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All the buzz on my twitter feed today (well, besides UFC 116) has been about the evening-before events of the Prefontaine Classic, which include the Nike Track Nationals at Hayward Field mixed in with an elite women's 1500m and lots of track and field star sightings.

The meet will be televised on NBC for 90 minutes starting at 4:30pm EDT/1:30pm PDT tomorrow (Saturday, July 3rd), just in time for the women's javelin, which will include the new American Record holder Kara Patterson, who also happens to be the newest member of Women Talk Sports. Sadly it is also scheduled to just miss the women's steeplechase, but hopefully we will be able to see a recap in between events during the coverage.

Below is an event-by-event recap, to the best of my knowledge, in meet sched ule order. Enjoy and feel free to respectfully disagree and tell me why!

(All times are Pacific)

11:00am - Women's Hammer Throw

Highlights of the field: brand new Women Talk Sports members Loree Smith (2008 US Olympian and '12 Olympic hopeful) and Britney Henry (Former Oregon star and '12 Olympic hopeful) are part of a stacked field that includes Tatyana Lysenko of Russia, a 3-time world record setter and #2 on the 2010 list, behind only Anita Wlodarczyk of Poland who set the world record a matter of weeks ago. Wlodarczyk was originally announced as part of the field, but has since disappeared from the start list. Also clamoring for the win will be 2010 Indoor VISA Championship Series winner and 2010 Outdoor National Champion Amber Campbell and 2010 runner-up Jessica Cosby.

12:14pm - Men's Discus Throw

I'm not going to pretend I am a wealth of knowledge when it comes to the men's discus throw but I am learning, and I will tell you that the top four men in the world this year will be competing, #1 being Gerd Kanter of Estonia and #2 being USA's Jason Young.

12:16pm - Women's Triple Jump

US Champ Erica McLain, along with Americans Shakeema Welsch and Toni Smith face some of the best women in the world, including #1-ranked Olga Rypakova of Kazakhstan, who has jumped 14.89m this year...almost 49 feet!

12:18pm - Men's International Mile

Ironically, this race will showcase mostly emerging US talent, while the Bowerman Mile will truly contain an international mixture of the world's top milers.

Hometown Oregon Duck hero A.J. Acosta, 2009 Puma Mile Champ David Torrence, 10K specialist Galen Rupp, OTC studs Stephen Pifer and Will Leer and South Africa's Peter van der Westhuizen all have a shot at the win.

12:30pm - Women's Pole Vault

After winning last weekend's US Championships in 16 feet 1 inch, Jenn Suhr was thinking about calling it a season to properly heal her achilles injury sustained last year. However, she is on the start list as of late this evening, so we can expect to see her on the runway tomorrow. Her top competitors will be Brazil's Fabiana Murer and Poland's Anna Rogowska, currently ranked #2 and #3 in the world, respectively, behind Suhr.

12:38pm - Women's 5000m

World Record holder and Olympic 5,000m and 10,000m Champion Tirunesh Dibaba (ETH) will grace the track for twelve and a half laps. It will be interesting to she if she will try for a fast time with the help of a rabbit or if she will sit back with the field and kick for the win. Americans Shalane Flanagan (10K Olympic bronze medalist), 2009 and 2010 US 10,000m Champion Amy Begley and 2010 US Champion Lauren Fleshman will be racing for second place along with Sally Kipyego of Kenya/Oregon Track Club. 

1:03pm - Women's 400m Hurdles

We missed Lashinda Demus at the US Championships last week, so glad to see her on the start list for Saturday! The top woman on the descending order list in 2010 will face #2-ranked Kaliese Spencer of Jamaica.

1:09pm -Men's 1000m

Mostly 800m specialists are populating this field, including US Champ Nick Symmonds. But it is Sudan's Abubaker Kaki Khamis ("Kaki") who is headlining the field, as he is going for the 1000m World Record of 2:11.96.

1:16pm - Men's Shot Put

2010's top 3 in the world will go head to head in the men's shot put: US's Christian Cantwell, Cory Martin and Ryan Whiting.

1:19pm - Women's Steeplechase

The three medalists from last year's World Championships in Berlin will most likely run the fastest times ever on U.S. soil in the first-ever women's steeplechase at the Prefontaine Classic. Gold medalist Marta Dominguez (Spain) and silver medalist Yuliya Zarudneva (Russia) have both raced one steeple this year, Dominguez winning the Andalucia Grand Prix in 9:17.07 on June 9th and Zarudneva winning the Spar European Team Championships on June 19th in 9:23.00. Bronze medalist Milcah Chemos Cheiywa however has already raced three steeples, including the Rome and Shanghai Diamond League meets, winning all three in world-leading times, the fastest being her 9:11.71 at Rome on June 10th. All three of these women are capable of winning at Hayward, so look for a blistering pace and a tight finish.

