Upload a Photo Upload a Video Add a News article Write a Blog Add a Comment
Blog Feed News Feed Video Feed All Feeds

Folders

 

 

Tremendous Fields Assembling For Saturday's USATF Grand Prix at Oregon Relays

Published by
DyeStat.com   Apr 21st 2021, 8:30pm
Comments

Current And Past World Champions Get First Look At Rebuilt Hayward Field, Populate Lineups For Saturday's USATF Grand Prix

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

Elite international track and field will be re-introduced to the updated Hayward Field on Saturday afternoon in the USATF Grand Prix at Oregon Relays. 

Twenty competitions are on the schedule from 1-4 p.m. with a deep lineup of star athletes looking to take confidence into the final two months before the U.S. Olympic Team Trials. 

The Grand Prix is a gold label status as part of the World Athletics Continental Tour, which boosts the prize money and raises the stakes on the World Athletics Rankings points. 

It is also the first opportunity for some of the top professional athletes in track and field to see and experience Oregon's new track specific stadium, which is due to host the NCAA Outdoor Championships and the Olympic Trials in June. 

ENTRIES | HOW TO WATCH

The Grand Prix schedule follows two days of college competition at the track as part of the Oregon Relays. 

It's a three-hour session that could re-write the world leaderboards in a slew of events. 

In the men's 100 meters, world leader Ronnie Baker (9.94) faces a high-quality lineup that includes world champion Noah Lyles, 2019 NCAA champion Divine Oduduru, the resurgent Trayvon Bromell, Chris Belcher and Bryce Robinson

The men's 400 meters features Nike teammates and roommates Michael Norman and Rai Benjamin returning to Hayward Field for the first time since they drove USC's 4x400 to a collegiate record (2:59.00) at the 2018 NCAA Championships. 

The men's 1,500 meters features must-watch TV in the form of Donavan Brazier versus Bryce Hoppel, going head to head in an over-distance. Brazier, the world champion in the 800 meters, achieved a personal best 1,500-meter time of 3:35.85 on a local track in the Portland area last summer. 

The 1,500 field includes Australian Ollie Hoare, Canadian Justyn Knight, Guatemalan Luis Grijalva (of NAU, and high school sub-four miler Hobbs Kessler of Ann Arbor, Mich. 

World champion and two-time Olympic champion Christian Taylor is entered in the triple jump. 

Nine-time Olympic champion Allyson Felix will compete at Hayward Field for the first time in nearly four years. She is on the startlist for the 100 meters, along with NCAA 60 meters champion Kemba Nelson of Oregon, Morolake Akinosun, Blessing OkagbareHannah Cunliffe, Teahna Daniels, Jenna Prandini, and Briana Williams

The women's 400 is also nearly worthy of a global final. Olympic champion Shaunae Miller-Uibo of the Bahamas will face world No. 2 Shamier Little of the U.S., along with Phyllis Francis, Lynna Irby, Wadeline Jonathas and Kendall Ellis

Former Oregon star Raevyn Rogers, whose image graces the tower in the northeast corner of the new stadium, will race in the 800 meters in a field that includes Ce'Aira Brown, Kate Grace and Sammy Watson, and Canadian Melissa Bishop and Brit Jenna Reekie.

The 1,500 meters is also stacked in the women's race, where Jenny Simpson faces British star Laura Muir, NCAA indoor mile champion Sage Hurta, Dani Jones, Nikki Hiltz and Weini Kelati, among others. 

Sydney McLaughlin, who ran a new lifetime best in the 100-meter hurdles last weekend with 12.92 seconds, is back in that event this weekend. Jasmine Camacho-Quinn, who ran 12.32 at the Tom Jones Memorial Invitational in Florida to equal the No. 7 all-time competitor, and Payton Chadwick are also entered. 

Vashti Cunningham, already an eight-time U.S. high jump champion at age 23, is set to compete outdoors for the second time this season. 

Olympic shot put champion Michelle Carter, 35, will compete for the first time in 14 months when she goes to the ring as part of a sensational field. Raven Saunders, Maggie Ewen and Jessica Ramsey are all ranked in the top six in the world. 



More news

History for USATF Grand Prix at Oregon Relays
YearResultsVideosNewsPhotosBlogs
2022   1      
2021 1 29 10 240  
 
+PLUS highlights
+PLUS coverage
Live Events
Get +PLUS!