CHEBET, KIPYEGON DAZZLE WITH WORLD RECORDS AT PREFONTAINE CLASSIC
By David Monti, @d9monti
(c) 2025 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved
EUGENE (05-Jul) -- The gala 50th edition of the Prefontaine Classic lived up to all the hype, punctuated by world record performances by Kenyans Beatrice Chebet and Faith Kipyegon. Chebet, 25, became the first woman in history to break 14 minutes for 5000m, clocking 13:58.06 in a race which also served as the Kenyan Trial for the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo in September. Kipyegon, 31, rebounded strongly from her attempt to break four minutes for the mile in Paris just over a week ago and ran 3:48.68 for 1500m, the first ever sub-3:49 by a woman. Nearly all of the 12,650 seats at Hayward Field at the University of Oregon were filled for today's meeting, the ninth stop of the 2025 Wanda Diamond League.
Chebet got her record first. In warm, sunny and slightly breezy conditions, the reigning Olympic 5000m and 10,000m champion followed pacemakers Klaudia Kazimierska of Poland and Dorcus Ewoi of Kenya through the first kilometer in 2:47.07, then the second in 5:35.37. After the pacers dropped out, Chebet took the lead and kept up the high tempo. Only Ethiopia's Gudaf Tsegay, the previous 5000m world record holder, and Kenya's Agnes Jebet Ngetich could hold such a blistering pace. Chebet split 3000m in 8:22.96 setting a new stadium record for that distance.
"I can say I pushed a lot after the pacemaker dropped," the tiny Chebet told reporters. "I pushed for myself and I say, I have to go because I am the one who wants a world record for myself and go for it."
Neither Tsegay nor Ngetich wanted to lead, so Chebet had to do all of the work. For the two laps before the bell (measured from the finish line), she split 66.9 then 68.4. In the final lap she still had her two rivals very close with just 200 meters to go, but she exploded around the final turn leaving them in her wake. She ran her final lap in 61.9 seconds.
"I'm so happy," Chebet told reporters. "Today I can say it's a great day for me. Achieving sub-14:00 in women, being the first woman sub-14:00 is amazing for me."
Ngetich passed Tsegay to take second, 14:01.29 to 14:04.41. Another Kenyan, Margaret Akidor, was a distant fourth in 14:30.34. Chebet now holds the world records for both 5000m and 10,000m (28:54.14). She's the first woman to accomplish that feat since Ingrid Kristiansen of Norway in 1986.
Kipyegon's record was, perhaps, more expected. She ran a sub-4:07 mile in the Nike-sponsored Breaking4 exhibition race in Paris, and was clearly fit coming into today. Meeting organizers moved the women's 1500m to be the final event on the program, bumping the usual curtain-closer, the Bowerman Mile for men, to an earlier time slot. When Kipyegon was introduced, the crowd gave her a huge cheer.
"I almost cried because everybody was waiting for me," Kipyegon said. "You know, I was the last one on the track, the last event of the day, and it's just so amazing everybody was waiting for you to test the world record, everybody cheering you. I felt at home."
Sage Hurta-Klecker of the On Athletics Club was the designated pacemaker, and after cutting in to the rail first she quickly stretched out the field. Hurta-Klecker hit the 400m mark in 61.61 seconds with Kipyegon, Australia's Jessica Hull (the 2024 Olympic silver medalist) and Ethiopia's Diribe Welteji close behind. Hurta-Klecker passed 800m in 2:03.17, then peeled off at the end of the backstretch. Kipyegon still had Hull with her, but not for long. After 1200m (3:04.68) the three-time Olympic gold medalist moved up a gear and started to open a significant gap on Hull. Kipyegon kept pushing and, as the crowd roared, she broke the tape.
"First, I want to thank God," Kipyegon said, when asked about how she felt. "This was really special. As I said in Paris that I was still capable of running under 3:49, and I surprised myself today doing that." She continued: "It's something special."
With about 100 meters to go, Welteji caught, and passed, Hull to take second in a personal best 3:51.44. Hull ran a season's best 3:52.67 in third, and Olympic bronze medalist Georgia Hunter Bell finished fourth in 3:54.76.
In the men's 10,000m --which served as the official World Athletics Championships Trial for Kenya and an unofficial trial for Ethiopia-- 18 year-old Biniam Mehary got the win in a world-leading 26:43.82, the second-fastest time of his career. Mehary, along with compatriots Berihu Aregawi and Selemon Barega, broke away from the main pack early in the race behind the pacemaking of Benjamin Balazs and Kasey Knevelbaard, both Americans. Joining the group was a lone Kenyan, Benson Kiplangat, who saw running with the Ethiopians as his best chance take a top-three finish among the Kenyans
"For me I needed to be top three for Kenya qualification, so I was not needing a record," Kiplangat told Race Results Weekly. "I needed to run with the Ethiopians to survive in the group."
