The locomotive of world athletics, the United States is hosting the World Championships from Friday for the first time since the creation of the event nearly 40 years ago, in the delightful setting of Hayward Field in Eugene.
A great competition in a country of athletics and in front of an audience of connoisseurs. What should be the norm comes as a relief after the dreary and stifling Worlds in Doha in the fall of 2019, and the Tokyo Olympics played in an empty stadium last summer, due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Oregon, a coastal state in the northwest of the United States with endless forests, thus offers international athletics a breath of fresh air in the town of Eugene (about 176,000 inhabitants), the historic beating heart of US athletics. and nicknamed “Track Town”.
The pandemic, which participated in postponing the event from 2021 to 2022, remains very present, a negative test is required for each participant, but it should not prevent the celebration of Olympic sport N.1 in the setting of Hayward Field .
The magnificent stadium, built in 1919 and renovated in 2020, usually hosts in its green and yellow ornament the “Ducks” of the University of Oregon, the local pride, whose track and field team is one of the most prestigious of the university circuit.
Hayward Field also regularly hosts the American stage of the Diamond League and the terrible US selections, the last of which in June in front of many empty seats, rekindling the controversy that Eugene is too small, too far, and too expensive for a mass event.
A mythical place full of history
The usual “Go Ducks” will therefore give way to “Go USA”, to encourage the collective programmed to crush the competition once again.
In 2019 in Qatar, the United States had picked up 14 titles out of 49. They have won a total of 381 of the 2,347 medals (i.e. 16%) distributed since the first Worlds in Helsinki in 1983, without ever having played at home.
In Eugene, they will be able to draw inspiration from the legends that permeate the place.
Hayward Field vibrated to the rhythm of the exploits of Steve Prefontaine, legendary 1970s runner at breakneck speed, who died in May 1975 at the age of 24 in a car accident.
His coach, Bill Bowerman, pioneered modern middle-distance training methods, designed the current surface of the trails, and contributed to the great wave of popular running 50 years ago.
The two characters are intimately linked to the first steps of the equipment manufacturer Nike, a small local company that has become an international juggernaut in sportswear.
In his stadium and in his city, the comma mark is printed everywhere, on the shirts of several countries but especially on the feet of the athletes. In six years, the firm has revolutionized shoes for road running, middle distance and now sprinting and jumping, being at the initiative of a battle of innovations and a general boom in performance.
The region has also hosted the dark side of the brand and athletics across the Atlantic, with former star coach Alberto Salazar.
At the head of the Nike Oregon Project between 2001 and 2019, funded by Nike, Salazar was guilty of anti-doping rule violations, psychological abuse and sexual assault, which now earned him a life ban.
Felix’s farewell
For the podiums, several stars of the last Olympics have an uncertain form, such as Marcell Jacobs in the 100m or Karsten Warholm in the 400m hurdles. And the list of packages is growing every day, between Steven Gardiner (400m), Sam Kendricks (pole) or Anita Wlodarczyk (hammer).
Also absent, Russian Olympic champion Mariya Lasitskene (height) has been banned from major international competitions like all her compatriots since the invasion of Ukraine in February, while World Athletics has still not settled the vast Russian doping scandal. since 2015.
The stars, in the eyes and on the track, have an appointment for the last strides of the star Allyson Felix, scheduled for the curtain raiser on Friday in the mixed 4x400m.
At 36, the world medal record holder (18 in seven editions) will heat up the crowd before the expected exploits of her compatriot Sydney McLaughlin in the 400m hurdles, the most American of Swedes, Armand Duplantis in the pole vault, or the Venezuelan triple jumper Yulimar Rojas.
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