Stanford Selected as Site of 2019 Pre Classic

Eugene, Oregon—Stanford University’s Cobb Track & Angell Field will be the venue for this year’s 45th NIKE Prefontaine Classic/IAAF Diamond League meet on Sunday, June 30th.

With the ongoing construction of Hayward Field in advance of the 2020 US Olympic Team Trials-Track & Field and the 2021 IAAF World Championships, an alternate site for America’s flagship invitational meet was required. After an extensive search in Oregon and along the West Coast, Stanford’s facility was deemed the best choice to host the NIKE Prefontaine Classic, the only member of the prestigious IAAF Diamond League series of meets in the Western Hemisphere.

“Stanford provides the best combination of excellent facilities, good weather, and institutional support that we encountered,” said longtime Meet Director Tom Jordan. “Their Athletics Department administration has been exceptionally welcoming, and we anticipate being able to provide the fans in the stands and the worldwide television audience a Prefontaine Classic worthy of the name.”

The 2019 NIKE Prefontaine Classic/IAAF Diamond League will be televised by host broadcaster NBC, beginning at 1:00 p.m. Pacific Time. Last year’s Pre was viewed over 12 million times by fans around the globe.

Tickets for the 45th annual edition of the NIKE Prefontaine Classic will be available to the general public in mid-March. Ticket ordering information will follow in a separate release. Past Pre Classic purchasers, University of Oregon Season ticket holders, and current Oregon Track Club members will receive a pre-sale opportunity via email in advance of the public sale.

Accreditation requests for members of the media wishing to cover the NIKE Prefontaine Classic can be placed beginning the first week in March. Requests are only accepted online at portal.diamondleague.com. Media accreditation questions and other inquires can be sent to media@preclassic.com.

The NIKE Prefontaine Classic is the longest-running outdoor invitational track & field meet in America. The meet’s results score has rated No. 1 or No. 2 in the world in each of the last 8 years. NIKE has been the title sponsor of the meet continuously since 1984.

The IAAF Diamond League features the 14 best invitational track & field meetings across Africa, Asia, Europe, Middle East and North America with the USA. It is the sport´s global competition outside the World Championships and Olympic Games. The series has a championship style format with athletes winning points at 12 meetings from May through August in order to qualify for the two end of season finals in Zurich and Brussels. 2019 marks the tenth season of the IAAF Diamond League (www.diamondleague.com) and each year the world's best athletes from around 85 countries have competed in the 32 disciplines to crown the Diamond League Champions (#RoadToTheFinals).

Stanford University has a proud track and field tradition that dates back to 1895. In addition to its 922 All-America honors, 64 Olympians, and four NCAA team titles, Stanford has played host to important meets throughout its history, including the 1941 NCAA Championships, the 1932 &1960 Olympic Trials, and the epic 1962 USA-USSR dual that has been described as “the greatest track meet of all time.” After the facility was renovated in 1996, Cobb Track & Angell Field has been the site of the 2002 and 2003 USATF Championships and is annually home to the Payton Jordan Invitational, the nation’s premier distance running carnival.

Steve Prefontaine is a legend in the sport of track & field and is the most inspirational distance runner in American history. He set a national high school 2-mile record (8:41.5) while at Marshfield High School in Coos Bay, Oregon, that is the fastest ever in a National Federation-sanctioned race. While competing for the University of Oregon, he won national cross country championships (3) and outdoor track 3-Mile/5000-meter championships (4), and never lost a collegiate track race at any distance. As a collegiate junior, he made the 1972 U.S. Olympic Team and nearly won an Olympic medal, finishing 4th in the 5K at the 1972 Munich Olympics, at age 21. After finishing college in 1973 and preparing for a return to the Olympics in 1976, he continued to improve, setting many American records. His life ended tragically on May 30, 1975, the result of an auto accident, at age 24. The Pre Classic began that year and has been held every year since.