Women’s Record Holder To Headline Mile Race At 2026 Prefontaine Classic

Faith Kipyegon also holds the Women’s 1500m World Record, Set at Last Year’s Pre Classic

For the first time since joining the Diamond League, the Prefontaine Classic will host a Women’s Mile race. The Hayward Field record for the mile of 4:21.25 was set at the 1988 Prefontaine Classic by Mary Decker. Faith Kipyegon (Kenya) set the current mile world record in 2023 at the Monaco Diamond League meeting with a time of 4:07.64. At the 2025 Prefontaine Classic, Faith set the world record in the Women’s 1500m with a time of 3:48.68 at Hayward Field at the University of Oregon.

Kipyegon is the first woman ever to hold the world records for the 1500m, mile, and 5000m simultaneously. She has dominated World Athletics’ global rankings, holding the #1 spot in the 1500m for 198 weeks and ranking as the world’s top female athlete for 90 weeks. A four-time Olympic medalist, she has won three consecutive Olympic gold medals in the 1500m (Rio, Tokyo, and Paris).

Faith added a silver Olympic medal in Paris in the 5000m and also holds five World Championship titles. With 29 career Diamond League victories across six distances, she has also remained unbeaten for a decade at the Prefontaine Classic. Three of Kipyegon’s all-time top ten performances in the 1500m have been run at Hayward Field.

The Prefontaine Classic will take place on Friday, July 3rd, and Saturday, July 4th, 2026. 

A Diamond Discipline, the Women’s Mile, is scheduled for Saturday, July 4th.

The tentative event schedule windows for each day of competition are: Friday, 6:00 - 10:00 p.m. / Saturday, 12:00 - 3:00 p.m.

Tickets, VIP Experience Packages, and Accommodations packages are now on sale.

Those interested in volunteering at The Prefontaine Classic can learn more here.