April 15, 2015
For Immediate Release 

Great Field Makes Pre Classic 400 Hurdles A Tossup 

            Eugene, Oregon – The last two athletes to have earned No. 1 world rankings in the men’s 400-meter hurdles are just the beginning for the Prefontaine Classic.

            The 41^st Pre Classic, a member of the IAAF Diamond League of elite international track & field meets, will be held May 29-30 at the historic Hayward Field.
 
            All told, the hurdle field includes athletes who have won six major gold medals, four of five possible IAAF Diamond Trophies, and nine No. 1 world rankings by Track & Field News.  So deep is the talent, fans will need a crystal ball to pick a favorite.

            Javier Culson of Puerto Rico has the most recent world No. 1 ranking by T&FN(as well as 2012’s).  Culson is the only two-time IAAF Diamond Trophy winner in this event (2012 & 2013), but he has yet to win a major international gold medal – owning World silvers in 2009 & 2011 as well as a 2012 Olympic bronze (the first Olympic track medal for Puerto Rico).

            Jehue Gordon of Trinidad & Tobago ranked No. 1 at age 21 in 2013, the same year he won the Moscow World Championships – his time of 47.69 is the world’s fastest in the last two years.  Gordon first jumped on the world stage as a finalist at the 2009 Berlin World Championships, where he finished 4^th in a world age-17 record 48.26. 

            American Michael Tinsley is the reigning IAAF Diamond Trophy winner.  He was a tick away from having a gold of his own, outleaned by Gordon at the 2013 Worlds.  He also owns silver from the 2012 Olympics, where he first broke the 48-second barrier.  Tinsley was ranked No. 2 in the world by T&FN in each of the last two years.
 
            The two hurdlers with the fastest lifetime bests in the field are known as Superman and Batman.  Their true identities are Felix Sanchez and Bershawn Jacksonand they are the only winners of this event at the Pre Classic in this century.

            Sanchez is known by several nicknames, but Superman may be appropriate –  the two-time Olympic gold medalist (2004 & 2012) also has two World Championships gold medals (2003 & 2011).  At the 2013 World Championships in Moscow, he finished 5^th – his seventh World Championships final.  Sanchez's stretch of excellence began in 2001, when he earned the first of four straight No. 1 T&FN world rankings.
 
            Jackson is the sport’s most famous Batman.  He is also among America’s best ever in this event, winning four U.S. titles – only Hall of Famer Edwin Moses, with five, has more in the post-World War II era.  Jackson was not only fast enough in this event to win World gold (2005), but also to make gold medal-winning teams for the traditionally powerful U.S. 4x400 (2007 & 2011 Worlds, 2010 World Indoors).  He is the Pre Classic’s only two-time winner in this event, and his 2010 No. 1 T&FN world ranking is the last by an American.

            Johnny Dutch, the third fastest in the field, is the reigning U.S. Champion who won the NCAA title for South Carolina in 2010.  The previous two seasons he clocked PRs at the 2009 USA Championships and the 2008 Olympic Trials.
 
            Kariem Hussein of Switzerland and Rasmus Magi of Estonia finished as the gold and silver medalists in last summer’s European Championships.  Hussein is 26, while Magi is a 22-year-old who will turn 23 on May 4.  Each ranked in T&FN’s world top 10 last year (Hussein at No. 4, Magi at No. 8) and each will be making his first appearance in the U.S.
 

            Fans can follow the event lineups as all announced fields are posted at PreClassic.com.  The direct link to current start/entry lists is HERE and will include updates to all announced fields.
 
            Tickets for the 41^st annual edition of the Prefontaine Classic, to be held May 29-30 at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore., are available now from goducks.com and from 1-800-WEBFOOT.  Sponsored by NIKE continuously since 1984, the Prefontaine Classic will be shown live to an international audience and by NBC Sports from 1:30 till 3:00 p.m. PT on Saturday, May 30.

            The Prefontaine Classic is the longest-running outdoor invitational track & field meet in America and is part of the elite IAAF Diamond League of meets held worldwide annually.  The Pre Classic’s results score has rated No. 1 or No. 2 in the world in each of the last four years by All-Athletics.com, the official data partner of the IAAF Diamond League.

            Steve Prefontaine is a legend in the sport of track & field and is the most inspirational distance runner in American history.  He set a national high school 2-mile record (8:41.5) while at Marshfield High School in Coos Bay, Oregon, that is the fastest ever in a National Federation-sanctioned race.  While competing for the University of Oregon, he won national cross country championships (3) and outdoor track 3-Mile/5000-meter championships (4), and never lost a collegiate track race at any distance.  As a collegiate junior, he made the 1972 U.S. Olympic Team and nearly won an Olympic medal, finishing 4^th in the 5K at the 1972 Munich Olympics, at age 22.  After finishing college in 1973 and preparing for a return to the Olympics in 1976, he continued to improve, setting many American records.  His life ended tragically on May 30, 1975, the result of an auto accident, at age 24.  The Pre Classic began that year and has been held every year since.