The 2026 Prefontaine Classic Highlights and Recap Day 2
Day 2 of the 2026 Prefontaine Classic delivered epic moments from Nikki Hiltz, Jamal Britt and of course, Tate Taylor. FloTrack had you covered from the ground as Joshua Potts and Trey Hardee recap all of the action. Check out Full Replays of the 2026 Prefontaine Classic on NBC and Peacock - https://www.nbcsports.com/olympics/ne...
Video Transcript
Welcome to Heat Check: Prefontaine, presented by On and Fleet Feet.
We're here at the Prefontaine Classic, here on day two.
I'm Joshua Potts with two-time Olympian, Trey Hardy.
He was just on the NBC broadcast- Yeah doing your thing for a couple hours.
Yep.
Man, I'm glad you're joining us to talk a little about track and field.
Yeah.
It's a lot of track.
This is the place to do it, man.
This is, this is it, the cathedral.
There you go.
There you go.
Well, we got six top moments from day two of the Prefontaine Classic, and I wanna start where we had fireworks from the very beginning, the women's 100 meter dash.
Sha'Carri Richardson had a good start, Melissa Jefferson had a good start as well.
She was pulling away, and it was a battle to the finish, but MJW got the victory, running 10.78 out of that race.
Just kind of explain the team dynamics of a world champion, two world champions competing against each other, battling out in, in this race.
Like, just translate from that from a former racer.
You could see at the end of the race how, like, the emotion or, and like how much that meant to Sha'Carri.
MJW, you could say, wasn't losing that race.
Yeah.
I think that was the vibe.
That, that was kind of how it all felt, watching it unfold.
But the training dynamic, and having those two, day in, day out, sharpen each other, good luck rest of the world.
That, that was kind of the thing.
It was, sometimes you get in that, in that, that training group, and one will excel and rise, and the other will get, like, this sunken, like, smoothed off, like, vibe.
Like, one's gonna win out.
But here, this was the first time we've seen them both, sharp as tacks, like, after one another, and it doesn't get closer than that.
Yeah.
That was 100th of a second.
They were warriors out there today, and a singular warrior that we've seen on the runway each time at the Prefontaine Classic, each time in Hayward, is Tara Davis-Woodhall.
Winning today in 7.13 meters.
That's the way that it jumps on there, consistent throughout the entire way.
She's, what?
You said 18 long jump wins in a row.
Yep.
She's doing things that are all-time, at this point, in measurements, too.
What does she gotta do to be one of the greatest female long jumpers of all time?
Or has she already done it?
She No.
Not j- JJK.
Is she close?
She's just gotta keep winning.
She's gotta keep winning.
Like, they, they, they've got a really good plan, her and her coach, of what they worked on last year, what they started to implement this year with her running the hurdles.
Has an all-time best just a few weeks ago from LA in, in the hurdles.
But putting it all together, she's got all the pieces.
She got the mindset, got the support, got the talent, got all that stuff, and there's a big meet in a couple of years in LA.
Yep.
That winning that will, will put her up on that echelon of all-time greats, but hey, it, it took a, the Italian national record from Iafrate to maybe try to break, break the streak.
It wasn't happening.
This is her, this is her, like, second home.
Ta- Tara owns that runway, and yeah, she's just gotta keep winning.
Like, she's always, looks like she's having fun.
Yeah.
Oh, she definitely's having fun.
Check that box, and then it is just, everything else will fall into place.
Keep putting in the work, having fun.
Keep winning.
Yeah.
As she's chasing grace- greatness, Cam Myers is doing the exact same thing in the Bowerman Mile.
He's going to a point now where he's getting all the Australian records at this point.
He wins it in a time of 3:46, and had Ethan Strand, Y- Yared Nuguse, these Americans chasing him down, not being able to take down Cam Myers.
Doing it in a dominant way as well, Trey.
Yeah.
But what is the bigger story?
Cam Myers jumping on the scene, really solidifying himself as a top competitor in the world this year, or the Americans not winning again?
The last time that happened was 2006 by Bernard Lagat.
Shoot.
Yeah, yeah, that's back to my day.
it just shows how hard it is to win this thing.
This isn't, this is a big deal.
It's a big deal to these guys.
It's a, it's a mile.
You, they step to the line, and like, it's just this different vibe.
Yeah.
I, this felt like it could be Yared's time.
There was kind of this thing, like, okay, this is And he, and he knew it, too.
Yep.
But man, Cam has come into this season with such an edge and such a Like, he's al- he's 19, but he's, or 20.
He's already cut his teeth.
Like, he doesn't, he's not learning anything else.
He's, he's taken some tough losses, and now he's got another big win, another Diamond League win under his belt.
At, like, anybody that knew anything about track, like, if I had 100 bucks going into this, it was probably go- all going on Cam.
