The Prefontaine Classic began in 1973, as a Hayward Restoration meeting. Two years later, the meet was officially founded and was set to be named the "Bowerman Classic" after
University of Oregon Coach
Bill Bowerman. However, following
Steve Prefontaine's death in 1975, the meeting's name was switched to the Prefontaine Classic in honor of him. The Prefontaine Classic has held mile races since 1975, but the Bowerman Mile was not established until 2000, where Bill Bowerman's name would find a place to be honored.
2001: Alan Webb's high school mile record At the 2001 Prefontaine Classic,
Alan Webb competed in the Bowerman Mile against elite international runners, in a field that included world record holder
Hicham El Guerrouj of
Morocco, and the
2000 Sydney Olympics 1500m bronze medalist
Bernard Lagat of
Kenya (at the time). Although El Guerrouj won in 3:49.92, with
Kevin Sullivan (3:51.82),
Bernard Lagat (3:53.14) and
Adil Kaouch (3:53.40) following behind, the young Webb finished in 5th place. Webb ran 3:53.43 and broke
Jim Ryun's national
high school record of 3:55.3 that had stood for 36 years.
2023: Jakob Ingebrigtsen's mile & 3000m double In the 2023 Prefontaine Classic & Diamond League Final, on September 16,
Norwegian athlete
Jakob Ingebrigtsen won the Bowerman Mile, in a time of 3:43.73, with the aid of pacing lights and pacemakers
Erik Sowinski &
Cameron Myers. Ingebrigtsen missed
Hicham El Guerrouj's mile world record by .60 seconds, still having run the fastest mile in 24 years and the third fastest mile in history at the time. Ingebrigtsen was closely followed by
Yared Nuguse, who finished in an
American record time of 3:43.97, breaking Alan Webb's former 2007 American mile record of 3:46.91 by almost three full seconds and running the fourth fastest mile in history at the time. The race was reminiscent of El Guerrouj's 1999 world record run in
Rome, where El Guerrouj won in 3:43.13, but was being closely tracked by
Kenyan athlete
Noah Ngeny, who came in second place at 3:43.40. El Guerrouj and Ngeny still hold the first and second fastest mile times respectively as of 2023. These four men (El Guerrouj, Ngeny, Ingebrigtsen, Nuguse) remain the only ones in history to have run a mile under 3:44.00 as of 2024, with the #5 fastest miler of all time being
Noureddine Morceli, with his 1993 time of 3:44.39. The next day, Ingebrigtsen would go on to win the 3000 m, in a time of 7:23.63, beating
Yomif Kejelcha by only one hundredth of a second. At the time, this ranked Kejelcha at #4 all time and Ingebrigtsen at #3 all time, behind Hicham El Guerrouj's 7:23.09 and
Daniel Komen's world record of 7:20.67.
2024: "The Mile of the Century" A good benchmark of physical fitness for the approaching
2024 Summer Olympics, and an analogue to the
Paris 1500m final, the 2024 Bowerman Mile on 25 May featured the greatest 1500 meter and mile runners in the world at the time, including
Josh Kerr,
Jakob Ingebrigtsen, and
Yared Nuguse. This 2024 edition, considering these three athletes and the historically deep field, was billed as the "Mile of the Century". == Annual Champions ==