Knevelbaard went through 3000m in a fast 7:51.77 before dropping out. That left the four Africans to manage the pace and keep the rest of the field at bay. About 15 seconds behind another Kenyan, Edwin Kurgat, kept his cool and his eyes forward. He was confident that if he stayed with his race plan he could close the gap.
"I've been running 10-K for a little bit longer now," he said. "I know what it takes, and I knew what I had to do today to make that team."
With Mehary and Kiplangat trading places at the front, the foursome went through 5000m in 13:14.17, on pace to break 26:30. Neither Aregawi nor Barega would lead, but that didn't bother the good-natured Mehary.
"The plan was go get a pretty fast time," Mehary told reporters through a translator.
At 8000m (21:28.71) it looked like only Mehary, Kiplangat, Barega or Aregawi could finish on the podium. But their pace got just a little slower, and at 9000m (24:13.16) Kurgat had caught up. That set up a thrilling final sprint from about 150 meters out. Kiplangat led on the bend, but soon drifted back and would have to settle for sixth place in 26:50.00, a personal best.
"For me, I don't have a sprinting, I don't have a kick," Kiplangat lamented.
But Mehary did. He passed Aregawi on the inside with just a few meters left in the race to get the win. As he was sprinting, he wasn't confident that he had the power to beat his older and more accomplished rival.
"I was definitely not sure because I know these guys," Mehary admitted. "They're very strong athletes, and they have good finishing speed. I wasn't sure but, obviously, I'm very happy with the results."
Aregawi was timed in 26:43.84 and Barega in 26:44.13. Kurgat took fourth in 26:45.35, and as the top Kenyan in the race he secured his position in the World Athletics Championships.
"I just executed my race," Kurgat told Race Results Weekly. "I had to stay really tactical, and strong and have something left for the finish."
American marathoner Conner Mantz fought off a side stitch and finished 12th in 27:35.72.
"I just set intermediate goals every lap just to speed up a bit," he told reporters of the second half of his race. "It's hard to be in a race like this. I was expecting to run 64's, but they went out way faster than that."
In the other distance events there were quick times and exciting finishes, especially in the Bowerman Mile where Dutchman Niels Laros executed a spectacular come-from-behind race, just pipping USA mile record holder Yared Nuguse at the line by 1/100th of second. Laros's time of 3:45.94 was a Dutch record and made him the third-fastest European of all-time.
"The legs felt good, and I could just kick," Laros told reporters. "It was amazing."
For 95% of the race Laros wasn't a factor. He ran with the main pack while Nuguse and Frenchman Azeddine Habz followed the pacemaker Abe Alvarado at the front. By the halfway point, Nuguse had a small gap on Habz and was trying to run away with the race.
"I really wanted to go out there and give it everything I had, straight up, to the line," Nuguse said. "I definitely died a bit."
Nuguse came into the homestretch with a lead of several meters on Habz, and Laros was back with the pack. But in the final 50 meters, the 2024 Olympic bronze medalist started to tie up. Habz was also tiring and couldn't catch the American, but Laros sliced down lane one past Habz and towards Nuguse. He caught Nuguse right at the line, shooting a look to his right just as he caught him.
"I was just in the pack and I couldn't really do anything about them running away," said Laros. "But once I came to the front I didn't immediately think about closing that gap. I just wanted to go fight for the podium. I was feeling better than expected and I came closer and closer."
Cole Hocker, the former Oregon Duck who won the Olympic 1500m title last August, took fourth in a personal best 3:47.43. Back in ninth place, double Olympic bronze medalist in the 5000m and 10,000m Grant Fisher finally toppled his ten-year old mile personal best of 3:59.38 set in high school, clocking a very grown-up 3:48.28.
"It feels good to have a new mark," said Fisher with a laugh.
The International Mile --easily the word's best "B" section for a one-mile race-- was won by Ethan Strand who just wrapped up his NCAA career at the University of North Carolina. Wearing his new Nike pro kit for the first time, Strand dominated his race to win in 3:48.86.
"That feels good," Strand told reporters. He continued: "That's the beauty of the International Mile to go compete for the win today. That always builds confidence. If I had been in the Bowerman Mile it would have been more like, see how long you can hang on and see how fast you can run."
In the two other distance races on the program, the women's 800m and 3000m steeplechase, the winners were Tsige Duguma of Ethiopia in 1:57.10 and Winfred Yavi of Bahrain in a meeting record and world-leading 8:45.25. The 800m race marked the return of 2021 Olympic 800m gold medalist Athing Mu-Nikolayev who had not run her two-lap specialty in competition in nearly a year. She had a tough day, finishing tenth and last in 2:03.44.
"It definitely sucks not being able to have run a couple of 800's before this," Mu-Nikolayev told the assembled media. "You know, working out at practice is really great, but when it comes to competition it takes a little bit more. We knew that coming in."