News18 Mar 2013


Prefontaine Classic to stage Ethiopian 10,000m trials

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Tirunesh Dibaba (© Getty Images)

The Ethiopian Athletic Federation has designated the men's and women's 10,000m races at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, the fourth of the 2013 IAAF Diamond League meetings, as its country’s selection races for the 2013 IAAF World Championships in Moscow. 

The races over 25 laps of the track will take place on 31 May, the day before the main part of the meeting on 1 June, organisers announced on Monday (18).

“The 2013 Prefontaine Classic Diamond League meeting in Eugene, Oregon, will host the Ethiopian national 10,000m trials for both the men and women, on the 31 May 2013. The race will host the best of our Ethiopian 10,000m athletes and will serve as the platform for all selection for our 10,000m teams for the IAAF World Championships held in Moscow, Russia in August 2013,” commented Dube Jillo, the Federation's Sport Development and Competition Director.

This is the second year running that the Prefontaine Classic has been accorded the honour of staging another country's trials race.

Last year's thrilling men’s 10,000m was the selection race for Kenya's team going to the London 2012 Olympic Games.

This year's 10,000m races on ‘Distance Night In Eugene’ on Friday, 31 May, will also be open to athletes from nations other than Ethiopia.

With the World Championships limiting entrants to three per country, and with the depth of talent from Ethiopia, Kenya, and the United States among others, both trials races at this year's Samsung Diamond League meeting are expected to be deep in quality.

In the coming weeks, the Ethiopian Athletics Federation will designate those athletes eligible to compete for their World Championships 10,000m teams in Eugene, and the names of entrants from other countries will be released by the meeting.

Ethiopia can boast of the reigning men’s 10,000m World champion, Ibrahim Jeilan, who will receive a wild card to compete in Moscow, and also the London 2012 Olympic Games women’s 10,000m gold medallist Tirunesh Dibaba.

Organisers for the IAAF

2013 IAAF Diamond League Calendar
Doha, QAT – 10 May
Shanghai, CHN – 18 May
New York, USA – 25 May
Eugene, USA – 1 Jun
Rome, ITA – 6 Jun
Oslo, NOR – 13 Jun
Birmingham, GBR – 30 Jun
Lausanne, SUI – 4 Jul
Paris, FRA – 6 Jul
Monaco, MON – 19 Jul
London, GBR – 26-27 Jul
Stockholm, SWE – 22 Aug
Zürich, SUI – 29 Aug
Brussels, BEL – 6 Sep