World champion Timothy Cheruiyot leads a Kenyan trio in the 1,500m race at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, United States on Saturday.
Cheuiyot will renew his rivlary with Olympic 1500m champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen in the Bowerman Mile.
Ingebrigtsen beat Cheruiyot for the first time in the Olympic final in Tokyo last year but the Kenyan turned the tables a few weeks later to win over 1500m at the Diamond League final in Zurich.
Both men will need to be primed, however, to beat Kenya’s Abel Kipsang, who out-kicked Cheruiyot to win in Doha recently and who backed it up with 1,500m victory in Birmingham last Sunday. Also in the line-up are another Kenyan Vincent Keter, Australia’s Ollie Hoare, USA’s Cole Hocker and 2017 world bronze medallist Filip Ingebrigtsen.
Faith Kipyegon will take on long-time rivals Laura Muir and Gudaf Tsegay in the women’s 1,500m, her season debut at her specialist distance.
The 28-year-old Kenyan has not been beaten over 1,500m since getting outbattled by Sifan Hassan in Rome last June, but she reversed that result emphatically in the Olympic final.
Muir was impressive when kicking away to win in Birmingham in a modest 4:02.81 last weekend while Tsegay, the world record-holder indoors at 1,500m, has not raced since winning the world indoor title in March.
The women’s 3000m steeplechase sees Olympic champion Peruth Chemutai of Uganda renew rivalry with the woman who chased her home in Tokyo – USA’s Courtney Frerichs – while world record-holder Beatrice Chepkoech and 2017 world champion Emma Coburn are also in the field.
The women’s 800m sees world indoor champion Ajee Wilson of USA take on Olympic silver medallist Keely Hodgkinson of Britain, the latter arriving in Eugene after a highly impressive victory in Birmingham, where she clocked 1:58.63.
Wilson was equally as peerless when kicking to gold in Belgrade in March, though she was not quite at her best when finishing sixth over 600m at the Penn Relays last month in 1:25.87.
Also in the field are world silver medallist Raevyn Rogers, world champion Halimah Nakaayi and Olympic finalists Natoya Goule and Jemma Reekie.
