Pre Meet Ranks #1

Pre Meet Ranks #1

Pre Classic No. 1 in World Again

The performances in the 2016 Prefontaine Classic Diamond League meeting were truly amazing and it is well reflected in the All-Athletics.com Competition Rankings as well.

The meeting produced 95,753 points which is the highest Competition Score ever since the introduction of such rankings in 2001.

(The 43rd Prefontaine Classic, a member of the IAAF Diamond League of elite international track & field meets, will be held May 26-27, 2017 at historic Hayward Field.)

The Prefontaine Classic is back on top of the IAAF Diamond League podium. For the second time in 4 years, the iconic American meet is at the top of the rankings calculated by All-Athletics.com, the official data services partner of the IAAF’s top-tier international circuit.

The No. 1 world ranking is derived from a combination of the quality of participating athletes along with the quality of the actual results. The 2016 Pre Classic, which was held May 27-28 at historic Hayward Field, finished at the top in both categories, the first Diamond League meet to do so since 2010.

“The meets in the IAAF Diamond League are the very best in the world,” said Tom Jordan, the Pre Classic director since 1984. “To be at the top of the rankings in both Participation and Results categories is something we are very proud of, and it’s exciting that our fans got to see so many of the Rio gold medalists.

Athletes who competed at this year’s Pre Classic went on to win 20 gold medals (16 individual, 4 relay) at this year’s Rio Olympic Games, the most of any invitational in the world.

The 2016 Pre, sponsored by NIKE, will be remembered for a score of thrilling competitions at a high level, including 15 world-leading marks as well as meet and Hayward Field records in four events – men’s triple jump (Christian Taylor 58-3¼/17.76), women’s 1500 (Faith Kipyegon 3:56.41), women’s steeplechase (Ruth Jebet 8:59.87), and women’s 100 hurdles (Keni Harrison 12.24). Harrison’s mark was one of two American records set, the other being Emma Coburn’s 9:10.76 in the steeplechase.

The meet will also be remembered for some of the sport’s biggest stars. Distance king Mo Farah led 19 runners under the 28:00 in the 10,000 – only the 2008 Beijing Olympics had more sub-28 runners in the same race (20).

In the women’s 400, Sanya Richards-Ross ran her 12th and final Pre Classic, capping a career that saw her first compete in 2002 as 17-year-old high school senior (with five wins, she is the only woman in the event to win more than twice). The meet closed with the traditional Bowerman Mile that saw Asbel Kiprop win for the fourth time (no one else has won it more than twice).