World and Olympic champion Faith Kipyegon returns to the track at the Prefontaine Classic 1500m race on June 30 following a lengthy absence on maternity leave.
Kipyegon will lead compatriot Winny Chebet, winner of the 2018 IAAF Continental Cup, as they battle the likes of two-time Diamond Trophy winner Laura Muir of Great Britain and current world leader Gudaf Tsegay of Ethiopia, who clocked 3:59.57 in Nanjing on May 21.
Moroccan record-holder Rababe Arafi, the winner in Shanghai, Ethiopia’s Axumawit Embaye, the 2014 world indoor silver medallist and more recently the runner-up in Nanjing where she clocked a 4:00.17 lifetime best are also enlisted. Others are Alemaz Samuel of Ethiopia, the 2018 world U20 champion and 18-year-old Lemlem Hailu, the 2017 world U18 champion who last month raced to the Ethiopian senior title over the distance. Hailu clocked 8:34.03 in the 3000m at the Diamond League opener in Doha last month, the fourth fastest U20 performance of all-time.
Meanwhile, organisers of Lausanne’s Athletissima on July 5, the series’ eighth stop, have announced several entrants in their high-powered men’s 1500m race headed by Kenya’s Timothy Cheruiyot, the 2018 Diamond League champion. The 23-year-old has gotten off to a solid start, opening his season with a runner-up finish in Doha and a victory in Oslo last week.
World indoor 1500m record holder Samuel Tefera of Ethiopia will also race, along with Norwegian brothers Jakob and Filip Ingebrigtsen. Jakob, who won’t turn 19 until 19 September, famously raced to a 1500/5000m triumph at last summer’s European Championships, opened his outdoor season with a third place finish in Oslo.
Another strong battle looms in the men’s 110m hurdles, where neutral athlete Sergey Shubenkov, last year’s winner in Lausanne, will take on Olympic silver medallist Orlando Ortega of Spain, the winner in Nanjing, world indoor champion Andrew Pozzi from Great Britain, China’s Xie Wenjun, the recently-minted Asian champion, and Pascal Martinot-Lagarde from France, the 2018 European champion.
