Clash of the titans in Eugene mile

Image: Logan Hannigan, courtesy of Wanda Diamond League

Three of the world’s biggest middle-distance stars will lock horns at one of global athletics’ biggest stadium when the Wanda Diamond League touches down in Eugene on July 5. 

Olympic champion Cole Hocker will take on bronze medallist Yared Nuguse and reigning Diamond League champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen in the 25th edition of the Prefontaine Classic’s iconic Bowerman Mile. 

Ingebrigtsen has fond memories of the mile at Hayward Field, having run the fastest ever Bowerman Mile with a European and Diamond League record of 3:43.73 at the Wanda Diamond League Final in 2023.

Coming just a day after his victory in the 5000m at the same meeting, it was a triumph which also saw Ingebrigtsen join the select group of athletes who have won two Diamond Trophies in a single season. 

After claiming a fourth Diamond Trophy, an Olympic gold medal in the 5000m and a world record in the 3000m, Ingebrigtsen once again heads into this season as a favourite for the Diamond Trophy. 

Yet he will have his work cut out in Eugene as he goes up against two of his biggest rivals in Hocker and Nuguse, both of whom finished ahead of him in the 1500m Olympic final at Paris 2024. 

Hocker stunned the world when he claimed gold in Paris, and as a University of Oregon alumnus, he will have the home crowd firmly behind him at Hayward Field. 

Bronze medallist Nuguse is ranked second in the world in the men’s 1500m, and finished second behind Josh Kerr in last year’s Bowerman Mile.

The mile is one of several big-name clashes confirmed for Eugene this season, with Olympic podium rematches also expected in the women’s long jump, women’s 800m and men’s shot put.