Dalilah Muhammad wins the 400m hurdles at the US Olympic Trials (© Getty Images)
Olympic 400m hurdles champion Dalilah Muhammad of the US will lead a loaded women's 400m hurdles field at the 43rd Prefontaine Classic, the third stop on the 2017 IAAF Diamond League series, on 27 May.
Muhammad raced to gold in Rio last summer to become the first US woman to capture an Olympic title in the event. Five weeks earlier, Muhammad won the US Olympic Trials on Eugene's Hayward Field track, clocking a world-leading 52.88 to move to fourth on the US all-time list.
The strong field will also include Czech Zuzana Hejnova, the 2013 and 2015 world champion and a two-time Diamond Race winner. The 30-year-old is also the fastest in the field at 52.83. The Olympic bronze medallist in 2012, Hejnova was fourth in Rio after struggling earlier last season with injury.
They'll be joined by Denmark's Olympic silver medallist Sara Petersen who will be racing in the US for the first time. The European champion clocked her 53.55 lifetime best in Rio.
Ashley Spencer, the Olympic bronze medallist, fills out the 2016 Olympic podium reunion. A 400m specialist during her collegiate career, the 23-year-old rose rapidly in the hurdles event last year, the first in which she concentrated fully on the discipline. She too clocked her 53.72 personal best in the Olympic final.
Two other strong entries from the US are Cassandra Tate and Shamier Little. Tate won the Diamond Race in the event last year and took bronze at the IAAF World Championships Beijing 2015. Little earned silver at the 2015 World Championships, was a three-time NCAA champion and 2014 world junior champion.
Janieve Russell of Jamaica and South African Wanda Theron Nel fill out the field. Russell, the 2012 world U20 champion, reached the Olympic final last year where she finished seventh. Nel won back-to-back African titles in the event in 2014 and 2016.
Organisers for the IAAF
2017 IAAF Diamond League calendar
5 May – Doha, QAT
13 May – Shanghai, CHN
27 May – Eugene, USA
8 Jun – Rome, ITA
15 Jun – Oslo, NOR
18 Jun – Stockholm, SWE
1 Jul – Paris, FRA
6 Jul – Lausanne, SUI
9 Jul – London, GBR
16 Jul – Rabat, MAR
21 Jul – Monaco, MON
20 Aug – Birmingham, GBR
24 Aug – Zurich, SUI
1 Sep – Brussels, BEL
