Eugene, Oregon (6/2/08)
At last year's Prefontaine Classic, Oregon Track Club Elite’s Nick Symmonds thrilled a disbelieving sold-out Hayward Field by overtaking Olympic gold medalist Yuriy Borzakovskiy in the final strides of the 800 meters. Symmonds is back for next Sunday's 34th Prefontaine Classic, this time facing a well-known foe in Khadevis Robinson, ranked No. 1 in the U.S. for the past three years, and Bahrain's, Youssef Kamel, who was ranked No. 5 in the world by Track & Field News. Last Saturday, Kamel narrowly beat Robinson by 2 one-hundredths at New York on Saturday, 1:45.53 to 1:45.55. Just behind them was Canadian recordholder Gary Reed, who ranked No. 9 in the world in 2007. And in between Kamel and Reed in the rankings last year was Alfred Kirwa Yego of Kenya (No. 7 world), who ran 1:44.99 in Berlin on Saturday. Thus, 3 of last year's world top 10, plus America's No. 1 and No. 2 descend on Hayward Field next Sunday sort out who is best on the day.
800 METERS (MEN)
Nick Symmonds
Khadevis Robinson
Gary Reed (Canada)
Alfred Yego (Kenya)
Yusuf Kamel (Bahrain)
Ismael Kombich (Kenya)
Matt Scherer
Tickets for the Pre Classic are on sale at www.goducks.com, from 1-800-WEBFOOT, and in person at the Casanova Center Ticket Office.
