media_artricles :: 2016

Cedenio in Prefontaine super 400m clash today

T&T's Machel Cedenio will attempt to cause a major upset today when he takes on a stellar cast in the Men's 400 metres event at the 42nd Prefontaine Classic, a member of the IAAF Diamond League of elite international track and field meets, at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, USA.

The national quartermiler lines up against Olympic 400m champion Kirani James and LaShawn Merritt, a former Olympic gold medal winner, who themselves are locked in their own rivalry and return to the Classic for a record fifth time, and after sub-44 races the last two years, it's possible one of the oldest records in meet history could take a tumble.

In 2000, Michael Johnson set the record of 43.92 seconds in his final race at Hayward Field in winning his second Pre Classic 400. The mark, made less than a year after he set the World Record of 43.18, stands as the second oldest men's meet record.

Both James and Merritt join Johnson as the only multiple Pre Classic winners in this event. The field is its fastest ever, bolstered by a record five runners who have run sub-44.

The others in the event are Botswana's Isaac Makwala, Abdalleleh Haroun of Qatar, Steven Gardiner of the Bahamas, Saudi Arabia's Youssef Ahmed Masrahi and Jamaica's Rusheen McDonald. James, 23, is the two-time defending Pre Classic champion and is the only runner with more than one sub-44 clocking at the premier event. He won last year's race at 43.95 after taking the 2014 title in 43.97, both over Merritt. At the recent Drake Relays, James took the early world lead at 44.08 with a victory over Merritt to increase his career head-to-head lead to 11-7.

Merritt, 29, owns as many Pre Classic 400 wins (four) as James and Johnson combined. He also has four runner-up finishes—the lowest position he has ever placed at the Pre Classic. Cedenio have been progressing well this season with hopes of making his debut at the Olympics in Rio-deJaniero in August.

In his first meet of the Diamond League series in Doha, Qatar, Cedenio, 20, won a silver medal in a time of running a season's best time of 44.68 seconds running in lane three. Merritt won in 44.41. This followed up his outstanding showing at the Tom Jones Memorial Invitational at the University of Florida, USA, clocking 44.79 to win the 400 in April.

Also today, Olympic champion T&T's Keshorn Walcott gets his first real test of the season when he takes on a field that includes World silver medallist Ihab Abdelrahman, Thomas Rohler, who took the first javelin points of the year in the Diamond League series in Shanghai ahead of Czech Jakub Vadlejch, another contender in today's event.

The rest are USA's Cyrus Hostetler, Marcin Krukowski of Poland, Johannes Vetter of Germany and Kenyan Julius Yego.

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