Faith Kipyegon and Beatrice Chebet told each other on the warm-up track to go for it at the Prefontaine Classic, where each would later chase a world record. The close friends from Kenya delivered.
First Chebet, who became the first woman to break 14 minutes in the 5000m. Then Kipyegon, who broke the 1500m world record for a third consecutive year and was enveloped in a Chebet hug after crossing the finish line in Eugene, Oregon.
“We met before (the races), and I told her, ‘We have to believe in ourselves,’” Kipyegon said. “Dare to try, and you never know what will happen.”
In the 5000m, Chebet clocked 13:58.06 with a blistering 61-second last lap. Ethiopian Gudaf Tsegay had the previous record of 14:00.21 set at the 2023 Pre Classic.
PRE CLASSIC: Results
Chebet, the Olympic 5000m and 10,000m champion, is also the only woman to break 29 minutes in the 10,000m (from the 2024 Pre Classic).
She was tearful after her latest world record.
“I know even when I retire in athletics, I will still be remembered because they will use to say Beatrice is the first to run sub-14 in 5000m,” she told Lewis Johnson on NBC Sports.
About 90 minutes after Chebet’s feat, Kipyegon took the 1500m, the last event of the day, in 3:48.68. She previously lowered the world record to 3:49.11 in 2023 and 3:49.04 in 2024. She won the 1500m at the last three Olympics.
Kipyegon is also the world record holder in the mile (4:07.64). On June 26, she ran a mile in 4:06 and change in a non-record-eligible event to see how close she could get to four minutes flat.
She said preparing for the mile attempt in Paris got her in shape to believe she would break the 1500m record at Pre.
Kipyegon and Chebet could go head-to-head in the 5000m at the World Championships in Tokyo in September. Kipyegon is the reigning 1500m and 5000m world champion. She took silver in the Paris Olympic 5000m behind Chebet.
Also at Pre, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, the two-time Olympic 400m hurdles champion, took the flat 400m in 49.43. She is the sixth-fastest woman in the event this year.
McLaughlin-Levrone has said she will likely run either the flat 400m or the 400m hurdles at the USA Track and Field Outdoor Championships in August in a bid to make the world team in one individual event.
“Not my best work, honestly,” she said. “Just happy to be back out after a month of (not) racing. Shake off the dust a little bit. This was just a great indicator for us moving forward.”
Olympic bronze medalist Melissa Jefferson-Wooden won the women’s 100m in 10.75 seconds into a 1.5 meter/second headwind. It’s the fastest time ever run into that much headwind.
Jefferson-Wooden is the world’s fastest woman of 2025 (10.73 from June 1) and on Saturday beat the reigning Olympic gold medalist (Julien Alfred, second in 10.77) and reigning world champion (Sha’Carri Richardson, ninth in 11.19).
Olympic silver medalist Kishane Thompson of Jamaica cruised to take the men’s 100m in 9.85 seconds. Last week, Thompson ran 9.75 at the Jamaican Championships -- the world’s best time in 10 years.
Noah Lyles, who edged Thompson by five thousandths of a second in Paris, has yet to race a 100m in 2025 as he works his way back from an ankle injury.
The Bowerman Mile was decided by one hundredth. Niels Laros, a 20-year-old Dutchman, surged past Yared Nuguse with a lean at the tape — 3:45.94 to 3:45.95. Nuguse, the Olympic bronze medalist, was bidding to become the first American to win the event since Bernard Lagat in 2006.
PHOTO FINISH IN THE BOWERMAN MILE! 😱
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) July 5, 2025
Niels Laros takes it over Yared Nuguse at the line.
📺: NBC & Peacock | #Pre50 pic.twitter.com/4a23RdcGSy
Olympic champion Winfred Yavi of Bahrain took the women’s 3000m steeplechase in 8:45.25, the third-fastest time in history.
Olympic silver medalist Tsige Duguma of Ethiopia won the women’s 800m in 1:57.10. In ninth and tenth places were Kenyan Mary Moraa, the 2023 World champion, and American Athing Mu-Nikolayev, the Tokyo Olympic gold medalist in her first 800m in nearly one year.
In the 400m hurdles, Brazil’s Alison dos Santos overtook Olympic gold medalist Rai Benjamin in the final straightaway — 46.65 to 46.71. Dos Santos, bronze medalist at the last two Olympics, handed Benjamin his first defeat since the 2023 World Championships.
Jamaican Ackera Nugent took the 100m hurdles in 12.32, winning over a field that included the four fastest women in history: Tobi Amusan (second, 12.38), Masai Russell (fourth, 12.50), Tia Jones (DNF) and Keni Harrison (third, 12.50).
Sweden’s Mondo Duplantis won the pole vault with a 6.00-meter clearance. The two-time Olympic champion then took three unsuccessful attempts at 6.29 meters, bidding to break the world record for a 13th time.
American Tara Davis-Woodhall won the long jump on her final jump (7.07 meters) to overtake German Malaika Mihambo (7.01) in a showdown between the last two Olympic gold medalists. Davis-Woodhall is undefeated since the start of 2024, winning all 13 of her competitions.
Three-time Olympian Rudy Winkler improved his own American record in the hammer, throwing 83.16 meters. His previous record was 82.71 from the Tokyo Olympic Trials. It’s the world best throw since the Paris Olympics.
Two-time Olympic discus champion Valarie Allman earned her 26th consecutive win dating to 2023.
