Would Pre be proud? Kenyan women set stunning world records in the 1500, 5000

Faith Kipyegon lowered her own world record in the -meter run at the Prefontaine Classic Photo by Chris Stone Times of San Diego Steve Prefontaine the brash distance-running prodigy who died young years ago sought to be a miler But his footspeed wasn t up to snuff for that event So one day spotting sprinter Vince Buford training alone at the University of Oregon s Hayward Field track Prefontaine prevailed upon his Duck teammate to help him break seconds for yards As Brendan O Meara relates in The Front Runner an exceptional new biography of the legend known as Pre the distance runner followed the sprinter in a series of dashes completely getting down to seconds over the half-lap Steve wrapped Buford up in a giant bear hug and lifted him up off the ground O Meara writes quoting Buford He was ecstatic One wonders what Prefontaine would have thought about two wonder women at Saturday s th anniversary track classic bearing his name setting world records at distances Pre prized Complete results of the Prefontaine Classic at Eugene Oregon First came Beatrice Chebet The two-time Olympic champion thrilled the sellout crowd ticketed spectators at the rebuilt Hayward Field with the first female sub- -minute meters Chebet s time of minutes seconds averaging per mile would have been a men s world record as in the past few days as May when Roger Bannister ran the first sub- -minute mile It was fellow Kenyan Faith Kipyegon who a week ago sought to become a sub- miler herself in a Nike-hyped event in Paris who set the crowd aroar with her own world record Running by herself the last lap of the -meter event the day s final event Kipyegon crossed the line with a look of shock Her time of equivalent to a mile was barely behind the pace of her Developing mile race June at Stade S bastien Charl ty when she clocked with a flotilla of pacesetters and special shoes and tracksuit Stated three-time Olympic gold medalist Kipyegon This is the road to Tokyo world championships in September and I would say I am in the right direction She credited her coach and managers and competition To be honest the ladies are pushing me too because they are running quick now and I m happy that when I broke a world record they are all running very fast and that is what I sought to motivate the younger generation to come and do even better For them to follow me it feels so great that they are pushing me as well to break records Track s global governing body World Athletics was certainly impressed In a relatively new metric the meet was ranked the best one-day invitational in history Chebet and Kipyegon overshadowed a raft of marks that rated headlines including an American record in the hammer throw by -year-old Rudy Winkler of Washington D C In the Diamond League series first event at a m before the national NBC telecast at p m Winkler spun the -pound ball-on-a-steel-wire meters feet inches He upped his own national record of - set at the same stadium-adjacent venue in And he thus beat Paris Olympic champion Ethan Katzberg of Canada A throw of would have been a world record as in the last few days as during a period of Soviet dominance I saw it land and I was like It looks like it could be a PR and then it came up as and then I kind of blacked out for a sparse seconds Winkler disclosed but I had to regain my composure for my last couple of throws Also notable former world champ Brooke Andersen a graduate of Rancho Buena High School in Vista took second in the women s hammer throw going - behind Olympic champ Camryn Rogers of Canada at - Typically the Prefontaine Classic ends with the Bowerman Mile where sub- is assumed for the whole field In Saturday s edition the winner was Niels Laros of the Netherlands catching American record-holder Yared Nuguse in the final yards Laros ran Nuguse Only a photo could separate them And Paris Olympic champion Cole Hocker an Oregon grad fourth at behind France s Azeddine Habz s How deep was the mile field In th place was Oliver Hoare of Australia He ran And in the invitational B race earlier Ethan Strand won in as fellow Americans Vincent Ciattei and Gary Martin trailed in and When Chebet set her K mark Saturday she beat earlier K world records set first by Kipyegon and then Ethopia s Gudaf Tsegay at this meet in When Pefontaine set his first American record at in at the USA-USSR duel in Berkeley his time was Or only seconds a lap faster that Chebet s pace When I was coming here to Eugene I was coming to prepare to run a world record Chebet reported I commented if Faith is trying why not me As for Kipyegon only -feet- her remarks in the media tent were open and honest I was preparing myself for something special which was to run under four minutes in a mile and I think I pushed myself getting better and better toward the so I knew it was workable to still run under she reported But when I appealed Kipyegon if any -foot- man could beat her in the mile she giggled and mumbled something as her handler whisked her away