USA anchor leg within the 4x100m relay. Her compatriot Melissa Jefferson-Picket has been excellent, boasting the quickest time in 2025 at 10.73 seconds, making her one of many high 10 quickest ladies ever.

Sha’Carri may be the largest star however her solely race this 12 months was a fourth-place exhibiting in Tokyo. On present kind, the favorites are Alfred and Jefferson-Picket, but when Richardson brings her greatest then we’ll have a thriller. Alfred’s coaching companion Dina Asher-Smith of Nice Britain and Jamaican champion Tina Clayton are among the many athletes who may pull a shock.

Kishane Thompson, Jamaica’s Usain Bolt successor?

The powerfully constructed Thompson simply booked his spot on this September’s World Championships in Tokyo by working 9.75 seconds within the Jamaican championships, a time solely 5 others have achieved.

Thompson avenging his slender Olympic defeat to Noah Lyles should wait, however on paper he’s the category of this race, which can have former world champion Christian Coleman, fellow American Trayvon Bromell, plus Jamaica’s Ackeem Blake.

Center-distance Magic: Religion Kipyegon within the 1500m, Athing Mu-Nikolayev within the 800m, and a stacked Bowerman Mile

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Kenyan icon Religion Kipyegon unsuccessfully tried changing into the primary girl to run a sub-4-minute mile in final week’s particular Nike-orchestrated time trial. I suppose she’ll should accept solely having the ladies’s mile and 1500m world information, plus three Olympic and World Championship 1500m golds. Rescheduled because the meet’s remaining race, Kipyegon is aiming to decrease her 3:49.04 1500m WR in opposition to a stacked subject that features American Nikki Hiltz, Ethiopia’s Diribe Welteji, in addition to Paris medalists Jess Hull of Australia and Britain’s Georgia Hunter-Bell.

Within the newly named Mutola 800 meters (in honor of Mozambican 800m nice Maria Mutola), Athing Mu-Nikolayev returns to the scene of her heartbreaking fall in final 12 months’s US trials, which price her a spot in Paris. The long-striding Tokyo Olympic champ hasn’t raced an 800 this 12 months, as a substitute competing in 1500 and 5000m races. She informed SB Nation on Thursday that she had deliberate to run within the NYC Grand Prix final month earlier than it was cancelled, so this can be a vital check for her. Key contenders right here embrace Kenya’s Mary Moraa, Paris silver medalist Tsige Duguma of Ethiopia, and reigning world indoor champion Prudence Sekgodiso of South Africa.

A Prefontaine Traditional custom is the Bowerman Mile, named after celebrated monitor coach and Nike co-founder Invoice Bowerman. Cole Hocker shocked the world in 2024 by besting Norwegian phenom Jakob Ingebrigtsen and Britain’s Josh Kerr (neither of whom is on this race) for an sudden American gold within the 1500 meters. The sturdy American contingent consists of Olympic bronze medalist (and former indoor world document miler) Yared Nuguse, 5k/10k double Olympic bronze medalist Grant Fisher, and younger star Hobbs Kessler. French nationwide document holder Azeddine Habz, a late bloomer at 31, has 2025’s quickest 1500m time. Hocker, Nuguse, and Habbz are among the many high contenders, however this thrilling period of middle-distance racing may be very unpredictable.

One other world document (and $100,000) for Mondo Duplantis?

The lads’s pole vaulting GOAT is at all times reaching new heights. The American-born Swede surpassed Renaud Lavillenie’s world document in 2020 at 6.17m (20 ft, 2 ³⁄₄ in) and has since set a brand new high mark 11 extra occasions on his solution to 6.28m (20 ft, 7 in) in Stockholm.

Every new world document earns the ex-LSU star a $100,000 bonus from World Athletics, so this strategy has netted Duplantis over $1 million. Anticipate a 6.29m attempt on Saturday from… Carmy Berzatto?

Daughter of former WWE and UFC famous person goes professional

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Mya Lesnar—sure, the daughter of former NCAA wrestling, WWE, and UFC champion Brock Lesnar—is popping professional after closing her adorned Colorado State profession with an NCAA shot put title. Her current private greatest 19.60m (64 ft, 3 ³⁄₄ in) throw would’ve gained bronze in Paris. Don’t count on a win in opposition to elite competitors like German Olympic champion Yemisi Ogunleye or America’s two-time world champion Chase Jackson (who simply improved her American document to twenty.95m final week), however Lesnar is a severe expertise who will look to make Group USA’s World Championship roster later this month.

4 different notable occasions to observe

Photograph by JEWEL SAMAD/AFP by way of Getty Photos

• Males’s 200 meters: Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo and USA’s Kenny Bednarek went 1-2 in Paris, over Noah Lyles. ‘Kung Fu’ Kenny swept the 100 and 200 in all three Grand Slam Observe meets, whereas Tebogo’s season has been considerably disrupted resulting from damage.
• Males’s 400 meters: Kansas Metropolis’s Quincy Corridor is must-watch for his unbelievable comebacks, most notably in opposition to Nice Britain’s Matt Hudson-Smith within the Olympic remaining. That is their first assembly since that epic end, with Zambia’s Muzala Samukonga making it a full podium rematch.
• Males’s 400-meter hurdles: Olympic champion and American document holder Rai Benjamin has fashioned a gripping rivalry with Brazil’s Alison dos Santos and Norwegian world document holder Karsten Warholm. Rai beat each in Stockholm, however Warholm gained’t be on this one.
• Ladies’s 5000 meters: The Kenya vs. Ethiopia rivalry is renewed between double Olympic champ Beatrice Chebet and two-time world champion Gudaf Tsegay. Chebet set the 10k world document in final 12 months’s Prefontaine Traditional, whereas Tsegay has the 5k document, however the Kenyan is scorching on her heels after her No. 2 all-time run within the Rome Diamond League.

What time is the 2025 Prefontaine Traditional?

The Prefontaine Traditional airs stay on NBC and Peacock on Saturday, July 5 at 4 pm ET/1 pm PT, with USATF.television broadcasting preliminary occasions at 1 pm ET/10 am PT. SB Nation might be offering on-site protection from Eugene. Right here’s the timetable for all the competitions.