Bekele's Outdoor 2M Debut To Come At Pre Classic
Posted Wednesday, 11 April, 2007
Eugene--In his first-ever race outdoors in the United States, superstar Kenenisa Bekele will compete in the Prefontaine Classic Grand Prix on June 10th at Hayward Field. Bekele will run the 2-Mile, the first he has ever contested outdoors. Still only 24-years-old, the Ethiopian holds world records at 5000 meters (12:37.35), 10,000 meters (26:17.53), and two distances indoors, at 2000 and 5000 meters. Combining great finishing speed with spectacular endurance, Bekele has won gold medals over 10,000 at the 2004 Olympic Games, and at the 2003 and 2005 World Championships. He took the silver medal in the Athens Olympic 5000, and has been ranked first in the world at 5k by Track & Field News magazine for the past three years. Of the nine 5k races he ran last year, Bekele broke 13:00 in six of them.
"Over the years, we have had many great athletes compete at the Prefontaine Classic," said meet director Tom Jordan, "but few have dominated their events like Kenenisa Bekele. Sergey Bubka, Hicham El Guerrouj, Michael Johnson....Bekele joins that select few."
The 33rd Prefontaine Classic will be televised live on NBC for two hours beginning at 1 p.m. PT on June 10th.
Tickets for the 2007 Prefontaine Classic are now on sale at the Casanova Center ticket office, from 1-800-WEBFOOT, or at www.goducks.com
For more information, call 541-687-1989 or visit www.preclassic.com
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