28th May 2015

Mo Farah Leads BRITISH Lineup FOR PREFONTAINE CLASSIC

28 May 2015 


Double Olympic, World and European champion Mo Farah (coach: Alberto Salazar) headlines British entries at the Eugene leg of the IAAF Diamond League, the Prefontaine Classic, on Friday night in the 10,000m.

Farah, who broke the European record with a time of 26:46.57 the last time he competed in the 10,000m at the Prefontaine Classic in 2011, will be up against a competitive field, where a record seven runners hold PBs under 27 minutes – not including the reigning World Cross Country champion,  Geoffrey Kamworor of Kenya.

Also competing for GB & NI on Friday, the day before the bulk of the action at the historic Hayward Field gets underway, is Shara Proctor (Rana Reider) and Lorraine Ugen (Shawn Jackson) in the women’s long jump.  Both will face world No.1 Tianna Bartoletta (USA) and will be looking to continue their early season form, which has seen them edge closer to the 7m barrier. 

Charlie Grice (Jon Bigg) kicks off Saturday’s proceedings from a British point of view in the International Mile, and is then followed by European champion James Dasaolu (Steve Fudge) who takes on the likes of Tyson Gay (USA) and Nesta Carter (JAM) in the men’s 100m where seven of the eight athletes boast personal bests under 10 seconds.  

European and Commonwealth silver medallist Lynsey Sharp (Rana Reider) competes in the women’s 800m, which will be her second race of the week and third of the outdoor season after clocking 2:01.93 in Germany on Monday. The Scottish athlete will go head-to-head with the World 800m champion Eunice Sum and Sweden’s World 1500m gold medallist Abeba Aregawi in a world-class line-up at Hayward Field, Eugene. 

The women’s 1500m sees both Hannah England (Bud Baldaro) and Laura Weightman (Steve Cram) in action.  Weightman, who claimed bronze in the European Championships and silver in the Commonwealth Games will face the woman who pipped her to gold in Zurich in the shape of Holland’s Sifan Hassan. 

Also competing at the Prefontaine Classic are Mutaz Essa Barshim, Ivan Ukhov, Justin Gatlin, Renaud Lavillenie, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Kirani James, Aries Merritt and David Oliver. 

You can follow live action of the Eugene Diamond League on Saturday on Eurosport at 21:00 (UK time) or watch highlights on BBC Two at 13:50-14:50 on Sunday 31 May. Live updates will also be posted on Friday night via the Diamond League Twitter feed here and on Saturday on the British Athletics feed here

Don’t forget you can purchase tickets to the British legs of the IAAF Diamond League via our website. The action kicks off at the Sainsbury’s Birmingham Grand Prix next Sunday (June 7) before returning to the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park for three days of action at the Sainsbury’s Anniversary Games (24-26 July).