The best of the rest include:

• Ethiopia's Sofia Assefa, a World Championships finalist with a PR of 9:19.91
• 2010 US Champion Lisa Aguilera, coming off an exciting win at the national meet last weekend
• 2010 NCAA Champ and 2009 World Team member Bridget Franek
• Barbara Parker of Great Britain who just won her national championships in 9:37.77
• Korene Hinds of Jamaica who was 4th at the World Championships in 2005
• 2010 US runner-up Nicole Bush
• Emerging elite Shayla Houlihan
• 2008 Olympic Trials 6th-placer Kara June

1:31pm - Women's Javelin

World Record holder Barbora Spotakova (CZA) was the 2007 World Championships and 2008 Olympic gold medalist. She will face Slovenia's Martina Ratej, who has thrown 67.16m this year and Kara Patterson, who threw 66.67m to set the American Record last weekend at the USA Championships.

As we mentioned above, Patterson is the newest member of Women Talk Sports, so we will be rooting her on! Also contending will be Rachel Yurkovich, ranked #1 in the US in 2009 and a crowd favorite at Hayward as a former Duck.

1:35pm - Women's 800m

2010 World Indoor bronze medalist and 2010 Outdoor US Champ Alysia Johnson will have a chance to avenge the smackdown Jamaica's Kenia Sinclair put on her in the anchor leg of the sprint medley relay at the Penn Relays in April. Johnson looked very strong last weekend, running under 2 minutes in the prelims and final with no apparent strain.

The field is stacked however and includes Olympic runner-up Janeth Jepkosgei, 2009 winner Maggie Vessey, whom you can never count out, 2010 #1 Mariya Savinova, '07 and '09 World 1500m Champ Maryam Yusuf Jamal, Olympic 1500m Champ Nancy Langat, and 2009 World Athletics Final Champion Anna Pierce, who was undefeated in the 800m last year and ranked #2 in the world even though her "official" main event was the 1500m.

Also in the field: 2009 World Championships 1500m bronze medalist Shannon Rowbury, Olympic 800m Champ Pamela Jelimo (who is having a rough 2010) and NCAA Champ Phoebe Wright.

1:43pm - Men's Long Jump

Dwight Philips is on fire this year and the Hayward crowd will welcome him back warmly after his 2009 performance where he flew an amazing 8.74m to edge Olympic gold medalist Irving Saladino of Panama.

The 3-time World Champion will take on Saladino again on Saturday as well as Australia's Fabrice Lapierre, the 2010 indoor World Champ who won the long jump at the Shanghai Diamond League in May.

1:46pm - Men's 110m Hurdles

World leader David Oliver, who had a sensational meet last weekend at the USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships, setting a PR 12.93 to win, will face compatriots Ryan Wilson, Ronnie Ash, David Payne and 2-time Olympic and 2-time World silver medalist Terrence Trammell. Also in the field is Ryan Brathwaite, the 2009 World Champ.

1:56pm - Women's 100m

The women's 100m entry list holds every single one of the top names in the world in the event. 

Carmelita Jeter (USA) and Shelly Ann Fraser (JAM) lead the list, having faced each other 13 times, with Fraser winning 7. A win for Jeter would tie them at 7-7.

"The last few times that we've raced I've come out on top and I'm going out in Eugene and Gateshead with the aim to do the same." says Jeter (source)

Not to be ignored are 2010 world leader Kelly-Ann Baptiste of Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica's Veronica Campbell-Brown, the 2008 Olympic Champion in the 200m.

2:02pm - Men's 5000m

Who am I kidding? LetsRun.com has an excellent preview HERE.

2:27pm - Men's 200m

Tyson Gay has been the talk of this field, not to mention the entire meet itself. He has dealt with injuries lately and missed the Adidas Grand Prix and last weekend's USA Championships but is looking to erase his disappointment on Saturday. He faces Walter Dix and Shawn Crawford, no small order.

2:35pm - Women's 400m

While we will miss World Champion Sanya Richards-Ross, who is nursing a quad injury from earlier this season, we will get to see 200m World Champ Allyson Felix, 2008 4x400m gold medalist Natasha Hastings, Novlene Williams-Mills of Jamaica and 2010 #1 and US Champ Debbie Dunn.

2:46pm - Men's Bowerman Mile

This is going to be exciting! Great preview by LetsRun.com HERE.

Important Links:

• Pre Classic Diamond League Website (Results) 
• Official Prefontaine Classic Website
• All of the Women Talk Sports coverage and links 

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This post is related to an event on our Calendar:

• 2010 Prefontaine Classic Diamond League

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