Timothy Cheruiyot leading Elijah Manangoi and Asbel Kiprop in training at Kasarani Stadium. Photo/RAYMOND MAKHAYA
EUGENE, USA, May 10- World champion Elijah Manangoi and IAAF Diamond League champion Timothy Cheruiyot will return to the Prefontaine Classic’s Bowerman Mile to renew their rivalry at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Eugene on 25-26 May.
The Kenyan duo finished first and second respectively at last year’s World Championships and at the recent Commonwealth Games. They also occupied the same two positions at last year’s IAAF Diamond League meeting in Monaco where they set 1500m PBs of 3:28.80 and 3:29.10.
But they aren’t the only great racers in the event that annually is the Prefontaine Classic’s finale.
Two-time Bowerman Mile winner Ayanleh Souleiman of Djibouti will also be returning to Eugene. He set the meeting record – and US all-comers’ record – of 3:47.32 in 2014, just two months after winning the world indoor 1500m title.
Silas Kiplagat set his mile PB of 3:47.88 when finishing second to Souleiman in Eugene in 2014. The 2011 world silver medallist will be making his eighth appearance at Hayward Field and will be aiming for his fourth sub-3:50 performance there.
USA’s Matthew Centrowitz is ready to return to Hayward Field for the first time since winning the Olympic title in Rio. His PB of 3:50.53 from the 2014 Bowerman Mile is the fastest ever run by a US athlete at Hayward Field.
Ethiopian record-holder Aman Wote has raced in the Bowerman Mile five times, finishing third three times. The 2014 world indoor silver medallist set his PB of 3:48.60 in Eugene four years ago.
Youngsters Samuel Tefera and Jakob Ingebrigsten will be making their Bowerman Mile debut. Tefera, just 18, won the world indoor 1500m title in Birmingham two months ago.
Ingebrigsten, meanwhile, became the youngest ever sub-four-minute miler when running 3:58.07 in last year’s Pre Classic international mile at age 16.
Olympic 800m bronze medallist Clayton Murphy set his mile PB of 3:51.99 when finishing fifth in Eugene last year, making him the fastest US runner at that distance in 2017.
Others in the field include world indoor 3000m bronze medallist Bethwell Birgen, fellow Kenyan and world indoor finalist Vincent Kibet, Olympic finalist Ben Blankenship, Bahrain’s Sadik Mikhou, Brazil’s world 800m finalist Thiago Do Rosario André and USA’s Craig Engels.
2018 IAAF Diamond League calendar:
4 May – Doha, QAT
12 May – Shanghai, CHN
26 May – Eugene, USA
31 May – Rome, ITA
7 Jun – Oslo, NOR
10 Jun – Stockholm, SWE
30 Jun – Paris, FRA
5 Jul – Lausanne, SUI
13 Jul – Rabat, MAR
20 Jul – Monaco, MON
21-22 Jul – London, GBR
18 Aug – Birmingham, GBR
30 Aug – Zurich, SUI
31 Aug – Brussels, BEL
