Tharp and Kipyegon headline Eugene

Ja’Kobe Tharp kicks off his Diamond League campaign and Faith Kipyegon returns to action at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene tomorrow.

Tharp has already made history at Hayward Field once this year and he will be hoping to do so again on Saturday. The 20-year-old 110m hurdler stunned the world when he ran 12.75 at the NCAA Championships last month, breaking the world record Aries Merritt had held since the 2012 Diamond League Final in Brussels.

Tharp returns to Eugene this weekend to make only the second Diamond League appearance of his career and kickstart what could potentially be a bid for his first international title.

After finishing third in Monaco last year behind Trey Cunningham and Cordell Tinch, Tharp will again face Tinch – now lining up as the world champion – as well as Jamal Britt, who won the Paris Diamond League in 12.89, and world silver medallist Orlando Bennett.

Kipyegon also broke a world record the last time she ran in Eugene, clocking an extraordinary 3:48.68 at last year’s Prefontaine Classic. The Kenyan superstar returns to Hayward Field in the mile this year, and few would bet against another serious world record attempt.

Kipyegon is already the fastest female miler in history with 4:07.64 and she launched an audacious attempt to break the four-minute barrier over the distance last year.

The event brings together all the 1500m medallists from the last World Championships and Olympic Games – Dorcus Ewoi and Jess Hull, who joined Kipyegon on the podium in Tokyo, plus Great Britain’s Georgia Hunter Bell, who got Olympic bronze behind Kipyegon and Hull in Paris and went on to clinch world 800m silver in Tokyo between Lilian Odira and Keely Hodgkinson.

Rai Benjamin also knows what it takes to win in Eugene, having claimed his first and only Diamond League title at Hayward Field in the 400m hurdles back in 2023.

The US star faces a different test this year, however, having switched his attention from the hurdles to the 400m flat in 2026. Eugene will be his first 400m Diamond League appearance since 2018, and he goes up against a world-class field that includes world champion Busang Collen Kebinatshipi.

Melissa Jefferson-Wooden’s first Diamond League win in Eugene last year marked the beginning of a remarkable rise to greatness for the US sprinter, who went on to win at two more Diamond League meetings before claiming a historic triple crown at the World Championships in Tokyo.

The 25-year-old clocked 10.75 to win at Hayward Field last year before completing a 100m, 200m and 4x100m title treble at the World Championships in Tokyo. The 10.61 she ran in Tokyo makes her the fourth-fastest sprinter of all time and she has not been beaten over 100m since the Olympic final in Paris in 2024, when she got bronze behind Julien Alfred and Sha’Carri Richardson.

Richardson, the 2023 world champion and 2024 winner at the Prefontaine Classic, is among Jefferson-Wooden’s rivals in Eugene, where athletes will contest 100m heats before the final. Both Richardson and Jefferson-Wooden have dipped under 10.90 already this season, as have two-time world 200m champion Shericka Jackson, world 100m silver medallist Tina Clayton and world leader Adaejah Hodge. Adding further strength to the fields are Dina Asher-Smith, Tia Clayton, Shawnti Jackson, Favour Ofili and Amy Hunt.

Among those trying to topple her from top spot this season is Jamaican legend Shericka Jackson, who is returning to her best form after an injury-plagued campaign in 2025. The two sprint stars meet for the first time this season on Saturday in what promises to be a thrilling women’s 100m.

It is three years since Tara Davis-Woodhall lost a Diamond League competition and three years since she jumped anything below seven metres in athletics’ premier one-day series.

Davis-Woodhall soared a PB of 7.20m in LA last month and heads a long jump field featuring Alexis Brown and Alyssa Jones, who have also surpassed seven metres this season, plus two-time Diamond League champion Larissa Iapichino and two-time world champion Malaika Mihambo.