Kenenisa Bekele faces Mo Farah in Classic 10,000


By Register Guard

May 28, 2013



Great Britain’s Mo Farah, who won gold medals in the 5,000 and 10,000 meters at London’s Olympic Stadium last summer, will headline the men’s 10,000 at the 39th edition of the Prefontaine Classic at Hayward Field.

The 10,000 will be the final race of the “Distance Night in Eugene” free program, which will begin at 6 p.m. on Friday.

Farah, who trains in Portland and is coached by Alberto Salazar, will be making his third straight appearance at the Pre meet. He won last year’s 5,000 in the fastest time ever run in the U.S., 12 minutes, 56.98 seconds.

His personal best of 26:46.57 in the 10,000 was set in winning the 2011 Pre Classic, which saw nine runners dip under 27 minutes.

One of his challengers will be Ethiopia’s Kenenisa Bekele, who set the U.S. all-comer’s best of 26:25.17 at the 2008 Pre meet. The three-time Olympic gold medalist is the world record-holder (26:17.53) in the 10,000.

Farah and Bekele, both 30, have met twice before in the 10,000 with Farah winning both times.

The Pre Classic 10,000 was originally scheduled to be the IAAF World Championship Trials for Ethiopia, but according to Pre meet director Tom Jordan, the Ethiopian Athletic Federation has decided to go in a different direction and will not stage it at Hayward Field.

Still, the world-class field features six Ethiopian runners, five from Kenya, and one each representing Italy and France. Eight of the entrants have run under 27 minutes.

The women’s 1,500-meter field for Saturday’s portion of the meet has also been finalized.

Kenyan sensation Faith Kipyegon, 19, is scheduled to make her U.S. debut after shattering the world junior record by nearly three seconds (3:56.98) earlier this month.

She faces 2008 Olympic gold medalist Nancy Langat of Kenya and two-time World Championship gold medalist Maryam Jamal of Bahrain. Only Jamal (3:56.18) and Russia’s Yelena Soboleva (3:56.43) have faster personal bests than Kipyegon.

The field also includes two of the fastest Americans in Anna Willard (3:59.38) and Treniere Moser (4:03.32).


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