With less than 100 days until the World Athletics Championships, Oregon22, excitement continues to grow in the track and field world, and The Prefontaine Classic is looking more and more like a championship preview.
Tickets along the home stretch for the Pre Classic are selling fast, and the women’s 100m hurdles is going to feature some of the best in the world at navigating the ten barriers, including a match-up between the world record-holder and the Olympic gold medalist.
The fastest to ever run the event, Keni Harrison, is set to return to the Pre Classic for the first time since her victory in 2016. After winning the Olympic Trials at Hayward Field at the University of Oregon last summer, Harrison went on to finish second in Tokyo, adding Olympic silver to her World Indoor 60m hurdle gold and World Outdoor silver medals.
Much like the Tokyo final last year, Harrison will line up against the Olympic gold medalist Jasmine Camacho-Quinn. The 2018 NCAA 100m hurdles champion had the start of her professional career slowed by the Covid-19 pandemic, but she truly established herself in 2021, going undefeated over the distance.
The matchup between Harrison and Camacho-Quinn will be one to watch, especially if you’re a Kentucky Wildcats fan. Though they did not overlap in their tenure, both women competed collegiately at the University of Kentucky.
Anna Cockrell will be making her Pre Classic debut on Saturday, May 28. The USC standout, now competing professionally for Nike, is coming off a historic season. At the NCAA Outdoor Championships at Hayward Field, Cockrell took the crown in both the 100m hurdles and 400m hurdles, joining Queen Harrison as only the second woman to ever achieve the feat. At the Olympic Trials she finished fourth in the 100m hurdles, but made her Olympic dreams come true in the 400m hurdles, finishing third and breaking her own USC school record in the process. She would go on to make the finals in Tokyo.
The Pre Classic 100m hurdles will also feature several medalists and Olympic finalists. World Championship gold medalist and Rio Olympic silver medalist Nia Ali is returning to competition this season after taking a year off following the birth of her third child. Rounding out the field is World Indoor 60m hurdle bronze medalist and Olympic finalists Gabbi Cunningham, Olympic finalist Oluwatobiloba Amusan, and World Championship bronze medalist Danielle Williams.