Like, that's gonna be a tough kid to beat.
No, most definitely.
Most definitely.
And w- who's it turning into a really tough kid to beat?
He's cutting his teeth right now.
Tate Taylor in the men's 200.
First ever Diamond League race here at the Prefontaine Classic.
Runs 19.75, breaking his own high school national record.
Huh.
I think it's his third time breaking it this year.
Yeah.
Beating, world champions in this race.
Nation- like, just an amazing performance from Tate Taylor.
What does this do?
How does this bolster his legacy of high school running even more?
Oh, God.
I mean, I, it's such a weird Like, I'm just an old, old head.
Like, everything that's happening now makes no sense to me.
Yeah.
But watching that race, getting to see it, I was here when Noah Lyles did the same thing at the Olympic trials, and it was this, "Oh, okay, this is this high school kid who's run a couple of fast times.
All right, step up in here and get your butt whipped and see what it's really like."
And that didn't happen to Noah, and it didn't happen to Tate, and that was immediately where my head went, was like, not just a flash in the pan, or like, can only do it in certain setups.
This is about as big a stage as you're gonna see this year, and we, yeah, we got one.
America's got another one.
We definitely do, and the women's mile as well.
Number two on this list goes to the women's mile, where we saw Faith Kipyegon lose her first mile or 1500 on the track since 2021.
The one who took her down was Nikki Hiltz- Yeah running a time of 4:17.
What's the, just how do you respond after such a high that Nikki had, winning this, or Faith getting a first loss in almost seven, six, five years?
Faith losing is an eventuality.
She know-- like, it was gonna happen.
Was it supposed to happen this year?
I don't know, but hell yeah, Nikki Hiltz.
Yeah.
Taking this down, winning the mile at, at the Prefontaine Classic, and the, the field, everyone that was in that, Jessica Hull, everyone was in the race to the end, and Nikki is just continuing to, like, show us the work, the, the talent, and, and more than anything, I think it's belief.
And it's not like, "I believe in myself now."
It, but it i- there's something when you race like that, and then now when you race like that, and you take down that field, and you win this prestigious event, awesome.
And, and an American got a win in the mile.
There you go.
They know- We got one.
Nikki knows that they can be in the mix at these big moments, just like our final moment of the day, Jamal Britt winning that- Ooh 110 hurdles, beating the recent world record holder, Jacoby Tharp, that just did it here at Hayward Field a couple weeks ago, running a time of 12.86.
I talked to Jamal Britt, and he said he was talking with, Alan Johnson, his coach.
Yeah.
He said that, "You could be the greatest hurdler of all time."
That's what Alan Johnson told him- Yeah and he did that today.
The US Men's 110 hurdles are always stacked.
How would you power rank the top three right now?
Man, it's always the most competitive, but, like, the, if Alan Johnson's in your corner telling you that, you, that, we talk about belief, I mean, it's not even belief anymore, it's just how you wake up every day thinking you are that guy.
But I'd power rank right now, after this meet, Jamal, he's number one.
All, all praise to Jacoby Tharp for breaking the world record.
Yeah.
Amazing, amazing run and a, and a great season.
Hope he wins Bowerman.
he's, but he's my number two.
And then third, there has to, I mean, I think we're all, there's a, we're ti- we're all tied up there.
I think that Trey Cunningham has done some amazing stuff, sub 13.
Kordel Tench is still Kordel Tench.
Yep.
Cannot discredit or discount anything that he's done.
And I got, I think Kendrick Smallwood is also in this conversation, too.
The te- little 5'7" Texas boy.
Like, no one wants to race that cat.
He's only the, yeah, second guy in collegiate history under 13 seconds, has put together a great season.
It's just been a long one, so tho- yeah.
I think I said five people there, but that, those are my, that's my three top three power rankings.
Well, we gotta tie.
We gotta tie.
We gotta tie.
Yeah.
It's, it's definitely super competitive.
congratulations to Jamal, just a fabulous race.
Congratulations to all the competitors- Yeah at Prefontaine Classic.
Like, we coulda had a whole hour podcast talking about just all the great performances, but there you go, the top six moments.
Make sure y'all go re-watch everything on NBC and o- on Peacock, where we have the full live stream of just such an amazing race.
What was just your favorite event of the day?
Man, favorite ev- I can't, I don't have one, but I, happy birthday America.
It's two, America's 250.
This is a hell of a way to celebrate it with the best of the best.
Our sport is in such a good spot, like the performances don't make any sense to anyone that, like, it seems like magic.
It seems crazy, but the, everything was amazing.
Yeah.
I got n- I got no one thing.
There you go.
Heat Check: Prefontaine, presented by On and Fleet Feet.
Thank you guys for watching.
