Melissa Jefferson-Wooden edges Sha'Carri Richardson at Pre Classic; Nikki Hiltz stuns Faith Kipyegon
· Yahoo Sports
Melissa Jefferson-Wooden edged Sha'Carri Richardson by one hundredth of a second in a Pre Classic 100m showdown between world champion training partners.
Jefferson-Wooden, who went undefeated in 2025, clocked 10.78 seconds at Hayward Field at the University of Oregon.
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Richardson, the 2023 World champion and 2024 Olympic silver medalist in the 100m, continued a strong early season by running 10.79. Last month, she clocked 10.77, the best time by an American in 2026.
The track and field season continues with the USATF Outdoor Championships from July 23-26 in New York City, airing on NBC Sports and Peacock.
2026 Pre Classic ResultsPrefontaine Classic track and field meet results from July 3-4, 2026, at Hayward Field.Also Saturday in the women's mile, Nikki Hiltz became the first person to beat Kenyan Faith Kipyegon in a 1500m or mile race in five years.
Hiltz overtook the triple Olympic gold medalist in the final stretch, clocking 4:17.49, 13 hundredths ahead of Kenyan Dorcus Ewoi and 31 hundredths in front of Kipyegon.
18-year-old Tate Taylor won the 200m over Olympic gold medalist Letsile Tebogo of Botswana in a personal-best 19.75 seconds into a .9 meter-per-second headwind.
The only teenagers to ever run faster were American Erriyon Knighton (19.49 at age 18) and Australian Gout Gout (19.67 at 18).
Jamal Britt edged newly crowned world record holder Ja'Kobe Tharp in the 110m hurdles, 12.86 to 12.91.
Britt, a 27-year-old who has never made an Olympic or world team, lowered his personal best for the fourth time in the last three weeks. He is now the fifth-fastest man in history after starting the year outside the top 40.
Olympic gold medalist Masai Russell held off world record holder Tobi Amusan of Nigeria in the 100m hurdles — 12.24 to 12.34. Last month, Russell ran 12.14, just two hundredths off Amusan's world record.
In the 400m, Botswana's Collen Kebinatshipi overtook American Rai Benjamin -- 44.00 to 44.11 -- in a duel between the world champions in the flat 400m and 400m hurdles.
NCAA champion Kayinsola Ajayi of Nigeria upset world champion Oblique Seville of Jamaica in the 100m, 9.84 to 9.89.
Kenyan Lilian Odira overtook Olympic gold medalist Keely Hodgkinson of Great Britain in the 800m, just as she did at last September's World Championships.
Olympic gold medalist Tara Davis-Woodhall extended a two-year long jump win streak to 18 consecutive meets — barely. She leaped 7.13 meters to prevail by one centimeter over Larissa Iapichino, who broke her mom Fiona May's Italian record.
In the hammer throw, China's Zhang Jiale handed Canadian Camryn Rogers her first top-level competition defeat since the 2022 Worlds at Hayward.
Chase Jackson, the 2022 and 2023 World champion, threw 20.56 meters to prevail over 2025 World champion Jessica Schilder of the Netherlands (second, 20.11) and 2024 Olympic gold medalist Yemisi Mabry of Germany (fifth, 19.14).
How Ja’Kobe Tharp went from being laughed at to world record holderJa’Kobe Tharp is the lone American man to hold a world record in an individual running event that’s on the Olympic program.