On a day of shocks at the Prefontaine Classic, the world 800m champion got the better of the Olympic gold medallist in Oregon.

All the talk before this year's Prefontaine Classic centred around how quickly Keely Hodgkinson could run over 800m and whether she could replicate the kind of times Audrey Werro has produced.

Just two weeks after Werro beat Hodgkinson at last month's Stockholm Diamond League – the pair ran 1:53.98 and 1:54.33 respectively – the Swiss athlete bettered her mark with 1:53.80.

Only world record-holder Jarmila Kratochvílová (1:53.28) and Nadezhda Olizarenko (1:53.43) have gone quicker and Werro now holds the third and fourth quickest times in history.

So it wasn't a surprise to see Hodgkinson keen to lay down a marker ahead of her well publicised world 800m record attempt at the London Diamond League on July 18. The wavelight target? A speedy 1:53.50.

The aim was for pacemaker Paris Peoples to go through 400m in 55.5, which would have somewhat replicated Myrte van der Schoot's 55.35 from the French capital.

Within the first 20 seconds of the 800m in Eugene, the race looked off. Peoples shot out of her blocks and quickly established a sizeable gap to the rest of the field, with Hodgkinson tucked in behind NCAA champion Sanu Jallow-Lockhart. The American pacemaker went through 400m in a ludicrously quick 53.58 but Hodgkinson and the rest of the line-up kept back and managed the tempo well.

By 600m Hodgkinson and world champion Lilian Odira had passed the fading Jallow-Lockhart and, like in Tokyo last September, the duo battled down the home straight. In a similar fashion to that dramatic 800m under the lights in Japan, Odira had more strength than Hodgkinson and took the victory, with the pair running 1:56.19 and 1:56.73 in Oregon.

Hodgkinson arrived in Eugene with grazed knees and took part in the race with strapping over both of them. The Brit, who had obviously hoped to run a lot quicker, was her usual honest-self speaking to the media afterwards. "Shocking", she said of the 1:53.50 attempt. "It's been a bit of a week, my knees are taped up and four days ago I couldn't even walk. I guess I have to take the positives that I could even line up.

"The emotions are quite raw. I thought I'd be able to run a couple of days ago. This happened just before we were about to fly out. I took a really bad fall on my cool down run in training. There are luckily no bruises but I have deep cuts. It's surprising what you need your knees for and I'm still fit! I thought I'd run better.

"I managed to run yesterday and felt pretty good but it's not ideal when you're racing this calibre of athletes. I just need a bit of confidence back with some good sessions and I'll do my best to bounce back from this."

The biggest shock of the day came in the women's mile with Nikki Hiltz taking down world record-holder Faith Kipyegon.

Since the turn of the decade the Kenyan has been almost unbeatable when it comes to the middle distances and her last Diamond League loss in an 800m/mile/1500m was all the way back in Florence to Sifan Hassan, in the metric mile, five years ago.

Like the 800m, the race started in peculiar fashion with pacemaker Taryn Parks flying out the traps, going through 400m in 1:04.30 and 800m in 2:07.21. Kipyegon, as she has throughout her career, controlled the tempo and it looked like she would secure yet another victory. However Hiltz had other ideas and overtook Kipyegon, alongside Dorcus Ewoi, on the home straight.

Hiltz clocked a world-leading 4:17.49, with Ewoi close behind in 4:17.62 and Kipyegon settling for a rare third place in 4:17.80. Georgia Hunter Bell finished eighth in 4:18.52 (PB), just behind training partner Sarah Healy (4:18.49), while Laura Muir placed 10th in 4:22.31.

The sprints have always been historically quick at Hayward Field and this year's edition of Pre Classic was no exception. Tate Taylor, who is just 18, won from lane three to take down a world class 200m field with a personal best of 19.75 (-0.9), seeing off the challenge of Olympic 200m champion Letsile Tebogo, who was second in 19.93.

Kanyinsola Ajayi lit up Hayward Field yet again, a month on from his NCAA triumph. After running a wind-aided 9.72 (2.2) to win the NCAA title last month, the Nigerian athlete backed that up with a legal 9.84 (0.1) to triumph in the men's 100m over world champion Oblique Seville (9.89) and Christian Coleman (9.95).

Melissa Jefferson-Wooden secured the victory in a championships style women's 100m in a photo finish. The 2025 world 100m champion triumphed over Sha'Carri Richardson and Adaejah Hodge, with barely anything separating the trio. They clocked 10.78 (0.0), 10.79 and 10.80 respectively.

Jamal Britt also beat world 110m hurdles record-holder Ja'Kobe Tharp in Oregon. The American went fifth on the all-time list with an incredible 12.86 (1.8), with Tharp, who ran 12.75 to win the NCAAs, clocking 12.91 for second.

The track action ended with the traditional Bowerman Mile, with Cameron Myers dominating in the closing stages to record an Oceanian record of 3:46.06. He became the first-ever Australian to win the title and finished ahead of Yared Nuguse (3:46.61).

The women's long jump was one of the greatest competitions in the event this decade with three women recording marks of over 7.00m.

Just minutes after Larissa Iapichino flew to an Italian record of 7.12m (1.8), Tara Davis-Woodhall responded with 7.13m (0.8) herself, which turned out to be the winning mark. Monae' Nichols also recorded a wind-aided mark of 7.05m (3.0).

Mykolas Alekna triumphed in the men's discus with one of his biggest ever non-Ramona throws with 71.06m, while Leonardo Fabbri recorded a world lead of 22.74m in the shot put.