The Prefontaine Classic will reunite the entire women’s 800m podium from last year’s World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, with Lilian Odira taking on Georgia Hunter Bell and Keely Hodgkinson at the Eugene leg of the 2026 Wanda Diamond League on July 4.
Kenya’s Odira and Great Britain’s Hunter Bell and Hodgkinson took gold, silver and bronze in a dramatic final in Tokyo, with all three women going under 1:55.
They will be hoping to put on a similar show when they meet again at Hayward Field in a race named in honour of 800m legend Maria Mutola.
Reigning Olympic champion and two-time Diamond League champion Hodgkinson has her eyes on the 800m world record in 2026.
The current record of 1:53.28 was set by Jarmila Kratochvilova in 1983, making it the longest-standing world record in track and field.
After breaking the world indoor record with 1:54.87 in Lievin, France last week, the British star claimed she has “never felt closer” to catching Kratochvilova’s elusive mark.
Hodgkinson has form breaking historic records: in her last Diamond League appearance, she smashed a 23-year-old meeting record at last year’s Athletissima in Lausanne.
Odira finished second in that race, before going on to stun Hodgkinson in the 800m final at the World Championships in Tokyo.
The Kenyan is now ranked number four in the world and will be out to pick up her first ever Diamond League win in 2026.
Hunter Bell also knows what it takes to beat her compatriot Hodgkinson, having pipped her to silver with a late dash in Tokyo.
Olympic bronze medallist in 2024, the British star will be hoping to add to the two Diamond League victories she won in Stockholm and London last season.
Eugene is the ninth leg of the 2026 Wanda Diamond League, which begins in Doha on May 8 and ends at the two-day series final in Brussels on September 4-5.
The series unites the biggest names in track and field in some of the world’s most iconic arenas, crossing four continents and 15 cities over the course of the season.
